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BNP Paribas foundation unveils book honoring the european art collection at the Los Angeles Museum of Art

New York, NY…The BNP Paribas Foundation, a long standing sponsor of museums, has selected the European art collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) as the subject of its first volume of museum art books in the U.S. The book will be unveiled during a cocktail reception co-hosted by the BNP Paribas and Bank of the West, its wholly owned subsidiary, at the LACMA on October 18th 2006.
Authored by the museum's own curators, the book is the first devoted entirely to LACMA's famed European art collection.

This edition adds to the over 50 editions already published by the BNP Paribas Foundation and is available in English and French. Its 128 pages are filled with the museum's collections from the 13th to 20th centuries and include a brief history of the LACMA and the formation of its European art collection.

“BNP Paribas has long been a faithful partner of museums through its Foundation,” said Baudouin Prot, CEO of BNP Paribas. “We proudly support the publication of this book, which embraces the treasures of European art and allows museum visitors the opportunity to keep a memento of the works that they can revisit again and again.”

A strong supporter of the arts, BNP Paribas has contributed to the restoration of over 150 works of art owned by museums in France and abroad, including masterpieces such as Veronese's Christ at Supper with Simon displayed in the Château de Versailles. BNP Paribas is also a corporate patron of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate Gallery in London; it has sponsored other great exhibitions in Salzburg and Amsterdam, and is currently sponsoring an exhibition in Seoul.

About BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas (www.bnpparibas.com) is a European leader in banking and financial services, and ranks among the world's top 12 banks by market capitalization and total assets. It has more than 140 000 employees, 15,000 of whom are based in the United States. The group occupies leading positions in three significant fields of activity: Corporate and Investment Banking, Asset Management & Services and Retail Banking. It is present in 85 countries and has a strong presence in all the key financial centres. Present throughout Europe, in all its business lines, France and Italy are its two domestic markets in retail banking. BNP Paribas enjoys a significant and growing presence in the United States and leading positions in Asia and in emerging markets.

About The BNP Paribas Foundation
Through its programmes, the BNP Paribas Foundation strives to preserve and promote cultural heritage and support artistic expression. It helps support the publication of albums illustrating the cultural wealth of museum collections and provides support for the restoration of their masterpieces. The BNP Paribas Foundation also provides ongoing support for talented artists in disciplines that generally receive little support from corporate sponsorship, such as contemporary dance, modern circus arts and jazz. Finally the Foundation funds for state-of-the art medical research, as well as for innovative projects in the areas of education, social insertion and disability. In addition to grants, the Foundation provides support for its partners and seeks to cater to their individual objectives in the same way as it does for its clients, namely by developing programmes and providing advice and on-the-spot assistance, together with access to the BNP Paribas worldwide network of contacts. The BNP Paribas Foundation is a member of ADMICAL, the first business sponsorship association in France, and of the centre for charitable foundations in France.

About Bank of the West
Founded in 1874, $55 billion-asset Bank of the West (www.bankofthewest.com) offers a full range of consumer, business, trust and international banking services and currently operates more than 700 banking locations in 19 Western and Midwestern states.