PICTURE OF GENEROSITY CSUN GIVEN $500,000 WORTH OF ART.

Byline: Mariel Garza Staff Writer

NORTHRIDGE - Three French impressionist oil paintings valued at $500,000 have been donated to California State University, Northridge, in what is believed to be the largest donation of artwork ever received by the San Fernando Valley's only four-year university.

``We're really, really thrilled,'' said Michele Cesca, director of development for the university's College of Arts, Media, and Communication. ``It has been put into our university art collection.''

The university acquired the paintings last week and is insuring them before they are displayed publicly. The trio's centerpiece, a post-impressionist piece by Maurice de Vlaminck, ``La Ferme de la Haute-Folie,'' alone is worth about $300,000, university officials said.

``Les Montagnes'' by Armand Guillaumin is worth about $125,000 and ``Les Baux de Provence'' by Jean Dufy is worth about $45,000.

The gift surprised CSUN officials, who had no previous relationship with the donor, Ernest Warsaw, a retired Los Angeles furniture manufacturer.

The 81-year-old Warsaw closed his Vernon business three months ago and began divesting much of his extensive office art collection of about 100 pieces.

He kept his favorites, including a Renoir and a Degas, and gave others to his daughters. But he just couldn't find space in his home for the three oil paintings.

Enter his art appraiser of 20 years: Dena Hall of Woodland Hills, a 1975 CSUN alumna. Hall encouraged Warsaw to donate the works to a public university, say one in the San Fernando Valley, that would use the pieces for study, research and to highlight its collection. Warsaw's accountant, also a CSUN graduate, seconded the vote.

Warsaw said Thursday that he initially approached the Los Angeles County Museum of Art about the paintings, but wasn't impressed with the agency's response when officials came out to view his collection.

``I didn't like deal they offered me,'' Warsaw said. ``They wanted me to give them something else that I didn't want to give them.''

LACMA officials declined to comment.

Warsaw also considered donating the paintings to the University of California, Los Angeles, his alma mater, but after consideration, he decided the CSUN gallery would make the best use of his paintings.

``I think more people will enjoy it there than anywhere else,'' Warsaw said, ``because the tax write-off is the same, you know what I mean?''

Warsaw started collecting art about 50 years ago, focusing mostly on impressionist paintings. His first piece was a print of French painter Bernard Buffet that he found in a Mexico City gallery.

``I bought what I liked and what I could afford,'' he said.

The Chicago-raised Warsaw has been involved in art all his life, and even won a scholarship at 13 to study at the Art Institute of Chicago. Since then, he's been an illustrator for department stores, a calligrapher and, finally, a furniture designer. He started his business, Sheffield Furniture, in 1947.

Hall said the arrangement is a good one for both Warsaw who will know his paintings are well-appreciated and the university which gets a big step up in the art world with the gift.

``They're very good French impressionist paintings, and are important works by well-known artists,'' Hall said.

The university plans to use the paintings well, said William Toutant, dean of the College of Arts, Media, and Communication. The university's art collection currently consists mostly of works from California artists and African art, he said.

When and where the trio of oil paintings will be exhibited for the general public remains to be seen. The university must finalize insurance of the paintings and then find a location that is both accessible and secure.

``What we don't want to do is put them in a closet because they are so valuable,'' Toutant said. ``But we don't want to hang them out in the quad either.''

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3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) CSUN Art History professor Betty Ann Brown and William Toutant, dean of the College of Arts, Media and Communication, display Maurice de Vlaminck's ``La Ferme de la Haute-Folie,'' which was recently donated to the university.

(2 -- 3) Ernest Warsaw has donated Armand Guillaumin's ``Les Montagnes,'' left, and Jean Dufy's ``Les Baux de Provence'' along with a third French impressionist oil painting to CSUN.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer