Editorial: The lost art of Las Vegas

Monday, Oct. 24, 2005 | 9:03 a.m.

Rumors of Steve Wynn replacing the gallery at Wynn Las Vegas with a retail shop circulated through the local art community last week, illustrating the tenuous nature of creating a permanent fine arts display in the Las Vegas Valley.

The Wynn Collection features masterworks from the 16th through 20th centuries, including "Le Reve" by Pablo Picasso. The resort owner was first in bringing fine art to the Las Vegas Strip when he opened the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art in 1998 to display his personal collection, then valued at more than $300 million.

He took part of the collection with him when he sold Mirage Resorts to MGM Grand in 2000, and then displayed a portion of it inside Wynn Las Vegas, which opened earlier this year.

One Las Vegas Art Museum board member told the Las Vegas Sun that closure of Wynn's collection "would be very sad for the art community," but added that Wynn and his wife, Elaine, are staunch supporters of the museum and the local arts.

Farther down the Strip, at the Venetian, the Guggenheim Hermitage also gives visitors an opportunity to see fine art exhibits. While the collections aren't permanent, the Guggenhiem's visiting exhibits bring to the valley the type of artwork that many Las Vegas residents would never see otherwise.

Still, it too is located inside a tourist destination, along a corridor that locals typically visit only when they are going to work or entertaining out-of-town guests. And it seems that if it weren't for resort owners who opened their wallets and doors to the public display of fine art, there simply might not be any here.

In fact, the valley has only one museum accredited by the American Association of Museums, which is the State Museum and Historical Society, next to Lorenzi Park. Still, local art collectors and promoters remain optimistic that a museum such as the Guggenheim is just the start.

We hope that's true. The Entertainment Capital of the World should have a permanent, world-class art museum.