San francisco museum of modern art the painting and sculpture collection (art ebook)

SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODEKJN AR

THE PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

COT LECTi

— $75.00

comprehensive volume, deone of America's premier collections of

J.HIS magnificer voted to

t,

twentieth-century

art,

commemorates

the fiftieth

anniversary of the San Francisco Museum of

Modern

Art.

In the half-century since

seum has amassed an

its

founding, the

Mu-

extraordinary collection of

paintings and sculpture.

Its

holdings include

one of the great public collections of works by Henri Matisse;

Only one "expensive" book,

marked with a red star, may be checked out at one time.

This regulation

has been created by the

Sausalito Public Library Board of Library Trustees in order to avoid cases of

large losses of unreturned major works by such modern masters as Jean Arp, Max Beckmann, Constantin Brancusi, Georges Braque, Alberto Giacometti, Paul Klee, Jacques Lipchitz, Joan Miro, and Pablo Picasso; i

in-depth representation of a select group of kev

Modernists, including Josef Albers, Joseph Cornell,

Richard Diebenkorn, Philip Guston, Frank and Clyffoi Still;

Stella,

I

a outstanding works by many of the pioneer Ameri-

—

Stuart Davis, Arthur Dove, Edcan Modernist-ward Hopper. Georgia O'Keeffe, Morgan Russell, and Charles Sheeler;

works by such Latin American

artists as Frida

Kahlo, Jose Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Joaquin Torres-Garcia;

masterworks by leading postwar American

artists,

including Milton Avery, Willem de Kooning,

Sam

Helen Frankenthaler, Arshile Gorky, Hans Hofmann, Jasper Johns. Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Motherwell. Claes Oldenburg. Jackson Pollock, Robert Raiischenberg. Mark Kotliko. and George Francis,

Segal; resentative works bv the innovative and il

li

ri Ii

artist of the West Coast, including i

Bischoff, Ja\ DeFeo, Robert

i..

i

am

Manuel Neri, Nathan Oliveira, David li. and William T. Wiley; .

lied oi

I,

Hudson,

>..-

i

flap)

books.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the painting and sculpture collection 709.04 SAN FRANCISCO SAUSALITO PUBLIC LIBRARY

HUSALITO

i

I

IBRXD

3 1111 00909 7666

SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: THE PAINTING AND SCULPTURE COLLECTION

SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

Introduction by Katherine

Foreword

Mi

l>\

Honi\

T.

Church Holland

Hopkins

THE PAINTING AND SCULPTURE COLLECTION

DIANA C. duPONT, KATHERINE CHURCH HOLLAND,

GARNA GARREN MULLER, AND LAURA L. SUEOKA

HUDSON MILLS PRESS, NEW YORK in

association with the San Francisco

Museum

ol

Modern

\rl

HUSALITO PUBLIC LIBRAK1

1

FIRST EDITION

©

1985

\ll

l>\

the

San Francisco Museum

of

Modern

\rt

under International and Pan-American

rights reserved

Copyright Conventions.

Published

in the

Hudson New York, \venue,

nited States b)

I

Suite 301, 220 Fifth

Distributed

in the

Hills Press. Inc..

M

10001.

nited States bj \ iking Penguin Inc.

I

Distributed in the United Kingdom. Eire, Europe, Israel, the

Middle Past, and South Africa Editor

and Publisher:

li\

Phaidon Press Limited.

Paul Anbinder

Copy-editor: Irene Gordon

Designer: Bett) Binns Graphics/Bett) Binns and Karen Kowles

Composition:

I

Manufactured

Lithograph Inc.

.S.

in

Japan by Dai Nippon Printing Compan)

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. the painting and sculpture collection.

Includes bibliographies and index. l.

Art

—

California

Francisco

Museum

Diana. 1953-

N740.5.A67

— San Francisco — Modern —

.

Art

of

II.

1985

ISBN 0-933920-59-8

Catalogs. 2. San

Catalogs.

I.

Du

Pont.

Title.

7()9'.04'()074019 16

84-11844

l

Contents

List of Colorplates

Foreword by Henry

8

T.

Hopkins

10

Acknowledgments

12

Introduction by (Catherine Church Holland

14

Conservation

of

a Twentieth-Century Collection by James Bernstein

20

and Inge-Lise Eckmann Highlights

of

the Collection

Essays ami Colorplates

Documentation

.it

32

236

Illustrated Checklist of the Collection

259

Index

39

Index of Donors

400

Photo Credits

102

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Board of Trustees BROOKS WALKER, Chairman

DR.

MRS. WALTER A. HAAS, JR.

ROBERT L. GREEN MRS. WALTER A. HA VMRS. GEORGE HALDEM \\ FRANK 0. HAMILTON MRS. \\ ELLINGTON S. HKNDERSON MRS. CHARLES HOBSON

President

BERT J. MOORM

VI

W

Set retary

HUNTER LAND II

\.

Treasurer

GERSONBAKAR MRS. JOHN

MARGOTGREEN

THOMAS J.

MRS. PHILIP

RENE

DAVIS

W

MRS. JOHN

ROSA

HI

V-

nSELL

l!l

THOM

V.SJ.

1/7

DAVIS

Forum

Collet tors

MRS. DAVID DOOLE'i Modern Irt Council

VKTERPTHACHER

<

GENE

E.

RON MEYER Forum

Fata

LA L.TUTTLE

I'M

BROOKS WALKER

MRS.

Docents

MRS. PAULL. WATTIS

LILIENTHAL

E.

of Contemporary

MRS.

TREFETHEN, JR. VXKER ANNEX?

KEESLING,JR.

V.

Society for the

TOB\ SCHREIBER DR. PETER V SHERRILL MRS.

VGNESC. BOl RNE Encouragement

MS.

OWEN

I'.l

MODESTO LANZONE MOSES LASKY

MRS. FRANCIS

NASH

ARTHUR ROCK MADELEINEH \

II

BOWES MRS. JOHN L. BRADLE1 E. MORRISCOX (,.

NDW

EDMI

MRS. Hi INCISE

HUME

ELIN H.

\(,)l

I

Ex-Officio

BYRON MEYER

DONALDG. FISHER

JR.

MAILLIARD

THOM VSW WEISEL MRS. BAGLEY WRIGHT

Staff

HENRY

HOPKINS

T.

Museum

MICHAEL McCONE issociate Directorfor Administration

Associate Director for

UI.I

I

V

Development

duPONT

C.

KAREN TSUJIMOTO

ROB] III Bookshop

ECKM VNN

BR

I'M

-II

Adjunct Curator,

[rt

and Design

hitecture

IIM GAR1 IMKEL [ssociate Registrar,

NONA

ZANNE VNDERSON

SI

G Ill V

ROB! HI BARONI Membership \ssistant I

Mi

Forum Coordinator

Collet tors

ssistant

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Senioi i. (

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Technician, Conservation

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Gallery Superintendent

Research/ Collections

ROBERT Diiii

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[ssistant Controllei (

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KARIN

Must inn Technician

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and Registration

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Supplies Coordinator

Curatorial [ssistant \lllll

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[ssistant in the Director

Graphic Designer

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Temporary Exhibitions

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[dministrative Secretai I

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Conservator

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SARA LEITH

Co-director, Conservation in

SAN LEFKOWK

Research Assistant

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R0BER1 DZIEDZR

Director ofPhotograph \

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DIANA

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Deputy Director

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WILLIAM MELIS

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Director

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Dedication

Haas has been guided throughout her

Elise Stern

and

and warmth

the ideals

of beauty,

quality,

which she drew from her mother, combined with

integrity. With these principles,

the humor, spirit,

life In

that characterized herfather, she has provided the

San Francisco Museum oj Modern

andman)

\rt.

other important institutions, with

leadership, energy, andvision. It is

singularly appropriate that this catalogue of the Museum's permanent collection oj

painting and sculpture be dedicated in

giving works

become so

more

oj art to the

Haas,

for

Museum, and urging

She has enabled

significant.

to the front

to Elise

ranks oj those

the

it

has been through her generosity

others to

do

San Francisco Museum of Modem

museums whose

has

so. that the collection

collections hare impact

\rl to

beyond their

immediate geographic boundaries.

One

Museum

oj her special lores in the

established in 1971.

result oj her

\

the Conservation Laboratory which she

is

deep commitment

treasured works of art, the conservation facility collections,

it

has also

made

Beyond her energy and

the

it

is

valuable

and preservation oj to the Museum and its

to the

community

main

After

Hoard, she became a member of the Board oj Trustees

Museum's

professionalism oj the trustees to ensure the

first

staff,

in

1955

endowment fund, encouraged

and worked closely and

growth and enrichment

and u as

subsequently

of the

stands today as the hallmark of the

In recognition of her

Modem

1/7

many

years

effectively with both staff

Museum. Her

dedicates this catalogue

Haas, with affection and gratitude. T.

HOPKINS

and

style of leadership, a is

unparalleled,

<>f

the

permanent

Museum

and

family.

of giving and leading, the San Francisco Museum

sculpture, published at the time of the

HENKY

Museum

She

the continuing

combination of intelligence, gracioiisness. firmness, and elegance, it

scries.

active years on the Women's

elected president of the Board, selling in that capacity from 1964 to 1966.

established the

it

her leadership that stands as Elise Stern

Museum.

to the

care

not only vital

Museum Jar more

vision, however,

Haas's permanent contribution

is

to the

collection

s fiftieth

ofpainting and

anniversary, to Elise Stern

of

1

List of Colorplates

LASZLO MOHOLY-NAGY

A

87

IX, 1923

KANDINSKY

\SIL>

\

Brownish

89

(Braunlich), 1931

JOSEF ALBER> 91

Growing, 1940 Tenayuca, 1943

HENRI MATISSE The (jirl with Green Eyes

93

Study for Homage

to the

Portrait of Michael Stein, 1916

36

GIORGIO DE CHIRICO The Vexations of the Thinker; The

Portrait of Sarah Stein, 1916 The Slave (Le Serf), 1900-1903

37

the Thinker (Les Contrarie'tes du penseur), 1915

39

PAUL KLEE Red Suburb

Henriette, II tGrosse

Tele;

(La Fille aux yeux

verts),

Hennette. deuxieme

etat).

1908

1927

33

41

KEES VAN DONGEN

Nearly Hit

The Black Chemise (La Chemise

1905-9

noire), ca.

45

1929

)

PABLO PICASSO 49

JACQUES LIPCHITZ Draped Woman, 1919

51

blonde), 1926

53

(Le Gueridon), 1935

and Mandolin

(Vase, palette, el mandoline), 19 36

JULIO GONZALEZ Mask "My" (Masque "My"), ca. 1930 Small Sickle (Woman Standing ) (Petite

1955

59

Annette VII. 1962

61

JOSEPH CORNELL

Faucille [Femme

65

1922-23

67

(

69

117

(

Window Facade),

ca.

71

\LEXEJ JAWLENSK Woman's Head (Frauenkopf), Head: Red Light (Kopf: Roli-s

Lake George,

121

1922

123

1944

I,

125

ARTHUR DOVE 127

EDWARD HOPPER Bridle Path. 1939

129

JOHNSTORRS Study in Form

131

(

irchitectural Form), ca. 1923

Bridge. L936

L913

133

VRLESSHEELER

Cll 71

let ial

Gyrations. 1953

135

a hi). L926

I.

M \\ BECKMANN Landscape, Cannes (Landschaft, Cannes), 1934 Woman at Her Toilette, with Red and hue I. dies

STl

mien und weissen Lilian. L938

VRT DAVIS

Deuce.

137

1954

77

79

FRIDA (FRIEDA) KAHLO Frieda and Diego Rivera.

81

The Flower Carrier.

II

W

1931

at

Domburg,

19]

1

THEOVAN D0ESB1 RG

1935

Simultaneous Counter Composition (Contre omposition

MORRIS GRA^ ES Bird Maddened by the Sound of Machinery

siinnllanecl. L929

in the

lir,

MARK

loiilY

1

TORRES GARl

Const ructirist Painting

139

DIEGO RH ERA

Church Faqade Church

I0AQI IN

120

18

1950-53

JOSEPH STELLA

\clly, 1910

M0NDR1

115

Silver Ball No. 2, vr.w

MAX PECHSTEIN

I

Untitled

Black Place

Landschaft]), 1911-12

I'll

(Art ieres-pensees). 1939

13

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE

Way I Landscape) Gebirge [Steinigei Weg

dei Toilette mil

1

Untitled (Pink Palace), ca. 1946-

FRANZ MAR(

lici

111

DAL1

YVESTANGUY

SSELL

(Frau

\I)()R

Second Thoughts

63

\ature morte), 1920-21

lR<nl,\

SAL\

d'or), 1954

55

63

3, ca.

109

Dawn Perfumed by a Shower of Gold (L'Aube parfumee

57

VMEDEE OZENFANT

Mountains

107

ALBERTO GIACOMETTI

dehoulj I. Ca. 193 7

Synchromy No.

humaine

Oedipus Complex, 1930

PABLO PICASSO Jug of Flowers (La Cruche fieurie). 1937 Women of Algiers, E (Les Femmes d Alger),

R1

105 return

JOANMIRO

par la pluie

GEORGES BRAQIE

MORGAN

Concretion without Oval Bowl (Coin

I

Blonde Negress (La Negresse

<

Human

Painting Peinture). 1926

CONSTANTIN BRANCUSI

Still Life

104

sans coupe), 1933

Street Scene (Scene de rue), 1900

Vase, Palette,

(Tete etfeuille; Tete et vase).

hasard III; Configuration symetrique), 1931 47

Ciotat]), 1907

The Gueridon

99 101

Objects Arranged According to the Laws of Chance III; Symmetrical Configuration (Objets places selon les lois du

Landscape (The Eagle's Beak, La Ciotat (Paysage [Le Bee La

97

Rules Villenquartier) , 1920

JEAN (HANS) ARP Head and Leaf; Head and Vase

OTHON ERIESZ de-l'Aigle,

Inconsistencies of

(Fast getroffen), 1928

43

VNDREDERAIN Landscape, 1906

I

95

Square. 1972

I

\

\<>. 8,

19

II

8

1

itti'ii

1944

over the Plains. 1950

I

II

1

13

I

15

ARSHILE GORK"V Enigmatic Combat, 1936—37

I

117

JACKSON POLLOCK

VSPERJOHNS

Land's End,

VESOLDENB1

CI

Guardians of the Secret,

L943

I

19

CLYFFORD STILL

1963

Blue Legs. JAY

199

DeFEO

151

Untitled, 1951-52

154

BRUCE CONNER

Untitled, I960

155

Looking Glass,

157

WII.LEM DE KOONING 1950

159

— Version

1949

161

1951

163

MARK ROTHKO

205

Untitled (Monolith

L.

Red.

).

1964

207

1963

299

Untitled, 1969

165

Untitled, 1968

167

Adelante, 1964

GUSTON

Khurasan Gate 169

Red Sea; The Swell; Blue Back View, 1977

Light, 1975

171-7.5

177

RICHARD DIEBENKORN

211

213

179

Cityscape

181

1963

Ocean Park #54,

I.

1972

1969

217

219

ROBERT MANGOLD within X, 1980

WILLIAM

T.

221

WILLY

Ship's Log, 1969

223

183

RICHARD SHAW

ELMER BISCHOFF Orange Sweater,

215

Variation)

(

ELLSWORTH KELLY Red White, 1962 Red X

Berkeley #57, 1955

Melodious Double Stops, 1980

1955

225

185

WAYNE THIEBALID

DAVID PARK

Display Cakes, 1963

Man in a T-Shirt, 1958 NATHAN OLIVEIRA Idolescent by the Bed.

227

187

ROY DE FOREST Country Dog Gentlemen. 1951

1954, 1951

1972

229

189

MANUEL NERI

FRANK LOBDELL

Mary and Julia.

1980

231

191

ROBERT HUDSON

HASSEL SMITH 2 to the Moon.

Sevillanas, 1959

FR ^NK STELLA 1951

For M.. 1955

March

203

ROBERT IRWIN

Untitled, i960

I,

1964

LARRY BELL

Clear Cut Landscape,

PHILIP

201

KENNETH PRICE

II,

MILTON AVERY

SAM FRANCIS Red and Pink,

61

JOHN MASON

HANSHOFMANN Table

Incision, 1958

PETER VOULKOS

Wall Painting No. 10, 1964

Woman,

IK.

1961

Untitled, 1945

ROBERT MOTHERWELL

197

1961

193

233

ROBERT ARNESON

ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG Collection, 1953-54

Out of the Blue, 1980-81 California Artist, 1982

195

235

t

Foreword

THE AMERICAN

have also -ecu stead) growth, although

VSSOCIATION OF Ml SE1 MS.

an organization thai includes

members from

ever) major history, science,

museum museums as and

the United Stales, defines

in

ail

educational use

of

and

museum

objects." Clearly,

professionals believe the permanent collec-

supports the flesh

other

of

museum

therefore an extraordinary pleasure

is

bring this new. impressive catalogue

painting and sculpture collection

Francisco

Museum

members and

Modern

of

of the

in 1970. the collection

catalogue

has undergone impres-

museum, which

is

area of twentieth-centur)

in the

manifestations. Special emphasis

placed on works that were considered

is

work contributes a new

Expressionist, Dada, Surrealist, and

flow of the

through

museum's holdings.

This does not signify that the collection

now comprehensive, but the number

tor

has narrowed and the acquisition of a few kev

—

works

a Vasily

1908-16. a

I'iel

and

gift,

Kandinsk) from the period

Mondrian from the years

Amer-

its

\

isual

experience

to

audience.

(

purchase, or bequest. The direc-

curatorial stall present objects recom-

mended

is

gaps

of

part of the

Works of art are acquired by the Museum

movemenl have

helped strengthen the historical continuity

and visual

Euro-

of a

decade, as long as each

and

the collection

as well as al-

be

as meaningful as the

German

II

purchase

pean drawing from the early twentieth centur)

to

their creation. For

of

ica in the current

most every post-World War

the

ol

collect, preserve, exhibit,

is to

Important new works representing the Fauve.

American Modernist schools,

purpose

acquisition of a painting produced in

both quantity and quality.

in

Acquisitions for the permanent collection

this reason, the gift or first

b\ the Califor-

M. Schindler.

nia architect K.

innovative at the time

Art to our

Fames plywood

and furniture designed

(hair,

art in all its

San

the

doors

a pair of elevator

ing in Chicago, a Charles

and educate

l<>

friends.

Since the publication of our

sive growth

of

architecture and design

follow closely the slated

programs, including temporary exhibitions. It

first

among them

objects,

backbone

tions of their institutions to he the that

acquired our

have even

from Louis Sullivan's Stock Exchange Build-

"non-profit organizations dedicated to the collecting, preservation, study, display

We

-lower pace than other areas.

at a

lor

acquisition to the Accessions

Committee, a standing committee

of

Board

of the

Trustees. After this body has considered

and approved proposed acquisitions they are presented

to

the

full

board

for final

approval.

1921-44, a Pablo Picasso from the 1920s

Of the approximately three hundred thousand

through the 1960s, a Jackson Pollock drip

dollars available each year for the purchase

painting to

— would add immeasurable

strength

the collection. In addition to

works sen

ol

the

augmenting schools through

bv different artists,

we have also cho-

to select a few artists for

in-depth

can

(

Uyfford

It

is

the lives

ol

divided

the other disciplines.

all

source of

museum

and

and

collectors to

l

and execution.

acquisitions, not 011b here

of

works

a significantl) greater

combine

of art

to

make

number

ol

the

permanent

from a private collection

place, a

number

major donations hinds.

ol

the Photograph)

Because

a

in

of San Francisco collectors

and groups supported the Museum through

Photography, our most comprehensive collec-

Van Deren Coke as head

to

tax-exempt institution a desirable practice.

collection have been expanding as well.

has nearb doubled since the arrival of

of

the presentation

Even before such beneficial laws were

publication focuses on painting

and sculpture, other areas

Departmenl

is

Gifts from donors have become the primary

ol art.

oi

develop sensitivit) toward diversit) of hough

tion,

purchase

laws, ever-increasing values placed on works

in

belter understand the creative process

ihi~-

for the

our belief that the stud) of

individual artists will allow the observer to

hile

earmarked

is

but across the country. Favorable federal tax

works from different periods

\\

painting and sculpture, one-

photographs, and the balance

among

three major Vmeri-

of

age but verj different

artists of similar

sensibilities.

Still,

two-thirds are allocated for

of art.

pun base

quarter

representation, such as Josef Ubers, Joseph Cornell, and

works

Main

of

works

of art

or purchase

labels throughout the collection

affirm the generosit) of Uberl M. Bender. \\. \\.

Crocker, William

I..

Gerstle, IVggv

ized nature, our holdings in photograph) will

Guggenheim. Mr. and Mrs. Walter \. Haas. Harriet lane Few. Charlotte Mack. W ilbur

be documented

D. Mav.

in 1070.

in a

ol their

special-

separate catalogue. Works

on paper, including drawings and prints, 10

Jeanne Bevnal. Mrs. Henry

Poller

Russell, Mrs. Ferdinand C. Smith, the T. B.

Walker Foundation, and the Women's Board the Modern Arl Council) of the Musi mi in.

(later

In

more recenl

Harrj

years, gifts

from Mr. and Mrs.

Anderson, Rena Bransten, Mr. and

\\.

Mrs. K. Morris Cox, Mrs. Walter

Haas.

\.

and

the Hamilton- Wells Collection, Mr.

Jr..

Mrs. William C. Janss, Clyfford Paul L. Wattis. and the Charles

Still,

Mrs.

Land

ate Director, the

department

stall

includes

Diana C. duPont, Marc) Reed, and Laura exhibition will

permanent collection which

the

ol

our entire galler) spaces, the publica-

fill

tion ol this impressive catalogue

is

the

first

event in a year-long celebration of the the San Francisco

fiftieth

Museum

anniversar)

ol

Family Foundation, as well as bequests from

Modern

and

Joseph M. Bransten and Marian W. Sinton

commitment

should he noted.

care, presentation, anil continued growth.

II.

More than one hundred objects from the emphasis

in this

Fauve paint in»

publication. Ranging horn a

l>\

Henri Matisse

to a

scope

our holdings, hut also

ol

pockets

ol

strength in clusters

its

ol

onk

the

unique

works

l>\

Josef Albers, Jean Arp. Richard Diebenkorn, Philip Guston, Clyfford Still,

to

is

enduring

the

e\

idence of our

permanent collection, dedicated

is

ol

to

a significant patron of the

it-

Elise Stern

museum. We

greatly appreciate the generosit) of Richard

and Rhoda Goldman and the grandchildren

wry

sell-port rail in clay In the California artist

Robert Axneson, lhe\ represent not

Art

This catalogue

Haas,

collection have been selected lor special

L.

Sueoka. Heralding the opening of a landmark

and others. The

ol

Llise

Haas

—

Bets) and Roy Eisenhardt,

Susan and Michael Gelman, Douglas Gold-

man, M.D., John Goldman, Richard

Goldman, Michael

S.

\\.

Ha, is. Robert and

Colleen Haas. Peter and Joanne Haas. Walter

J.

and Julie Haas, and Margaret

— who provided

research and writing were accomplished by

Haas Jones

the Research/Collections Department of the

lor this publication.

the funding

Lowell Research Center, an ongoing depart-

ment ing

ol

the

Museum

that focuses

on document-

and managing the permanent collection.

Headed

l>\

Director,

[Catherine

Church Holland.

Henry

T.

Hopkins

Director

and Garna Garren Muller. Associ-

I

1

Acknowledgments

This publication celebrating the painting and sculpture collections of the San

Museum of Modern

Francisco

Vrl is

began

realization of a project that

in

vases, deciphering indistinct inscriptions,

and allowing us

records and

to utilize their

the

photographs of objects treated

Januar)

The

installation crew, ablv

in their facility.

headed

bv Julius

1979 with the formation of the Research/

Wasserstein, helped immeasurably by moving

Collections Department, a separate enlitv

and installing

Museum

within the

dedicated not onl\

documentation of objects held tion, but also to the

collection.

the institu-

l>\

development

Throughout

to the

ol

undertaking we

this

have experienced the encouragement, cooper-

and guidance of numerous individuals

ation,

who shared our the

belief in the importance of

permanent collection. We wish here

to

Throughout ever) phase

ol this

have enjoyed the warm support

ol

we

project

Henry

T

Hopkins, Director, who aided with sugges-

and allowed us the freedom

to

accom-

We

are particularly indebted to Michael

McCone, Associate Director whose multiple

tion,

talents

enthusiasm helped us from raising hinds

our

We

first office.

tion to

to

in

for

Administra-

and

Munroe. Curatorial

innumerable ways,

constructing the walls in

also extend our apprecia-

Karen Tsujimoto, Curator, whose

Museum Bookshop Manger, initial

conception

design.

We

Franklin. Controller, for her support and astute budgetary advice. final

months of research and

preparation we were fortunate to have the invaluable assistance of several individuals freely of their time

and

Maryse Posenaer and Rebecca

Solnit, both of

California

at

Berkeley, and Sheila Van Every

Museum

University,

much

Posenaer was also instrumental titles

Department. Since

members

ol

gratefully

contributions trar,

ol

mutual respect and affection.

acknowledge the invaluable ol

Pamela Pack.

who coordinated

works

Assistant Regis-

Carol Rosset, \s>oci-

ate Registrar/Permanent Collection, in

translating skills,

while Ms. Solnit aided Diana duPont

We

also gratefully ac-

know ledge the contribution

McKinney, w ho assisted

in

ol

Judith

in the final

compila-

tion ol material lor publication.

the photograph) of the

in the collection:

in

and supplying foreign editing

initial editorial tasks.

the stall have worked together in

an atmosphere

We

that time, the

of the final

research on the highlighted objects. Ms.

joined to form one large department with one

tration

E

Studies. John

San Francisco, and Bar-

ment and the Registration Department were the Research/Collections and Hcgis-

talents.

the graduate program ol the Lniversity ol

bara Lee Williams executed

title,

its

are also grateful to Cecilia

have served as a model

long

the cata-

signer, supplied valuable suggestions lor

of the Center for

Research/Collections Depart-

ol

Suzanne Anderson. Graphic De-

Kennedy

In 1981 the

Toby Kahn,

provided cogent

warmth, intelligence, and professionalism for us all.

faultless direc-

tion of the publication process.

advice on the

her calm,

Assistant, lor

good-humored, and absolutely

who gave

spirited

Anne

are especially indebted to

During the

plish our goals.

located

staff

myriad sources during our research.

logue, and

express our gratitude.

tions

Candau, Librarian, and her

We

the

Eugenie

difficult objects.

who aided

locating and measuring objects; Debra

Several individuals

able additions

lo

made

particularly valu-

our documentation

ol

the

collection. Janice Parakilas undertook the

foundation research of our Josef A hers holdI

ings. Julie Berger Hochstrasser investigated

Neese, Associate Registrar/Exhibitions, who

paintings bv Matisse, and Elizabeth \mi-

provided reinforcement whenever

strong delved into the background

it

was

needed; and Marc) Peed, who supplied sight,

advice and

in-

ous aspects

tional skill-.

The San Francisco Museum ol Modem is fortunate in having a staff composed ol creative, committed individuals. Of those vet

preparation

foi

ol

not

documentation

publication.

ol

to vari-

the project: facilitating the

sculpture inventory, substantiating the

artists"

biographical data, and prov iding backup

mentioned, manv were particularly sup-

portive during ever) stage .mil

\rt

our

works bv German Expressionists. Steven High

and (Catherine Kleekamp contributed

linarv organiza-

extri

ol

The Conserva-

informal ion lor several highlighted works.

Randi Fisher gathered key facts from New York galleries. Mark Ashworth and Paul Shank eased the photography

ol

oversized or com-

tion Laboratory, co-directed b)

plex objects in the collection. Carolyn Birm-

stein .hmI Inge-Lise

ingham, project director

James BernEckmann, contributed In

helping us gain access llÂť

to

the \ci-ns of can-

Research

<

lenter

for the

computer

(

.owell

project,

added

immeasurabl)

b\

introducing us

to

relevanl

data- and word-processing systems and

suggesting useful approaches

many

majority ol the transparencies, and

of the black-and-white photographs

works

wen- taken

in the collection,

rapher

Don

monumental

gion ol

In photog-

who accomplished

\I\cr.

initial

torying,

II el

I

man. Line

Washington,

Art.

Museums

\ii-

R.

task with infinite patience and

of

information, inven-

Guggenheim Museum,

Klebaum,

numerous

ol

volunteers, interns, and work/stud) students.

For their special contributions

we acknow

I-

edge \nne Boreta Baxter, Sara Weinstein

Beames, Melissa Broadus, duPonl Coleman, Celeste Connor. Judith Enrich. Sharon Click.

Esin Cokner. Jeannette Hoorn.

Ann

Nevt York; Curt

Castelli feigen Corcoran,

kunstgeschichte. Lniversital Karlsruhe; Milor.

lurator of Exhibitions,

(

Norman Mackenzie

Art Gallery,

I

Kasper,

National d'Art

Pompidou, J.

Paris: Roberta K. Tarbell;

Troy, [Northwestern

Finally,

we would

found gratitude

who

I

niversity,

like to

sponsors

to the

ol thi-

Kama

Silbergh,

Shea, Katherine

Sliler.

Patrice Wagner,

Denise Wakeman. Tessa Wilcox. gratefull) recognize the help ol

We

Laura Adler.

Martha Carleton, (aula Chammas, Michele

De Aicuaz, Barbara

l)e Cristofaro,

Becky

Lou Grachos, Peter Hempel, Yvonne

Fllis,

b\ this

The research phase was supported b\ The National Endowment for the Arts, the Andrew its

publication.

W. Mellon Foundation, and the

also

project.

so generoush pro\ ided the funds to

catalogue and lor

Kern

Evanston,

express our pro-

Evie Lincoln. Andrea

Beth McBride.

Nanc)

Robert P Welsh, University ofToronto.

Illinois:

accomplish the research reflected

Patricia Maria.

niversitj ol

Modeme, Centre Georges

Judith Ka\s. Peggy Keeran, Deirdre Leber, l.iss.

New

Regina. Saskatchewan: Margil Howell. Musee

and basic research were accom-

plished with the enthusiastic aid

S.

H. Lowell

Foundation, which also funded our working facility

and computer

project. Publication

hinds were donated by Betsv and Ro\ Eisenhardt, Susan and Michael Gelman,

Jacques, Lee Kennedy, Mardi Leland, Dawn

Douglas Goldman. M.D.. John Goldman.

Morton. Mariette Muller. Mar> Murray. Presh

Richard and Rhoda Goldman. Richard W.

Pattee, Pennj Pritzker,

Schreiber,

We bers

Susan Rieder. Shellev

Ann Shumway, Lynn Baer Smith,

Beau Takahara, Jane ol institutions

and

libraries

Goldman, Michael

and

mem-

to

S.

Haas. Peter and

Joanne Haas. Robert and Colleen Haas, Walter

ickware.

\\

are particularly grateful to staff

ol

the Le-

Honor: Lewis Kachur, The Solomon

ol

chael Parke-Taj

gathering

ol

York; Dr. Klaus Lankheit, Institul fur

this

good humor.

The

D.C.; Janice

American

ol

San Francisco, California Palace

tion nl information.

The

Museum

tional

l>\

the organiza-

to

Curator, Joseph Cornel] Stud) Center, Na-

Jones

J.

in

and Julie Haas, Margaret Haas honor of Elise Stern Haas.

inde-

pendent professionals who provided invaluable information and assistance. Special thanks

go

to

Paula Baxter. Research Librarian. The

Museum

of

Modern

Frackman: Marcel

New Vrk: Noel

Art.

Giry,

I

S.

niversitede Franche

Katherine Church Holland

Garna Garten Muller Laura

L.

Sueoka

Diana C. duPont

Comte. Besancon; Linda Roscoe Hartigan.

13

Introduction

THE

)\

(

l.\

1935, four

ENING OF FRIDAY Januar) thousand enthusiastic

San Francisco's Civic Center opening

new cultural

ol a

Francisco

Museum

celebrate the

to

institution, the

San

Wined and dined

of Art.

in the vast sculpture rotunda thai was the

local point of the galleries located

War Memorial

fourth floor of the

on the

to a

to

panopl)

the local newspapers,

where

Documented

in

shared space

it

scandals and actress Grace Moore

was

\

One account headlined. "Galleries Stay Open Evenings/Art for All Is Purpose ol New Showplace." while another

had specified as

School of Design impressive

in 1874.

at ray of

budding

Exposition (San Francisi

Francisco p.

Assoi

\ii

ial

v ,ni

o: .'

1916),

Ml.

to this

Bernard \taybeck (Santa Barbara and Sail Lake Cit) Peregi ine Smith, 19 II.

'

iarclwell,

:

p. '<

ill.

lonstitution ol the

Association as

\ii

SanFrancisco tin, vol.

San Fran

I.

no.

\rt :

I

m

<|in>i<cl

steel

network

and an ephem-

lath

ofnephilinic plaster.

which, despite

art display

it

of art in

the

founded the

Armed

in the

artists

in

Bay Area the work

— Giacomo and Carlo Carra — Futurists

ol

the

modern

the Italian

Umberto Boccioni, as a low examples

Balla.

France

art of

ol

paintings by

in

Pierre Bonnard, Edgar Degas. Claude Monet,

section was the most comprehensive, with several

American Impressionists represented

including John Twachtman, Childe Hassam.

with an

and James McNeill this exhibition

nineteenth

and teachers

to the

intro-

and Edouard Vuillard. The United Stales

goals the

its

such disci-

to

expand

ing

\\ hisller.

Hill

The temporary

build-

was pio\ ing inadequate

for

both classroom and exhibition needs and a

commercial design,

permanent new space was sought. Merging

in

addition

traditional drawing, painting, In 1893, the

to

the

more

and sculpture.

former residence of railroad

magnate Mark Hopkins located atop Nob was deeded in trust b) F.dwaid F. Searles the

I

niversit) ol

<

ialifornia for the

with the energetic San Francisco Society Artists, the

ol

stimulated the Art Association

ils facilities.

on Nob

The success

plines as mural painting, anatomy, and

ol

Association set about raising

achieve

goals. In

Hill

funds

to

constitution, dated 1871. the Association had

to

its

asserted that "the object

Ail

Association. This signaled the founding of

Kenneth

had an underlying

as well

century, the school flourished, training both

Panama-Pacific International

wood, the Palace

of

time conditions, comprised both a national

plaster casts, de rigueur for

academic instruction

\ils.

composed

whose

transportation difficulties brought on In war-

The Association, founded

community.'" To those ends

Association," Illustrated

open space within which rooms were

The far-reaching

to

to the

were inextricably linked

organization.

1

Art

this project, the

duced

"promotion and encouragement

Catalogue of the Post-Exposition I: thibition in the Department oj Fine

fame virtually derives from

The catalogue published on that occasion classified the institution as "The Museum of

in 1871.

cisco

Maybeck, a San Francisco architect whose

R.

and a substantial international section,

artist

"The San Fran-

rotunda flanked by a

work of Californians.

fact, its roots

Waller.

The

giant colonnade that curved along the edges

eral skin

the San Francisco Art Association" and. in

I.

tion featuring a towering

which was overlaid with

local artists In noting that ol the fourteen

'John

the bay.

the Palace of Fine Arts, a Beaux-Arts composi-

of Fine Arts

emphasized the importance of the Museum were devoted

"Rainbow City" by

structures were

iewed as a populist as well as a social

galleries, ten

the

the other buildings in the Exposition

event.

new

realities

imagina-

constructed for exhibition purposes. Unlike

Museum

the

ol

fired the

and enthusiasm of the people who flocked

skvlit

presiding over the annual automobile exposition, the inauguration

of the war in

Europe and

actual art gallery contained vast expanses of

with such timely topics as various matrimonial

San Francisco from the grim

of a reflecting lagoon. Designed by Bernard

Impressionist and

Post-Impressionist paintings.

lace of

Exposition's art extravaganza was housed in

Bav Region artists to Old Master drawings,

from Gothic lapestries

International Exposition distracted the popu-

to

of exhibitions ranging from contemporary art In

of the 1915 Panama-Pacific

The advent

tion

Veterans'

Building, the crowd was treated

the San Francisco

of

Institute of Art.

ail lovers,

socialites converged on

and

arlisls. patrons,

opened, under the name

US.

.

shall be to maintain a

its

ol this

museum

original

organization ol fine arts

Mark Hopkins Institute of Art, winch encompassed both the School ol design and

and applied

an exhibition space, the Mary Frances Searles

the Panama-Pacific International Exposition

the

I

Gallery.

The Nob

nuns

the earthquake of 1906, bul within a

in

Hill facility

was reduced

to

arts,

and

conduct exhibitions.

to '

pro\ ide for

and

In the years following

the Association set out to

do

just thai.

In 1916 the Ail Association

began mount-

\ssociation Bulle-

Novembei

19

year, a 1

1

1.

site

I

I

temporal ) building was erected on the -

and the school and galleries were

re-

ing temporal") exhibitions

shows

ol

work

and annual juried

bv local artists in the Palace of

Fine

The

Arts.

interesl ignited bv the initial

Exposition exhibition continued, and

cud

the

ol

first

months,

fifteen

dance reached 225,000.

Museum

Francisco

mis

tion

its

na>

ail gallery,

San Francisco thai

Association. Bui

Ait

would not suffice

lor long.

spaces were impossible

properly or

and

to

llie

secure

Museum

In the

closed

meantime,

World War

I,

the

museum.

art

symphony

After raising over one

hall million dollars,

and one-

an insufficient amount

groups joined with the

politically

\\ ith

the passage

purchased and plans two structures

—

bond

ol that

a

lor the

thur Brown.

Beauxhimself

Jr..

was

issue, land

ol

in earlier

City Hall

s

the

Museum

ments made Critical

was

to

establish as

primary goal the presentation rary ail

and

its

sources

ol

cisco

Museum

ol

Art in

he

I

'a

I

ol

The

first

institu-

new quarters

its

Building on

two weeks of 1935

for the tiny stall. Morley, her

and

a

bare-bones

sometimes around

and

write

ithin a

\A

over two weeks, six exhibitions were in the

of inaugural shows reflects the

would charac-

was obvious that what San Francisco then needed was to catch up by ol a

systematic exhibition program

all that

had been developing

-

Ibis

when

Fine

since

in art

7()'s

edge

of

to

art. to

ing art development, locally ith a

.

stimulate the

informed public as a contribution

W

.

a

follow closely the growing

contemporary

sympathetic interest and judgment

San Fran-

ace

into

.

its

in recent history.

I

moved

when Impressionism introduced new manner of seeing and painting.

contempo-

constituted a radical shift in policy, lor the Art Association operated the

2. 1935.

McCann

L.

head the fledgling

to

floor of the Veterans'

Thej endeavored

these policies was the board

Museum

finally

was

terize the Museums exhibitions up to World War II. As a museum publication later

the

occupj the space.

decision thai the

Museum

edit the inaugural catalogue.

with

were formulated and arrange-

among

and

means

the twin

not. however, until 1934 thai the policies for

the

which

the

reflected: "It

in

It

tion,

of

diversity of subject matter that

in the

design both structure-. Construction began

granite structures were completed.

historical

November.1934, Grace

The group

to

19.52

so the direction

set. In

Ar-

plans for San Francisco

and by

AND

little

who had distinguished

of 1931,

of national

art

organized, assembled, and installed

and Civic Auditorium, was chosen

summer

in

fourteen new galleries.

solidified.

an architect trained

Arts tradition,

contemporary

the clock, to prepare the galleries

single edifice to house both the arts and

— were

center programming

to

installation crew labored,

performing arts hall and a

veterans organizations

these developments, the

assistant. Claudia Davis,

to

ballot.

construction

and

1

promote understanding.

January

War Memorial

complex on the June 1^27 municipal

in 192

new museum on temporar) exhibitions

were hectic ones

newspapers, the plans backers were able lor the

ol

board determined

on the fourth

in

the influence ol the veterans and local

place a bond issue

in Paris,

the exhibition of the art of

Morley was named

raising only an additional $370,000. Aided l>\

to

France. In light

to

power-

veterans organizations, but succeeded

ful

locus on the work of

and

hall

finance their construction scheme, the cultural

to

permanent building

surveys which would provide context and

San Francisco formu-

ol

lated plans to build both a

ol its

and international reputation, and

ol

Association and the

Musical Association

an

end

de Young had com-

Lincoln Park

built in

dedicated

in

Adolph Spreckels.

centuries. The Legion, pat-

pivotal figures in

shortly alter the

\rt

of past

twinkle

a

ol

featuring the work of artists of the region.

doors.

ils

masters

the

beset by monetary and political problems, the

Honor was merely

pleted three wings

had been

maintain financially. In 1925.

to

with

filled

terned alter the Legion d'Honneur

Alread) the plaster

exterior was deteriorating alarmingly, vast interior

the

he \Ia\ heck-designed gallery

l

the Legion

ol

and had determined

in

ol

was

il

city.

century armor, while the California Palace

By 1934, however, the

as an

and proprietary mailers,

the

in

time a general institution,

the eyes of Mr. and Mrs.

to

and load as representatives,

fiduciary

obvious

which the

museum and

museum

ail

natural history specimens and nineteenth-

trustees affirmed their intention

operate both as a fine arts

liolli

San

legall) incorpor-

in

was the onl\

it

at that

articles ol incorpora-

purpose

a statement ol

Museum

total atten-

In 1921, the

Art

ol

Contained within

ated.

Alls,

The M. H. de Young Memorial Museum was

the

1>\

and

to in

of

an

encouraggeneral.

mighty swoop, the opening exhibition-

covered huge swaths

'"Exhibirions." San

Museum ol historical

ground. S

providing the individual museum-goer with

L5

Fi

!etm.

a broad

and

spectrum of new

experiences

isual

\

Foremost among these shows was the

Annual Exhibition

oj

tin-

Fifty-

Son Francisco

mal harmonies of Whistler's etchings late nineteenth century. A similar approach was taken

Fragonard and Boucher

current trends in the area, but also,

renderings of Edgar Degas and the sober*

to a

ples of work by artists across the country.

incredibly rich melange was topped off by a

—

portraits, landscapes,

stronglj

group of Gothic and Renaissance tapestries, also from the Crocker Collection, which were

—

still

lifes. all

quite realistically rendered

stylistic

tendencies were evident. The impact

when he executed murals

certain

both the

at

displayed on the sweeping walls of the great central hall.

Since the majority

time.

broadly defined. Giottesque figures,

of

review of the offering illuminates

Works created

were

in past centuries

readily available, particularly those from eras

while vestiges of Cubism, particularly the

popular with collectors

brand brought by Hans Hofmann when he

century

came

their ornate Victorian residences with painted

to

teach at the University of California

Berkeley

in 1930,

when wealthy San Franciscans

ing on the east

School, rosy-cheeked goat girls by nineteenth-

century Dutch and

educate the Bay Area at large, of

art

Grace

work by

drawn mainly from New York

filled

scenes of grazing sheep from the Barbizon

were also apparent, li\

at the turn of the

artists,

and Japan-

ese and Chinese objects in every medium.

There were a few daring collectors who ven-

more recent trends. Repre-

tured forth into

galleries,

German

sented in the group for

of

modern French

example, were significant works

paintings, l>\

seasoned with a dollop of loans from local

Gauguin and van Gogh from the William W.

collections. Masterworks by

Crocker Collection. Mr. Crocker, the

Claude Monet,

president of the

cent van Gogh. Paul Gauguin, and Paul

and his

Cezanne provided an in-depth look

(Helen Crocker), the

of

at the

these pioneering artists who,

as Dr. Morley noted in her catalogue

many leading

ture for so I

he balance

during those

of

first

artists of today."

the exhibitions on

months

in

the

new

5

iew

\

facility

offered the public additional facets of data.

\

isual

\n exhibition featuring Chinese

—originally conceived of as the impetus lor a

permanent display of Oriental ol thai

country's

art

art

— surveyed

forms.

\

president of the

first

Women's Board, had been instrumen-

the founding of the

Museum and were

singularly active in the burst of growth that

took place during

its first

decades. Two other

San Franciscans. William

1..

Gerstle and

Albert M. Bender, collected the work of local artists, as well as the ol

sculpture, bronzes, ceramic, jade, and textiles

the history

auxiliary tal in

introduction, "have furnished a point of depar-

sister,

first

Museum's Board of Trustees, Mrs. Henry Potter Russell

Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Vin-

contributions

the

graphic and easel work

Mexican painters,

Rivera.

\

particularly Diego

few local individuals,

such as

Sarah and Michael Stein and Harriet Lane Lev

\.

lived in Paris for a time

and acquired

the work of Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso,

printmaking techniques of the Western world

among others, but they were exceptions to rule. On the whole, regional holdings ol

was the subject of yet anothei show. Each

works

veritable inventory of master printer-

pei iod

\m. 193

premiere exhibitions came from local collec-

cisco Stock Exchange, was reflected in the

ists,

ol

these

the tenor of artistic taste prevalent at the

French painters beginning with the Impression-

Museum

to

Francisco Art Institute) and the San Fran-

Morley assembled a selection

i.

loans

tors, a brief

In her quest to

Francisco

of the

California School of Fine Arts (now the San

community and the public

p.

this

and

side of San Francisco Ba\.

him Morley, Opens .m Fran

Impressionist

work of Puvis de Chavannes. Finally,

especially in work by artists

i

to the

considerably lesser extent, gathered exam-

at

thibition

which

juried annual not only reflected the scope of

plethora

<

an exhibition of drawings from

ranged from the Rococo fetes galantes of

1930.

Mi

in

lished by the Association in the 1870s, this

of Diego Rivera's visit to San Francisco in

I

for-

the collection of Mrs. W. H. Crocker

While the preponderance of work was

.in e

Rembrandt, and the

Art Association. Continuing a tradition estab-

conservative

•

of

of the

historical data.

fifth

romantic drama

and process

ol

the

and

medium was

presented and examined, from the tortured precision

ol

Martin Schongauer, through the

visionary line. nits of Mbrecht Diner, the

to

of quality relevant to the

the

Museum's

purposes were extremely limited. It

was on

this

base that Grace Morley and

the Board ol Trustees ol the

Museum

ol

Art

began

San Francisco

to build.

Followingthe

opening shows ua> the presentation

the

<>l

prestigious European section of the 1934/1935

Carnegie International, organized negie Institute

I

>i

1

can developments.

her introduction

In

well-illustrated catalogue

the

i<>

which the Museum

published for the occasion,

Morle) staled:

Dr.

"Disagreements and discussions arc health-

and

ful

well that in

is

il

artists, critics

San Francisco

such an exhibition

and public should

considering what

showing of the

will find this

experience, and one

Carnegie

a

bound

be profitable and instructive."'

to

\

ital

Hardl) controversial die

works

sampling

a

thai

is

the twentieth century: a

ol

lyricall) classical painting bv

Picasso

earl) twenties, a powerfull) rendered allegor)

Max Beckmann, and two

by

on the Wesi

ioast, the

*

World

ol

exhibition

and

The second

variety.

exposition

ol

year began with an

paintings, sculpture, and graph-

ics bv

Henri Matisse. Given the far-reaching

scope

of the

Museum

s

programming,

this in

not surprising; the fad thai most ol

bom

the works were borrowed

make

it

ol

two prime local

unique significance.

exhibited, twelve were

owned

Michael Stein, who

190.',

in

Sarah and

bv

had

lelt

San

Francisco for Paris, where the) became interested in the work

Matisse and Picasso.

of

Their historic, lifelong friendship with Matisse,

the

of

lelt

impact

until the lull

in its

Of the thirty-five paintings and sculptures

compara-

ol

was

II

Museum

the

ol

policy continued unmodified, in both pace

collections

present-da) standards,

l>\

show did contain

tively recent

new space

ilsell is

join in

authentic and significant.

is

FROM the inception War

also a broad sampling ol Ameri-

1

to its fourth-floor galleries.

contemporary European

ol

facility's single elevatoi

bv the Car-

Pittsburgh, which included

examples

not onlj

trends,

oi

had taken the

isitors

figural paintings

whose work

the) subsequently collected al-

mosl exclusively, began

Harriet

in 1905.

Lane

by Matisse dated around 1919. Surrealism was

Levy, a close friend of the Steins and owner

present in works by both Giorgio de Chirico

of eight of the objects exhibited, had lived

and Salvador Dali. while Futurism was repre-

Paris from L907

sented

lis

(

selections

larlo ol

(

larra

and Gino Severini. The

work by such American

L910 and. like her

had purchased the work

triots,

sive

artists

to

young

compa-

the progres-

ol

artists ol the dav. Not only did thi>

as John Sloan and Reginald Marsh, Raphael

jewel-like exhibition of Matisse's work

Soyerand Peter Blume, Max Weber and

in

Millard Sheets reflected the nationalism

spirit of the artist's color

and eclecticism

ol

indi\ idual visions ol

American scene. Subsequent exhibitions in 19.55 explored further aspects ol modern art and its deriva-

tions. to

the

The

development of !ubism (

decade

ol

African

of

in

the

art

ol

continent, while the impact

the

Mexican

sixtv

in a pair ol exhibitions.

first

of

nucleus

Happily

ol

an exceptional

Fame

manv

collection.

cluster of paintings bv ^ ves Tanguv ol

Mat i--f

reiterated the Isomorphic strain of Surrealin a

show of Joan Miro's work

These organic visions sup-

plied the kernel that

abstractions by Vasil) Kandinsky were

installed near mid-year, the

demonstrated as well the

collection where thev todav form a critical

the previous year.

her

(

and compositional

Museum, many of the works exhibited eventually made their wav into the permanent

ism introduced

muralists, particularly Diego Rivera, was

acknow ledged

isiting public the joyous

shown concurrently with those

objects drawn from that ol

it

v

instill

for the

A

first

the century was recognized in an

extensive selection

the

possibilities of private collecting.

the

crucial contribution

of

harmonies, but

the time as well as

presenting their own

minds

the

in

produced the

and subsequent work bv regional artists

in

interest

Abstract Surrealism

during the following decade.

shows drawn from Galka Scheyer's extraordi-

Nurturing this direction was another exhibi-

nary holdings of works bv the Blue Four

tion in

(Kandinsky, Lyonel Feininger, Vlexej Jawlen-

nized bv

sky, Paul Klee).

\ml. near scar- end. earl)

regional explorations

ined

in a

York, which traced abstraction through

Surrealism were exam-

show comprising the work of the

Post-Surrealists, a ol artists

ol

I

I

orscr Keitelson

and Helen Lundeberg. Bv the close ber, sevent) exhibitions

ol

the tinv professional stall and over 150,000

tecture,

Bv

Decem-

had been mounted

various phases from Cubism

to

''Tin'

in

b)

the annual

had climbed tional

to

American section

Museum

"!

supplement was mat the San Fram -

\rt

showing

<>l

the

exhibition lour.

number

ol

exhibitions

(

and international trends continued

W

,i.i.

I'Kl.'j

over one hundred and na-

balance local programming.

tional; tin-

cluded onl)

and stage design.

1<>:?7

ilit-

of the 1934 1935 Carnegie Interna-

il>

Rayonism,

Vmerican works wen- selec-

tions from

painting, sculpture, graphics, furniture, archi-

os \ngeles-based group

centered around

Cubism and [bstract Irt, orgathe Museum ol Modern \i1. New

lÂŤ>:u>.

pean to

.•

I

.

Sec lion (San Francisco:

Francisco

hile selections

17

n.p.

Mi (aim Morley, 1934

Carnegie International: Euro-

Museum ol

San

\ri. 1935),

of paintings by Paul Klee sky, both

and Alexej Jawlen-

from Galka Scheyer, were shown

early in the year, the highpoints of 1937 were

A

two diverse choices.

landmark showing of

the oils, watercolors, drawings,

and prints of

Paul Cezanne organized by the

Museum drew

over thirty thousand visitors to the galleries

during

its

five-week run. Counterbalancing

this quietly powerful

show was an "adventure

in a strange field of art," the

Modern

Museum

Art's survey Fantastic Art,

of

Dada,

Hieronymus Bosch and Albrecht Durer,

Man

Ray, Marcel

many

Duchamp,

Museum was

being

felt

by the

in the heart of the

working person. The broad range of

know

to

in

Cezanne

to

those

the most recent trends in

York, from architects looking to the

building and landscape ideas

to

and

textiles.

Even the

art of

children was

exhibited regularly. In addition to historical surveys

and contem-

porary expositions, for the artists there were exhibitions of their peers, providing both a forum

and a commercial

outlet.

A

policy

one-third of the exhibitions would to the

work of local

artists.

This

members

of other art organizations, single-

loi

.

cit.

San

Fran*

for 1940, the

home

Island,

New

Art,

York.

A

in

Guernica, the

artist's

appeared

in over fifty

in

March

lo.i?

enabled

an outreach program.

elegy for a Spanish

newspapers of the day:

ART VISITORS STAGE SIT-DOWN San Francisco: This

city believes

the honor of having staged the strike in history. at

the

When

it

STRIKE.

can claim

first art sit-

the 10 o'clock

San Francisco Museum

paintings were being shown, arrived for the last

day of the display. 1,300

and refused

to leave

till

Quarterly Bulletin,

ind such

themes as "The Language

oi

down

they had had their

Offsetting the overwhelmingly positive

critic,

response

show was one lone

to the

Alex Cordellis, who wrote

umn. "The Pulse of Art

European on

visitors sat

that

is

of

in his col-

the Public": "Picasso's at

the

San Francisco

typical of the

civilization.

decay of

Nobody should miss

ground alone.'" Grace Morley had

i

Four series of six exhibitions each, centered

of

where an extensive collection of Picasso's

Art,

Museum to initiate

his early

The enthusiastic public response was documented by the following item, which

organization.

Museum

Modern

tragedy.

exhibit of monstrosities

the

of

years in Barcelona, the exhibition culminated

which featured an ongoing series of one-person shows of work by members of that A gran) of $7,500

Museum

voluminous retrospective of

which traced Picasso's career from

critical

instituted die Art Association

In

Grace Morley

painting, sculpture, drawings, and prints

that reflected current local trends. In 1937.

Museum

of the

landmark Picasso: Forty Years of

His Art, organized by the

fill."

gallerv.

in

— Treasure

midst of San

scheduled only one "blockbuster" exhibition

person exhibitions, and selections of objects

the

\ii

in the

to this diversion,

closing hour

to

Association, intermittent shows of work by

Museum of

Francisco Bay

down

the

known; quoted

toward the buildings rising

puddle of land

flat

quarter

included the competitive annuals of the Art

\eu >. date un-

decades of the Museum's

five

Museum and

established at the outset stated that one-

be devoted

isco

which has flourished

of education

The energetic pace and broad scope of programming continued until late in 1939, when public attention was drawn away from on a

of 1937, the impact of the

These pro-

art.

Golden Gate International Exposition.

ings

"Sun Fraru

dance

ex-

response

latest in

19 10)

gram

the

others.

designers interested in innovations in furnish-

i

Museum

populace. For city dwellers, the galleries

New

(Summi

at the

were centrally located,

anxious

i

shops were organized

throughout the

subject matter appealed to diverse groups,

no.

bring art to the

to

demonstrations, lectures, and hands-on work-

existence.

from those interested

i.

campaign

to the art. Slide presentations,

Francisco Goya and Honore Daumier, the

for the

vol.

people

exhibition then brought the viewer into the

Civic Center with convenient evening hours

Mu

Paralleling this

people was a related program of bringing

grams were only a part of an energetic pro-

Meandering through the visions

to 1936.

three-year-old

isco

towns in rural areas of northern California.

Ages

By the end

Quarterly Bulletin,

by relevant didactic material, the shows toured

experience of all forms of

Alberto Giacometti, and

San Fraru

Accompanied

"world's greatest paintings."

the centuries, from the end of the Middle

of the work of

in

using graphics and reproductions of the

Surrealism, which traced fantasy throughout

modern versions of fantastic and irrational art, Dada and Surrealism, with examples

[rt

"Personalities

pressly to provide the public with a personal

of

Quoted scum a/

Making Process," and of Modern Art," were produced,

Art," "The Picture

said she wauled controversj and public participation!

it

THE

year L940 marked the

fifth

Museum, and.

sary of the

commemo-

in

Morley organized an exhibition

ration, Dr.

consisting entirel) of work held in private col-

San Francisco and

lections in

her foreword

environs. In

its

the exhibition catalogue, Dr.

to

growth

its firsi five

gi\e a single object

consisted

Museum's constant preoccupation with

Bender donations

and the

in its full diversity,

Museum

and does

is

The makeup

ol

rooted intimately in

is

the lives of the people

community."

ol this

the exhibition

unlike the opening shows

lot

tact that all the

which works

in

drawn from private collections were limited

to

interesting,

is

in the

area

.it

Diego Rivera, joined

by

vided the impetus not onl) collection of Latin for

from the early-

an aggressive program

uted

nineteenth-century Romanticism of Eugene Delacroix

to the

atmospheric

work

late

far-reaching

American works,

their contemporaries.

art,

lor a

but also

exhibitions cen-

ol

tered around the paintings and graphics

objects created during the

modern

donation of

b) the

Riveras masterful The Flower Carrier, pro-

eth century, the toto selection displayed the of

works, bestowed

Jose Clemente Orozco and twent) drawings

Rivera. Orozco. David

range

first

twelve lithograph- In

nineteenth century or ver\ early in the twenti-

lull

to

Museum opened.

alter the ol

Not one

gifts.

time, Bender's

.1

ol thirty-six

week

barel) a

day

years was almost exclu-

Bendei

sively the result ol

gilt

of \n. the

the permanent collection that look

ol

place in

Morle\ noted, ""This exhibition emphasizes the art to-

Museum

For the San Francisco

anniver-

to

I

ol

and

faro Siqueiros.

Bender also contrib-

Museum's photogra-

the genesis of the

phy collection with the portrait ol

of

A

a penetrating

gill of

Orozco by Ansel Adams, not onlv

Adams's

Monet, and from turn-of-the-cenlurv paint-

a strong example

ings by Matisse to contemporary work ol John

technical skill, but a documentar) enhance-

ment

Ferren. George Grosz, and Yves Tanguy. \\

its

hen the

Museum had opened

in 1935,

of

incisive eve

growing holdings of Latin Ameri-

of the

can work as

well.

For Albert Bender art meant personal enjoy-

collection had consisted ol only a few

paintings and a cluster of nineteenth- and

ment as well as aesthetic appreciation, so

early-twentieth-century prints. In fact, the

most of his purchases and

organizations polic) dictated that the energj

from the immediate region or those he met

ol

the institution should go into temporal")

exhibitions, rather than in the direction collection

enhancement.

I

lowever, one

of a

mag-

number and

in

succeeding

years. Albert

fifty

es-

collection which

multiplied both

the son of an Irish rabbi, had

stature for the

M. Bender,

come

to

the insurance business.

generous

to all

ties ol ol

to

congenial

in

man

Bender collected and

worth) institutions great quanti-

books and work'-

ol ail.

monev which, though

nonetheless were

ol

as well as

sums

great importance to the

concerned with accumulation, he

distributed his wealth equally or shopkeepers

and

to

needy

he pur-

chased objects from exhibitions held

Museum. Capping

the

Museum's

the

at

vearof

first

operation was an exhibition of objects in the

permanent collection, which consisted most exclusivel) of the

gifts of \lbert

al-

Bender.

works either given by him, purchased through the accessions fund he established, or be-

queathed In all,

arlisls

to a variet) ol cultural,

to

Museum when

the

he died

in 1941.

through his generosity, the permanent

collection acquired over 1,100 objects, of the most significant works

The shadow

not extremely large.

recipients, whether indi\ iduals or organizations. Not

too,

artists

exhibition of each year was dedicated to the

with his time, energy, and

financial resources,

dispersed

\

were by

For nineteen years thereafter, the closing

San

Francisco before 1883 and had prospered

gilts

on sojourns abroad. Frequently,

of

nanimous board member singlehandedly tablished the nucleus

and

Museum ol

ol

in

World War

in 1942. affecting

it

some

the collection.

reached the

II

deeply. Because

the institution's location on the vulnerable

West Coast, to boi

it

was considered

row or exhibit works

ol

too

dangerous

great historic or

monetary value. Moreover, shipping space

educational, and philanthropic organizations.

going across the country toward the Pacific

The San Francisco Public

theater was

at a

curtailment

of

Library, the Califor-

nia Historical Society, libraries I

niversit)

nia School

at

Stanford

and Mills College and the ol

fine Arts were but

.1

Califor-

lew ol the

premium, thus forcing the

large exhibitions in favor ol

more compact ones.

In

September

to 12.

San

Francisco began undergoing dimouts, which

e

I

.

M.

ann Morley,

1

'

temporary

organizations thai benefited from the generous spirit ol

\lberl Bender.

necessitated blackout-

ol

galleries

and

which could

not

some

the evening closing ol those

19

hibition (San

Fi

Museum

:

ol

\rt. 1940),

I

1

ran-

devoting one-quarter to one-third of the exhibi-

be darkened: the public, concerned about possible occupation of the coast, was leery

ol

venturing out on dark evenings. Adjusting

its

programming

to

those grim days, the

Museum

tions to local artists

remained

With

in force.

the San Francisco Art Association annuals

continuing, broad cross-sections of regional

presented fewer serious lectures and classes

tendencies were well represented, while the

in favor of lighter activities, particularly

work of individual local

those affording direct experiences with

in a series of

workshops

in

art:

printmaking and photographs,

classes in flower arranging, film series, and travel

programs. The exhibition schedule,

diminished because of wartime

artists

was examined

shows featuring the work

The

of one person or small groups of artists.

Art Association gallery was discontinued in favor of integrating similar presentations

into regular

staff short-

ages, interspersed lightheaded fare, such as

museum programming.

Most important

the exhibition program

to

predominance

Douglas MacAgy's circus spectacle Sawdust

of the forties, however, was the

and Spangles

of shows that revealed the great strides being

of 1942, with shows exploring

responses

artists'

war and

to the

its effects.

At the close of the war, representatives of

met

the Allied countries

in the

War Memorial

Veterans' Building to discuss the formation of the United Nations, ies

and the Museum's

were taken over as

office

space

galler-

nent collection

to a location

downtown area,

just off

on Post Street

in

Union Square.

Although drastically reduced

on the East Coast. From the

show of Arshile Gorky's paintings

to the

exhibition of Jackson Pollock's gestural, mythic

works

from Mark Rothko's biomor-

in 1945,

phic paintings shown in 1946

Robert

to

same

ited the

each exhibition demon-

year,

community

strated to both the artists in the

its

and a few examples of the perma-

activities

the

had relocated

1941

artists

Motherwell's automatist abstractions exhib-

for the

conference delegates and the press. Within just a few days, the staff

made by

and the public throughs being

spoke

in physical space,

at large

made

to a local artist

the dramatic break-

in

New

The works

York.

population poised on

the edge of change and anxious for

new

visual

the temporary facility was easily accessible

experience. Complementing the innovative

and, with

programming

Museum

its

large display windows, gave the

great public visibility.

March through July

there from

Museum

Remaining

of

Jermayne MacAgy

California Palace of the Legion of

at

the

Honor and

the spirited experimental attitude brought to

1945, the

put on six exhibitions, including

the California School of Fine Arts by Douglas

one-person showings of the work of Marsden

MacAgy

Hartley and Lyonel Feininger. This foray into

greatly to the burst of artistic creativity that

a

new area

Museum in the

of the city planted the seed idea of

branches, which was put into action

in 1945,

these shows contributed

occurred in San Francisco during the second half of the forties.

A similar emphasis

following decade.

work of Latin American

tions featuring the

BYMuseum

1946, the

war years behind them, the

staff resumed programming and the public returned in great

full force,

numbers. In 1935. the determination

to

in

artists.

Inspired by the influence of the

Mexican muralists Morley expanded

bring

up to date in its knowledge of and contemporary trends and move-

was placed on exhibi-

in the thirties,

this area of

Grace

programming

work produced

such

the public

artists or surveys of

historical

countries as Peru, Argentina. Cuba, and

ments had been slated as Museum policy. Now. eleven years later, ii was felt that die

elsewhere. This focus on the work

groundwork had been

out Morlev's tenure,

laid.

and the pressure

educate, represented

over one hundred

shows pei

year,

l>\

to

in 1946, sixty-five

hung:

in

ol artists

the south continued through-

accompanied by

forties also

saw

l>\

a greal

a like

these figures.

upswing

upon the foundation established

and

b)

the count

was down to fifty-eight. Emphawas definitel) on current art developments,

0,

in

in

exhibitions featuring photography. Building

exhibitions were

1947, there were sixty-seven;

to

emphasis on acquiring works

The

was no longer necessary.

Thus,

sis

from countries

The public was

well versed historically,

in

1935

when

Peter Slack|)ole's dramatic photographs of the

construction of the San Francisco Bay Bridge

were exhibited, and continuing through subse-

a locus thai had basicall) been in effect since

quent shows of the achievements of Brett

the beginning ol the decade. Hie polic)

Weston and Edward Weston

20

to

include shows centered around individual

ol

li'^Ti. the

Mu-

i

seum branched oul into presentations of the work of Alma Lavenson (1942, 1948). Barbara Morgan (1945), Paul Strand (1946), Minor

basis, the

White

(1948),

individuals and provided an additional com-

(1949).

These were interspersed, particularly

and Julia Margaret Cameron

was the

first ol

making

art

kind

its

available to

in the country.

members on

Museum encouraged

mercial outlet

lor

By

a rental

collecting bv

regional artists.

early in the decade, with group presentations

and two thematic exhibitions organized by the Museum of Modern Art. New York, Masters of Photography (1944) and (1917), presenting the

New

Photographers

images of Harry Calla-

MOVING into the recent

I

cluded refurbished galleries, new classrooms, auditorium facilities in the sculpture court,

han, Aaron Siskind, and Frederick Sommer.

and an enlarged bookshop;

The swing toward the contemporary scene in exhibition programming during the lollies was accompanied b) a similar shift in direc-

a rapidly increasing

tion in the

Bender and

growth of the collection. While

gifts

continued

1941, albeit in

to flow

during 1940

diminished numbers, they

were joined by other ke\ donations and modDiego Rivera's

est purchases.

eerily surreal

Landscape was given by friends of the 1940; in 1941, Gorky's Enigmatic

which had been shown

artist in

Combat,

in the artist's

one-man

1941, the

Museum was

in

a

anniversary exhibition was organized which

counterpoised work by Bay Vrea painters and

modern Euro-

sculptors with a selection of

pean

art

drawn from

local collections. In a

San Francisco

pair of articles written for the

Chronicle, Grace Morley reflected on the

changes

had occurred not only

that

within the institution, but also in the entire of art,

moving from the

tightly

representational approach evident the prevalence

the recipient of a

membership and

celebration of fifteen years of growth, an

direction

Reynal. After the death of Albert Bender

also enjoyed

it

director with an international reputation. In

great

show, was presented In mosaicist Jeanne

Museum sported a

renovated phvsi< a plant which in-

v

I

the

fifties,

significant group oi objects from his estate,

and diversity

in 1935 to

abstraction, expressionism,

of

Posing the question of

in 1950.

including twenty-six photographs bv Ansel

the

Museum's

Adams, Brett and Edward Weston. Imogen Cunningham, and others. During the war.

Dr.

Morley wrote,

believe

acquisitions slowed, although several pivotal

for artists

works were acquired, Picasso's Jug ofFlowers and Paul Klee's Nearly Hit purchased in 1944,

formed and interested public."

and Jackson Pollock's Guardians of the Secret

Quarterly Bulletin, this attitude was reaffirmed:

bought

"The Museum deliberately endeavors

in 1945. Gifts

from William

L. Gerstle,

longtime trustee and patron, of works b\ Bay

Area

artists

were received through 1946, aug-

mented by the Brownish Art

of

kc\ donation of Kandinsky's

in 1944.

Pegg) Guggenheim, whose

This Century gallery was showing

Mark Rothko's seminal Slow Swirl Edge of the Sea in 1946. followed the of

enhanced

activ ities in the forties

by two

new programs,

gift

and the Rental Gallery, both Art in

Cinema, founded

explored the film in

bv

medium

museum audiences and

Kriist.

Cinema

initiated in 1946.

Frank Stauffacher,

to

in

and public, and

tary activities

that

have helped

close to the growing edge

to

of

its

supplemen-

create an in1

'

And

it

news.

is still

nize quality while

it

is still

remain

creative art of our

time with the intention of bringing attention while

to

in the

.It

it

to

public

seeks

to

recog-

only a promise and a

This attitude prevailed throughout the ensuing decades, but during the early years of the

more immediate concerns were pressing.

Despite popular exhibitions such as Henri

as an art form, both

programs which played

|

exhibitions have played their part

nexl

were greatly

\rt in

Museum does

the

fifties

and The Numerous Family by Max

Museum

|

by the

year In Untitled {Self-Portrait) by Clyfford Still

"It

prophecy."

avant-garde work loan Easl Coast audience,

strengthened West Coast holdings bv the

its

part in this artistic' evolution,

enthusiastic

an accompanying

Matisse, organized by the Art,

New

Museum

York, and exhibited

rising costs

of

Modern

in 1952,

and limited income were making

programming more

anil

Morlev organized the

I

more

difficult. Dr.

nited States representa-

"Grace

tion at the /// Hienal in Sao Paulo. Brazil

(1955),

which was then shown

in 1956,

at

the

Museum

and retrospectives of Hans Hofmann

.md Stuart Dav

is.

a- well a- a major show

San

art

him and creative filmmaking. The Rental

Women's Board.

.

Mc<

a: n

Moi

Museum .i

Birthday,"

Chronicle, Thi>

San

Theodore Roszak's sculpture were presented

An

H

$<m bran

in l<>57.

bile the exhibition

I

t

Quurterh Bulletin ijanuarv \\

"The

ley,

ol

"I

l>.

Gallery, organized bv the

I

r

In. iir-

IJ

publication which contained articles on the

t

program was being

Ixxxi; also

published

I"

ii

January

21

i

— curtailed during the

was

collection

fifties,

thriving.

The objects acquired

by Harriet Lane Levy during her visits

Comprising

in 1950.

and

decade of the

forty-six works,

prints by Henri Matisse,

A

among

McCann Mofley

others. Significant for

his-

its

Museums to

mented,

make

"I tried to

L.

the

intermediary between the 13

She

museum

artist

the

and the pub-

a public well versed in the art

Levy collec-

lic."

holdings

of the twentieth century

experience

trends and an artist

left

and open

to

new

community which had an

not only the work of single artists in depth,

evolved from provincial conservatism

but the breadth of a specific period in art

internationally recognized position of dy-

history as well.

namic leadership

Charlotte

year, the

Mack were

first gifts

She had

from

received, a pair of

1913. the other in 1926. In 1952 these

contemporary expression.

in

up the permanent collection

built

to over

three thousand objects which mirrored not

in

were

only the goals of the

augmented by single works by Georgia

and

O'Keeffe and Henry Moore, and in 1953 by

well.

significant watercolors by Paul Klee

to

from a handful of paintings and prints

heads by Alexej Jawlensky, one painted

and John

interests of the

And

involved

she

its

left

Museum,

Museum

but the tastes

supporters as

an institution which closely

supporters, be

it

through

its

Marin. Mrs. Mack's generosity continued

membership

throughout the decade, culminating in the

scribers, the Rental Gallery program, the

Grow-

pivotal early painting by Josef Albers,

Other areas of the collection saw notable

the early experimentation in

— from

Germany

to

New

exhibitions which in-

and commitment.

GRACE MORLEY was succeeded as director by George D. Culler who had come

an

extraordinary set of his "equivalents," exam-

portraiture,

vited controversy

its

and photogravures span-

ning Alfred Stieglitz's entire career

ples of his

schedule bursting with programs of poetry

and workshops, or

growth during this mid-century period. Sixtyeight photographs

of well over four thousand sub-

readings, dance presentations, lectures, films,

ing, given in 1959.

York impressions, sensitive

Museum

the

to

from the Art Institute of Chicago.

Leading the

and images of Lake George

institution through a difficult period

of inadequate funding. Culler's program fea-

were acquired by purchase and through

tured historical

gift

of Georgia O'Keeffe in 1952. In 1955. the

movements

ol

the twentieth

century. Retrospectives of Arthur

Women's Board began the first of what were become nearly annual gilts with Clear Cut

to

Vasily

Dove

Kandinsky and Emil Nolde

Precisionist

I

ieiv in

American

(1959).

(1963).

The

Art. organized

Landscape, by American poetic colorist Mil-

In the

ton Avery. W.

Ferment: The Birth of Twentieth Century Art

port of the

Crocker sustained his sup-

\\.

Museum

with periodic

Walker Art Center

1886-1914, from the

gifts:

(1961).

UCLA

and

Years of

Art Galleries

paintings In Matisse (1949) and Georges

(1965)

Rouault (1955), sculpture by Georges Braque

ofAssemblage, organized by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, which included the

and Henry Moore U954. 19571. among others. The enthusiastic patronage of Mrs. Walter Haas In

vith

the

Edward Weston

through the donation, seum Gives Inspiral to Modernists," San Francisco Examiner, Februan 10, 1950.

San

to a close in

twenty-three-year tenure, Dr. Morley com-

During the same

Mu-

Museum

came

of Art

Manguin, Paul Cezanne, and Pierre-Auguste

enormously, enabling visitors

'

Francisco

in the history of the

stepped down as director. Reflecting on her

tion strengthened the

inn. "I tired

unique era

Picasso, and one or two works each by Henri

quality of individual pieces, the

II.

forties.

August 1958 when Grace

torical value as well as for the outstanding

i

in various

seven graphic works and an early painting In

Renoir,

Peli

who had worked

artists

forms of Abstract Surrealism during the

the bequest included fifteen paintings, drawings, sculptures,

of a group of eleven

drawings, paintings, and sculptures by Bay

Region

to

Paris earlier in the century were gifted In

bequest

MacAgy

from Jermayne

the permanent

gift

of two photographs

1938 and continued

culminating in 1958

fifl

will)

in

tant e

-

the

fneseacqui-

and international impor-

were supplemented

in

1955 by a

gift

work of Bruce Conner, Jess (Collins), and

Edward Kienholz, was shown

in 1962.

This

exhibition put into historical context the

Meyer, of the great

\

Brancusi bronze Blond sitions of national

in

were presented during his tenure. The

1/7

underground group

ol

California artists in

both the northern and southern areas of the state art

who were

creating compelling works of

from aggregates

ol

urban detritus.

Both architectural design and the decora-

tive

and functional

tant

place

while

art

arts

in Culler's

<>l

Paul Edwards, and several other related pho-

were given an impor-

exhibition schedule,

the region continued to be shown,

although more sporadically. Two major sur-

tographers. This acquisition gave needed

depth

to a

collection thai had been growing

by twos and threes since

inception

il-

in 1935.

veys of local trends. The Arts ofSan Francisco,

were presented of the

shows took the form

all-arts

The

1962 and in 1964.

in

of a

George Culler resigned Inthe1965 posl of president of the

first

summer-long,

extravaganza featuring painting, sculp-

College of

and

\rt.

Clifford

ture, prints, graphic design, photography,

had been serving as

architecture, crafts, dance, and theater. Re-

title

shift

away from both the abstract and the

figurative toward a

development

the

been head

for acquisitions

almost exclusively through those generated by

expanded

gifts, particularly

members

controller,

Peterson,

who

assumed

the

to find a

new director. Late

the Washington Gallerj

assume

to

who had of Mod-

the directorship.

Facing the challenges of limited funding, a

were meager during

the early sixties and the collection

of

ern Art, arrived

and new materials.

cratic symbols,

Funds

new individualism,

I!.

the following year, Gerald Nordland,

personal statements, idiosyn-

of

take ovei

of acting director while a search

was undertaken

was the

flected in both regional overviews

to

Philadelphia

of the Board of

timeworn physical plant, and a board accus-

tomed

to

making operating

as well as policy

decisions, Nordland set about reinforcing ties with sister institutions, with

whom

the

Trustees. Most important was the group of

Museum

seven major paintings gifted by Wilbur

increasing exhibitions organized in-house

May

in 1964.

Included among these works,

which remained until his

I).

death

in Mr.

in 1982,

with accompanying publications. In 1967 the

May's possession

noteworthy Paul Klee retrospective, organized

were the pivotal The

by the Solomon R.

Black Chemise by Kees van Dongen, Picasso's 1955 painting,

could share major exhibitions, and

Women of Algiers,

E, and a

Guggenheim Museum,

was presented, followed by two shows from the

Museum

of

Modern

Art,

in 1969

New

York.

1937 painting by Klee, as well as works

The Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection

by Pierre Bonnard, Joan Miro, Marc Chagall,

and the engrossing, eccentric The Machine

and Andre Derain. Crucial,

as Seen at the

too,

were the

works chosen by the Women's Board

for the

End of the Mechanical Age,

organized by K. C. Pontus Hulten. Nordland

collection. Frank Lobdell's volatile April 1959,

augmented these loan exhibitions with

partnered with Niles Spencer's cerebral

program of one-person or group exhibitions of

life

still

The Desk of 1948, entered the collection

in 1959, while

subsequent years saw the

regional work.

The

a

curatorial staff organized

retrospectives of Jeremy Anderson's sculpture,

gifting of a strongly emotive painting by

the paste-ups of Jess (Collins), the graphic work

Theodore Stamos, followed by strong regional

of Nathan Oliveira. and a three-person presen-

examples by David Park. Nathan Oliveira,

tation of the sculpture of Jerrold Ballaine,

Gordon Onslow Ford. Richard

Fletcher Benton, and

Weeks, William

T.

Wiley, Roy

Faralla.

De

James

Forest,

and

well as

Sam Richardson,

as

summer-long exhibition marathons

Arlo Acton. The establishment in 1961

centered around the theme of the arts in San

of the T. B. Walker Foundation Fund, which

Francisco. This interest in the art of the Bay

in 1984

remains a

vital

source of moneys

for

acquisition, enabled single major purchases

Area was crowned by two related and extensive exhibitions developed by curator

John

Appel's Waiting for Us, representative of the

Humphrey which traced the origins and development of northern California trends since

European expressionist group CoBrA,

World War

to

be

made annually beginning

with Karel

fol-

lowed the next year by a collage by Corrado Marca-Relli. and.

in 196.5.

Alexander Gilder's

delicately balanced mobile Four

The permanent gained great

I

Henry Su

(

ill

\

collection

of

Big Dots.

photograph)

b\ the addition in 1963 of the

lollection, a

group of eighty-five

i

II:

On Looking Back: Bin

>nr>~i960 (1968) and Just Yesterday (1969).

Nordland

initially

organized exhibitions of

Leon Polk Smith

in 1968.

and Robert Natkin

in 1969. In 1970.

joined b\ newly appointed curator

Sculpture In Carl Andre,

Dyke. Brett Weston. Edward Weston. John

McCracken. Tom Smith.

i

I

Gene Davis, and Edward Corbett

Fast Coast artists Al Held.

members of f/64: Ansel Adams. Imogen Cunningham. \\ lard Van

prints b\ original

\rcn

Foley

who organized

I

he was

Suzanne

nitary Forms: Minimal

Donjudd, John

Museum

B) the late sixties

works by Peter Voulkos, Robert Arneson,

bv

attend-

ance was averaging well over two hundred

Richard Shaw, Robert Hudson, as well as a

thousand visitors per year and the galleries

monolithic stoneware cross by John Mason,

and public

facilities

were

in dire

presented

need of

refurbishing. After gaining possession of the third floor, the

Museum embarked floor,

on an

members' room and adjacent classrooms percent more space ies

into

thirty-five

for exhibition; the galler-

were outfitted with ceilings featuring

systems,

Fund and

the William L. Gerstle Fund, the

living to

American

purchase of works by provided the means

artists,

acquire seminal objects by Ellsworth Kelly,

Nathan Oliveira,

T

Ilya Bolotowsky,

John Altoon,

Wiley. Philip Guston, and

marked the genesis

relocated to the third floor and in their place

A

for a

representing that one

a cafe, board room, and gallery for the exhibi-

works was constructed.

B. Walker Foundation

Manuel

Adelante, a silver shaped canvas dated 1964,

and carpeting. Offices were

tion of small-format

of acces-

T

Neri, while the 1968 purchase of Frank Stella's

works of art, new lighting

to the

floors,

The major sources

in 1971.

William

flat

skylights with custom glass filtering out rays

detrimental

Women's

latter restricted to the

turning a pre-existent

spacious galleries which added over

the collection by the

sions funding, the

ambitious million-dollar project which restructured the fourth

Board

to

Curator John

pocket of works

artist.

Humphrey

increasingly turned

his attention to the exhibiting

and collecting

conservation laboratory, storage area for works

of photographs. Between 1966 and 1973, he

on paper, and a new library were created on

added

the third floor, while the bookshop, formerly

sisted of photographs primarily by

nestled next to the elevator on the fourth

artists,

floor,

was expanded and moved

floor.

As culmination

director

to the

ground

of Nordland's term as

and celebration of the expansion and

renovation, four exhibitions were organized

by the museum: Peter Voulkos: Bronze Sculpture;

Richard Diebenkorn: Paintings from the

Ocean Park Series; Ansel Adams: Recollected Moments; and A Decade

of

Ceramic Art:

to a

foundation collection that con-

West Coast

representative selections of work by

Aaron Siskind, Berenice Abbott, and Harry Callahan. Expanding the holdings of California photographers were newly acquired prints

by

Edmund

Kriz,

Edward Weston. Vilem Don Worth, and Ansel Adams, capped Teske,

by a grouping of ninety-three prints spanning the entire career of

Wynn

Bullock.

At the end of 1972, Gerald Nordland re-

1962—1972, From the Collection of Professor

signed

and Mrs. R. Joseph Monsen, each accompa-

Frederick S. Wight Gallery

nied by an ambitious documentary catalogue.

of California, Los Angeles, and again the

While funding

for

accessions continued to

be restricted during these years, the collecexperience some redefinition, not

tion did

to

assume the directorship

Museum conducted an new leader, leaving programming of the

of

the

at the University

extensive search for a

the daily operations and institution in the

hands

McCone and

only through acquisitions, but also by ex-

of deputy director Michael

changes and prudent trimming of works out-

curatorial staff. This interim period lasted

The 1967

side the collection's purview.

tion of Robert Motherwell's Wall

acquisi-

Painting

one

year,

the

during which the collection saw

expansion particularly

in the

sphere

ol

work

Vo. 10 led to gifts of over tvventv drawings

by Bay Area artists, such as Bruce Conner.

from the

Jess (Collins).

artist's

Lxric Suite in 1967 and two

paintings from his taining

its

Open

Series in 1969. Main-

tradition of donating important

James Melchert. and Wayne

Thiebaud, and

in

objects In California ce-

ramic sculptors David Gilhooly, Robert

works, the Women's Board expanded the

Hudson, and Richard Shaw. The rapidly

collection in late 1966 with a verticall) striped

developing interest

work

sculpture was paralleled in the exhibition

l>\

Washington

colorisl

Gene

Davis, a

bronze floating figure b\ Gaston Lachaise 1907. a stained canvas bv in vx,:\.

followed

glass wall relief b)

Museum's (

1969 by an expressive

in

wooden sculpture

in

Helen hankcnthaler

l>\

\K

m

Light and a fiber-

Tom Holland

in 1970.

was

initialed in 1969 with a slab

sculpture bj James Melchert, quickly joined

_'l

the area ol ceramic

that featured a show, ciliated bv

Suzanne Foley, which chronicled the elav works produced during a year-long partnership between

Hudson and Shaw.

INjanuarv

1971. llenrv T.

The

collection of ceramic sculpture bv

ialifornians

programming

in

sumed the head

the position ol

Hopkins

of director.

the Foil Worth Art

as-

Formerlj

Museum.

Hopkins was

not

new

to California;

attended graduate school

at

was opened on the third

he had

the University ol

California, Los Angeles, and had been on the staff of the bos Angeles Count)

Museum

ol

Hopkins quickly deter-

Ail for seven years.

mined new directions

for

program and the status

of

oi

renewed

ongoing installation of small-scale works from the permanent collection. This construction project also included the renovation of the gallery for the

(

!ly

enlarged bookstore

the permanent

not limited to the public areas.

activity,

a

Bui growth was

facility.

the Irvine Foundation

excitement, and

and an

Eford Still paintings

both the exhibition

collection and launched the Museum on

course

enabling the

floor,

made

grant from

\

possible the

renovation and enlargement of storage and

adding new spaces outlined

expansion.

shop

The exhibition schedule was strengthened not onK b\ the quality ol shows brought in

the housing ol paintings and sculpture, as

from outside the institution, but also by the

well as renovated receiving

number of exhibitions organized by die Museum's staff. By 1976, plans were in place

areas.

and the course

came

ol

I

[opkins's leadership be-

and San

York

was followed

and early

fifties

in short

sixties; this

order by a Cy Twombly

retrospective, the product ol the Institute

Contemporary Art

ol

ol

I'enn-

The year at

oi

die

twenty-eight

with the remarkable Still's gilt oi

paintings. In a liber-

ally illustrated catalogue, Hopkins tracked

and not only provided

invaluable insights into the thought processes

and concerns

ol

the artist, but also

examined

of

American

\rtlol the

ol

salute to the nation's parks,

also

Museum

tion:

gilt

Robert

of

the United Stales Department

Museum

monumental

has

staff

Smithsonian Institution, and America 1976,

the

the history of the

Museum

National

the country's bicentennial

exhibition celebrating Clyfford

and in-house

National Collection of Fine Arts (now the

continuation

Pittsburgh.

s\ Ivania,

opened

the University

at

bv sister institutions

exhibitions organized

Rauschenberg's work organized bv the

Francisco, which

examined die underground movement on both coasts during the

The balance between

and carpentry

1977 saw the "blockbuster" show

outside institutions began with Poets of the

New

with sophisticated environmental controls for

continued throughout the ensuing years. While

evident. Impressive exhibitions from

Cities:

facilities,

of

it

marked the

presentations originated

in

in Collectors, Collecting. Collec-

American Abstract Art since

survey

the Interior's

1945. a

both private collections and the

of

Museum's holdings. A

survey

of

George Segal's

evocative sculpture, organized by the Walker

Art Center and exhibited in the spring

of 1079.

was followed by Jud\ Chicago's controversial The Dinner Party, which drew great numbers

new

Museum. The

the path by which a collection developed.

of

The Museum

year featured a cross-section of European

of

of

Modern

Art's scholarly study

the brilliant colorists oi the

first

decade

the twentieth century, The "Wild Beasts

Fauvism and of inid-vear.

lis Affinities,

of

season was heralded by the Museum's contribution to the Bicentennial, fainting

Decade

in the

Bay Area,

art in

and

—

1970s:

A

curator Suzanne

Foley's look at conceptual

fall

of that

fall

sculpture between the two world wars juxta-

posed with SpacelTimel Sound

:

was the highlight

while the opening of the

visitors to the

and performance

the Bay Area.

The photography program, which had been

Sculpture in California: The Modern Era.

steadilv active throughout the seventies, took

which

a leap forward with the appointment ol Nan

scrutinized the lines of creativity

throughout the stale since the advent

of

Mod-

ernism and documented the seminal figures

and

salient galleries, institutions,

tors that

contributed

to

and collec-

the development

of

Deren Coke earlv

bility lor

ties of the

with Fabricated to

in

I

View of California

at

went on

and

tions

contemporary building design.

Exhibitions continued to increase not only

scope, quality

documentation, and

to

lo

ol

Be Photographed,

organize a multiplicity

ol

(.ok<-

exhibi-

which offered fresh approaches

not only

contemporary photography, but also

areas

ol historical interest,

but in quantity as well. In 1975, gallery spate

raph)

s

ol

his look

manipulated situations.

size,

in

i-

active in both aspects. Beginning

images

Architecture: 1960—1976, a report on the trends variety in

the

department, Coke immediately

Coast of the United State>. This tribute

was continued

ol

die exhibiting and collecting activ

became

state

1979 as director

Photography Department. Assuming responsi-

individual artistic expression on the West to the

in

Response

to

to

such as Photog-

Constructivism

I

L980), an

25

investigation into the impact of Constructiv-

Martinson examined expressive figuration

ism on the world of photography, and Avant-

in paintings, sculpture,

Garde Photography his in

landmark

in

historical review,

December 1980 and

the country

Germany: 1919—1939,

and

to

which opened

and photography

SFMMA

follow-

Biennial

Human

Condition:

III.

Three major exhibitions marked the 1981

circulated throughout

Europe during the

The

in

drawings, prints,

season. Co-organized by the San Francisco

Museum

interspersed with other investigations of con-

Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Expressionism: A Ger-

temporary and historical photography with

man

memorable shows were

ing two years. These

of

Intuition, 1905-1920

Dorothy Martinsons Recent Color 1982) and

scholarly study of

The Nude

from

{

in

Photography 1981 ), and Coke's (

World War

The Markers of 1981 and Weegee of 1984, as well as

Beyond Color

(

1980) and Photography

1945-1980(1984), organized by

in California:

Louise Katzman. In

all,

its first

approximately one-

lifes

was an extensive,

German Expressionism

stirrings to the aftermath of

I.

The

quiet, contemplative

still

of Italian painter Giorgio Morandi,

assembled by the Des Moines Art Center, were exhibited

in the fall,

American

while the recent

was dealt with

third of all exhibitions installed annually

history of

have focused on photography under Mr. Coke's

retrospective of the work of

leadership.

circulated by the

The decade of the eighties opened with an even more intense schedule of exhibitions

can Art. While the Museum's close relationship

and related

with the Solomon R.

increasing

activities

number

presentations.

and with an

ever-

was sustained

of internally generated

Henry Hopkins's

pivotal retro-

spective of Abstract and Figurative Expressionist Philip

claim

in

Guston opened

to critical ac-

January 1980, then circulated

Examining Guston's contribution and

gestural abstraction

to

and

to

to

the emerging

interest within the art world

Edward Hopper,

Whitney Museum of Ameri-

Guggenheim Museum

in 1982 with the

showing of

Munich: 1896-1914,

was a

this

ments of the Museum's own curatorial

staff:

of

shows presented, twenty-nine were

were a thoroughly documented survey of the

work of southern California!! Edward Ruscha,

and a cluster of mini-retrospectives focused on ceramic sculptors

in

Ceramic Sculpture:

Six Artists, co-organized with the Whitney

the public at large.

The following summer saw the initiation of the Museum's biennial survey of contemporary American attitudes, Twenty American Artists.

a

organized in-house. Particularly noteworthv

concerns of expressive figuration, the show

was of profound

in

in

year that truly highlighted the accomplish-

thirty-eight

throughout the United States and internationally.

Kandinsky

art

Sponsored by Collectors Forum, a

support group comprising individuals inter-

Museum

of

American

Art.

The up-to-the-

minute report of the summer's sculpture biennial was counterbalanced by a scholarly, historical overview of Precisionism,

Images

ested in developing private collections, this

ofAmerica: Precisionist Painting and Modern Photography, curated and documented by

exhibition reported on the current work of

Karen Tsujimoto.

photographers as well as painters and sculp-

The increased use

of borrowed works in

and presented the work of Christo, Jim Dine, Agnes Martin, and Lucas Samaras,

expanded use of the permanent collection

among others, culminating

exhibition purposes. Installations dealing with

tors

in the

Tony Smith sculpture Tau, which

magnificent filled the

temporary exhibitions was paralleled

in the

for

a range of aspects of twentieth-century art,

newly restored sculpture court. This tradition

drawn exclusively from permanent collection

was continued

holdings, were

mounted with increasing

quency. While

in

can

Artists:

in the

1982 biennial, 20 Ameri-

Sculpture 1982, in which newlj

fre-

1975 two exhibitions featur-

appointed associate director of art. George

ing works from the graphics collection were

Neubert, reviewed the contemporaneous work

hung,

"I artists

ing a

working

in

sculptural form, includ-

monumental Georgia O'Keeffe

spiral

in

1982 eleven shows were organized,

ranging from the mural studies to

of

Diego Rivera

works acquired during John Humphrey's

piece and examples by Isamn Noguchi, Bruce

twenty-five years as curator to the photo-

Nauman, and

graphs of Ansel Adams. In 1981 Van

saw the third

others.

The summer

of 1984

in this series when Henry Hopkins and assistant curator Dorothy

Deren Coke introduced an ongoing series of installations from the photography collection

under the umbrella which dealt

tion,

at

title

Facets

gallery, outfitting

the Collec-

and

of illusion

il

with movable walls which

permitted the viewing

various times with such

diverse themes as the world fantasy,

<>j

of a

greal part of the

collection in a single space, thereby creating

urban America, and Paul Strand, and

an invaluable env irontnenl students

presented as well periodic reports on recent

of Stills

scholars and

work.

The development

acquisitions. In 1982. George Neubert initi-

for

of depth in the perma-

when

ated a sequence of shows drawn from the

nent collection was furthered in 1979

painting, sculpture, and graphics collections;

seven paintings by Josef Albers were donated

titled

Resource I Reservoir, they examined such

MacAgy. the collage and assemblage, and the

Anni Albers and the Josef AJbers Founda-

by

topics as the gilts of Jermayne

tion.

holdings

ings

of

paintings series,

Richard Diebenkorn. A related

of

of

Bay Region, as

combined with

gift,

and numerous

the five paint-

prints already in the

collection, resulted in a mini-retrospective of

Resound Response, commented upon

new ideas and works

This

the

Bauhaus

Empha-

painter's contributions.

sizing Albers's explorations into color relation-

well

ships by his use of an established format of

as national, artists.

squares within squares, the grouping

THIS growing use of the permanent col-

cludes ten examples from the

was made possible by the great

lection

Homage

to the

Square Series, as well as samplings of other

Museums

explosion that took place in the

in-

serial investigations.

Other

pace of acquiring. During the year preceding

artists

have been singled out

for

the arrival of Henry Hopkins, seventy-seven

emphasis

works entered the collection through

chase of a significant three-part painting by

gilt.

in the collection. In 1978, the pur-

purchase, or bequest; by 1983. well over six

Philip Guston prompted a

hundred were being acquired annually. This

the artist of four works spanning the period

increase in quantity was fortunately coupled

from 1947

The acquisition of key objects expanded the scope of the

with a leap single

in quality.

to 1977.

gift

on the part of

These, added

paintings already in the

to

the two

Museum's possession,

traced the evolution of the

artist's

concerns

holdings, while periodic additions of groups

from figurative fantasy of the

of works by a single artist, or dealing with a

the lyrically colored gestural canvases of

specific theme, contributed to the collection's

Abstract Expressionism into his return

depth.

figuration in the seventies.

While the permanent collection

Henry Hopkins upon one

that

that greeted

his arrival in 1974

had improved over the years,

it

gifts

forties

through

to

Through single

and purchases the Museum also acquired

was

holdings in depth of Richard Diebenkorn.

was

represented by seven canvases, as well as

nonetheless a collection that reflected the

numerous examples of his drawings and

donor community instead of being broadly

prints.

representative. Determined to build on the

with five works in various

collections individualism and the unique

exemplify

qualities of the surrounding artistic

munity, and

to

historical areas.

Hopkins

ol

set out

His proposal works

the "painterly painters"

to

first

on

vear.

Museum

Hopkins began ol

\

of

artist

with

i>its

lasting well over a

in Still s gift to the

was teaching

Washington State College

monumental

the

Museum

in

Pullman,

to

Museum

gifts

s

consisted of objects created during the

two

renovated a

sig-

nificantly the representation of Color field

painting, shaped canvases,

and second-

generation Abstract Expressionism, as well as (

examples of both northern and southern

California

developments. Beginning

the collection received, through

at

abstractions dated 1974. To house

this historic' group, the

of

preceding decade, thus strengthening

a

of twenty-eighl extraordinary can-

while the

which enlarged the scope

Throughout the seventies, the predominant

vases ranging from a figurative work painted in L934,

by the acquisition of single pivotal objects

and related sculptors

Still,

which culminated

depth was accompanied

holdings of the art of the twentieth century.

correspondence and a series Mr. and Mrs. Clyfford

in

what he termed

by

was approved enthusiastically by the Board Trustees. In early 1974,

represented

mediums which

discrete series developed by the

This collecting

on a systemfocus

five

too. is well

artist.

strengthen as well the weak

atic reformation.

the acquisition

com-

Frank Stella,

tant

works

by Carry Bell,

Roy

De

gift,

in 1974.

impor-

Forest.

Robert Irwin. Morris Louis, Agnes Martin.

Joan Mitchell, Kenneth Noland. Ludwig

27

Sander. Hassel Smith.

W

illiam T.

and graphics were growing arithmetically, the

Andy Warhol, and

photography collection, under Van Deren

\\ iley.

The tradition of giving established by the Women's Board in 1944 was maintained through the additions made to the collection by the board's successor, the Modern Art

Coke's direction, was increasing almost geometrically. Mirroring the policies in the other

mediums, both single important

prints

and

theme

clusters of images related by artist or

Council. Their 1977 choice of a multi-media

were acquired. As a result of the exhibition

drawing by Christo, which documented his

Avant-Garde Photography

Marin County project Running Fence, was

revealed

followed by a

Nathan Oliveira, and,

ing by

figurative paintin 1983.

Robert

Arneson's wryly humorous clay work Cali-

received by

of interest in photog-

of the collection on local

gift.

To a collection replete with

Adams, Bullock, and Weston were added the images of Kesting, Blumenfeld, and Umbo. Works by

fornia Artist.

The dependence

Germany, which

raphy, prints from this era were purchased or

monumental assemblage by

Bruce Conner, an expressi\e

new avenues

in

artists of

more contemporary de-

cades were added as well, the landscapes of

donors declined during the seventies and was

Robert Adams, the searing investigations of

replaced by a national community of patron-

the drug culture by Larry Clark,

age. Significant groupings of works were re-

provocative figures of Robert Mapplethorpe.

ceived from Mr. and Mrs. William C. Janss of

Donors enthusiastic about the statements of

Sun

Valley, Idaho,

who gave

pivotal

of Abstract Expressionism by

examples

Hans Hofmann,

Willem de Kooning, and Alfred

John

Altoon, Jacques Villon, and a powerful out-

door sculpture by Isaac Witkin. In addition, of single objects were received frequently

gifts

from donors

and

in

New

York. Texas. Los Angeles,

Seattle.

to

en-

Man

Ray, Maurice Tabard,

and Use Bing. while Byron Meyer provided

means

the

to

acquire works by Tato, Joel-

Peter Witkin. and Robert Frank. of

The number

photographs acquired between 1979 and

the end of 1983 has

amounted

over

to well

2,300.

The expanding

origin of gifts was paral-

leled in an increase in sources of funding.

Private individuals

as the National

medium emerged

hance the collection: Robert Shapazian donated prints by

Leslie, as

well as multiple works by Jasper Johns,

the photographic

and the

and foundations, as

Endowment

well

for the Arts,

specified funds received from

Museum

and

activi-

The collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art possess a unique character,

which has been determined by

patrons and donors,

boards of trustees.

its

professional

its It

reflects

its

staff,

proximity

its

enhanced purchasing power. Funds bearing the names of valued supporters

artists of the area

Doris and Donald Fisher. Evelyn and Walter

distance from, the mainstream of national

ties greatly

Haas,

Haas

Jr..

Ruth and Mose* Laskv. Madeleine

Russell, Mrs. Ferdinand Smith, and Mrs.

Paul L. Wattis joined those

of

the Charles H.

Land Family Foundation and the

T. B.

Walker

to a

unique body

and international strength of

—

of

work by the independent

and

its

access

to, yet

attitudes. Its areas of

the Fauves,

and

the twenties

German photography

thirties, collage

and

assemblage objects, ceramic sculpture

of

Foundation, enabling the purchase of critical

California, the

objects by both contemporary and historical

— provide thought-provoking experiences

figures:

Jean \rp. Elmer Bischoff, Robert

the

ol its

the judicious pruning ol redundant material

ence.

from the colle< lion, moneys were realized

lil'lv

acquire kej works bj Joseph Cornell, Julio

Gonzalez,

Max

work of the "painterly" painters

holdings offers visitors a historical

context and a wealth \s

(lie

years,

it

development

of

varied

isual experi-

Museum embarks on ol

its

second

the permanent collection.

Pechstein, John Storrs, and

lulr the collections of painting, sculpture,

v

looks forward to the continued

others. V\

for

iewing public, while the broad spectrum

\

Mangold. Kenneth Price, George Segal, Paul Strand, and Paul Wonner. \ml. through

to

and

Katherine Church Holland

Conservation of a

Twentieth-Century Collection

Wh\ SHOULD RECENTLY CREATED

need con-

\iii

servation or restoration treatment?

Working close

how

w

v

I

1 1 1

i

modern

are

we observe

art,

place, changes

in

appearance

thai inevitabl)

tory ol art.

siuds.

continuing care

ute to the

the piece

ephemeral nature

Twentieth-century susceptible

art is

work

ol a

permanence

is

and methods

ol fabrication. In this

artists

ol art.

premature transmutation.

to

influenced by the

care

Initially,

materials

artist's

century,

the

in

ol the artifacts of

A

each object and maintaining

stable environment

fundamental

When

fantastic variety ol readily available materials.

intended by

used

works

ol

conservation treatment

are

i-

required, mini-

recommended. The materials

i-

repair must be compatible with and yet

iii

distinguishable from the original.

mediums and methods, contemporary

sible, materials

have

ol art,

to this preservation.

lated for artists* use. Deviating from lime-tested artists

th<- artist.

exhibition and storage,

foi

transporting

in

mal intervention

not necessarily formu-

and the

the collections. Preventive

of

isual characteristics

\

the works

of

the most important step toward the physi-

is

and great care

have had the benefit (and the bane) of a

many newl) invented or

and understanding

cal preservation ol

he particulai K

inji to

pro\

contrib-

all

Even

each era can onlj be achieved through research,

the work. Environmental factors, handling, and of

artifa

the ever-evolving his-

ol

The preservation

alter the statement of the artist or the impact of

inherent characteristics

and

art

potential.

life

statements take on a significance

arl

the long-range context

metamorphoses take

pletion by the artist. Subtle

iewed as ha\ ing a long

\

informal

com

objects undergo changes after

([iiiekly

from the museum standpoint,

employed

\\

herevei pos-

conservation treat-

in

experimented with plastics, pigments, adhesives,

ment should be reversible. Works

and support materials, producing thereby an

sun

unending multiplicity

been restored numerous times, and the compara-

of artistic

inventions that

defy standard definition. In the desire ate expression, an interest in

On

often been put aside.

immedi-

for

permanence has

the other hand, a

fine

craftsmanship and fabrication.

Whether casual or contemporary

unknown

our century

art ol

will

Modern mediums

often have properties that

(

Continuing re-

search and experimentation, which enables con-

Many

durability.

probably have

impose restrictions on cleaning, varnishing, or other conservation treatment.

careful in construction,

art is of

young

undergo repeated preservative treatments as

well.

sizable contingent ol artists continues to revel in

ived from previous centuries have generally

tively to

that have

servators to keep abreast

ol

new

art

materials and

of the materials of today's artists have not been in

formats,

existence long enough for us to have a complete

of new or modified conservation treatments to

understanding stability.

One

of their

area of critical concern

that of

photographic materials, where the chemistry

is

them

patible materials, which predestines

in

the

many assemblages

San Francisco Museum

ol

to

of this type

Modern

contemporary

art.

Museum

extends beyond the

sult yvith

Art

Conserva-

through

who con-

conservators on technical problems or

mediums and methods. The behind-the-scenes conservation program the San Francisco Museum ol Modern Art

questions about

plex fabrications incorporate unrelated or incom-

decay. There are

ol

frequent contact- with working artists,

Some com-

the observed images.

ol

tion also

ol

the emulsions, coloring agents, and processing the lifeline

essential to the constant development

meet the demands

physical and chemical is

is

ol

consists of regular examination and inspection the collections to determine structure, changes

need

collection, such as Robert Rauschenberg's

in

Collection and Bruce Conner's Looking Glass.

Documentation of the works

These creations, warmly nicknamed "conservator's

graphic form provides an essential record

nightmares.'"

demand

and

continue

tion

will

tegular conservation attento

throughout their lifetime.

A itv

of contemporary collections.

configuration,

monumental

able weight

man)

these

ol

in

of

modem

(

\

ulnerabil-

irregular

and consider-

works

make

ol art

difficult to

handle.

unprotected elements inherent

the designs also

alteration.

The

scale,

mammoths tremendously

The nature

makes them susceptible

)pcn expanses

ol color,

areas

to

ol

exposed canvas, and unglazed ceramics arc examples of materials

and surfaces unable

to

with-

stand damages such as soiling, abrasions, burnish

marks, or cracks.

Am

disfigurement

to

surfaces will strongly detract from the

conception.

<arc

of

torial,

variety of factors contribute to the

these

artist -

damages

condition, and

in

ol

correction.

in written

and photothe

foi

each work of art. The conservation depart-

ment works

require treatment

ol

in

(lose conjunction y\ith the

<

.ura-

Research Collections, and Registration

departments

to

assemble

sier of information on

a

comprehensive dos-

each item

in the

permanent

collection. In the early

decades of the Museum's

history,

the conservation program was modest, under-

taken with the ad-hoc assistance of consulting conservators. Then, in the earl) seventies, the

Museum expanded erans' Building

to

the third floor of the

and the Elise

S.

II.

\

na-

tion Laboratory was founded. Mrs. Haas had a special interest in conservation. For man) y<

>hc shared a close association recognized

•

onsi

:

rators

and Caroline Keck.

29

In

\%

ith

the nationally

and educators Sheldon

honor of the Kecks, Mrs

technical support, and training positions for

Haas generously funded the creation and operation of the facility. The laboratory rapidly estab-

apprentices and interns pursuing studies in con-

lished itself as a major conservation resource,

servation.

developing the Museum's conservation programs

and providing services

museums, and facility

to artists, other

western

the public as well. Originally, the

was equipped

to treat

paintings and

some

objects. In 1975. through the assistance of the

National gifts

Endowment

for the Arts

from Mrs. Haas, a

site

was

and additional

outfitted for the

conservation of works on paper. In 1982, the main

The care

of

its

permanent collection

museum,

responsibility of every

obligation that

Francisco

is

of

Modern

pride in our dedication

which

This

is

selves,

is

Art,

which are fresh

in

to

commitment

into the next to the

preserva-

tion of the artifacts that constitute the art of the

modern

era.

James Bernstein and Inge-Lise Eckmann,

Co-directors since 1976.

includes four

30

take great

appearance and impact.

As the Museum grows and moves

on

we

demonstrated by the works of art them-

century, so will our

and passed

to six

The diverse department

conservators, secretarial and

the

an

in excellent condition.

laboratory was again up-dated, with substantial

Conservation operations were begun by found-

is is

the permanent collec-

to

maintained

space and equipment improvements.

ing Chief Conservator Tony Rockwell

it

not always fulfilled. At the San

Museum

tion,

but

James Bernstein and Inge-Lise Eckmann Co-directors

,

Conservation

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE COLLECTION

Henri Matisse FRENCH, 1869-1954

In 1904,

THE YEAR following

the completion of The Slave (page 39), Henri Matisse,

spurred on by his close friends Paul Signac and Henri-Edmond Cross, began experi-

menting with the

Pointillist

technique of the Neo-Impressionists. The somber palette

The Girl with Green

of his earlier paintings was replaced by increasingly high-keyed coloration.

Eyes

spring of 1905,

LA FILLE AUX YEUX VERTS

Matisse's color

1908

constrictions of natural depiction. His brush strokes, no longer subservient to struc-

when he

ranged from succinct daubings

In 1905, Matisse

on canvas 26 x 20" 66.0 X 50.8

50.6086

and

his family spent the

to

first

Lew

he had executed there were hung Derain (who had spent the

the Salon

at

summer with

arbitrary, free of the

sinuous linear arabesques. of

many summers

small fishing port on the southwestern coast of France. In the

cm

Bequest of Harriet Lane

volupte at the Salon des Independents,

et

had become intense, luminous, and completely

tural definition, oil

exhibited Luxe, calme,

By the

at Collioure, a

two of the canvases

fall,

d'Automne together with work by Andre

the Matisses), Henri Manguin, Albert Marquet,

Maurice Vlaminck, and others. Violently colored with juxtaposed vermilions, persimmons, and ultramarines, freely and informally composed, intoxicating ing and seeminglv of

whom dubbed By

in feel-

from within, these works electrified public and critics alike, one

lit

the artists as a group les fauves, the wild beasts.

freedom waned and his

1907, Matisse's predilection for the Fauvist

work of Cezanne was rekindled.

A new

concern

In a series of portraits executed between 1907

for structure

and

1911

appeared

interest in the

in his

canvases.

he painstakingly worked out

compositional problems in which he experimented with various figure/background relationships.

While

in several paintings in this

group the subject

presented against

is

either a plain background, or a ground simply divided horizontally, thus effectively

placing the focus on the

sitter, in

visually almost equally weighted

two of the portraits the background and the figure are

and the interplay between

complex. The Girl with Green Eyes

The

figure

is

for

of the sitter's chin

is

dominance,

drawn closer by the

The freedom frontal

what

repetitive

flat

repeated in the embroidery of her robe and

areas,

is

free

a

foil

strictly vertically,

for the static.

though some-

the central axis. Unlike the other portraits of this period, the head

not truncated by the top this

and expressive. The planes are

and coloration provides

pose of the model, who has been positioned

brim serves

The brush handling,

rhythms of the arabesque-like strokes.

of the paint handling

to the left of

more

yet they are formally linked.

the emphasized contour of the cast of Greek sculpture behind her.

whether rendering patterns or broad,

is

one of those compositions.

and background compete

The pendulous curve

and ground

figure

is

edge of the canvas. Here the horizontal yellow slash of the hat

purpose, cutting off the supposed curve of the hair and overlapping

the sculpture behind

it

as well.

clear eves, yet the personality

The is

face, a

chalky pink, pointed oval, gazes out with

not revealed.

The

sitter is but

one element

in a

many-faceted composition. It

is

the joyous, audacious color of this portrait, however, which

impact. Matisse has taken his Fauve palette and

made

it

richer, denser.

open areas of bare canvas which enlivened and informalized figures of 1905-6. Here,

makes the

complementary colors are abutted and

his

Gone

initial

are the

Landscapes and

strident, closelv lined

areas arc juxtaposed. The arcing black outlines, which in Matisse's later work will take on a liant

life

of their own. here intermittently delineate features

pigments.

k<

it

and

set off the bril-

Henri Matisse FRENCH. 1869-1954

The collecting wife,

Sarah

activities of the Stein family

— during

the

—

Gertrude and Leo, Michael and his

decades of the twentieth century are well documented

first

in

the annals of art history. Their discovery of the avant-garde artists of the day, then-

Portrait

of Michael

Emphasis

Stein

But

26 'A x 19

x

7/."

50.:>

Sarah and Michael Stein Memorial Collection Gift of

Nathan Cummings

community

larger, for

was

it

was here

it

it

is

Sarah and Michael "who

area that they returned after their years of living in collection was dispersed,

and

it

is

in the

paintings by Henri Matisse which they pur-

— when Leo was two and Michael, nine —

his business partnership

and took the family

to

Europe.

When

their father dissolved

they returned

some

five

years later they settled in Oakland, across the bay from San Francisco. Michael went

East for his education, earning his degree from Johns Hopkins University, where he

Stein

remained

1916

join his fathers business.

for

an extra year of graduate work

siblings' guardian on canvas X 22'/."

were the

Michael, Leo, and Gertrude Stein were born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, but the year Gertrude was born

oil

San Francisco Bay Area,

that

55.3546

Portrait of Sarah

for they

alike.

wider range, and, generally speaking, the most colorful.

of the

to this

placed on Gertrude and Leo.

much of their museums of this region that many of the chased and cherished may be seen. Prance,

cm

been the subject of exhibitions and books

in these chronicles is usually

to the art

loom

on canvas

67.3

their salons have

initiators, the collectors with the

1916

oil

and

collections,

been living

On

then returned

to California to

the death of their father in 1891, Michael

and promptly moved them

for a time. In 1893

in biology,

to

became

his

San Francisco, where he himself had

he married Sarah Samuels, the daugther of a well-to-do

28'/.

72.4 X 56.5

San Francisco

cm

Sarah and Michael Stein Memorial Collection Gift of Elise Stern

54.1117

family,

whose outgoing and

affectionate nature

was the perfect

foil for

her husbands quiet temperament. In 1903. ostensibly discouraged by a labor dispute in

which he sided with the

Haas

workers, Michael retired from business. He, Sarah, and their young son soon settled in Paris

near Leo and Gertrude, and they, too, became caught up in the younger pair's

enthusiasm

for recent art.

Matisse's Fauve canvas.

met the

artist.

From

Late in 1905, after participating in the family purchase of

Woman

that point

with Hat, exhibited at the Salon d'Automne, the Steins

on the couple collected Matisse's work almost exclusively.

The personal friendship between Matisse and the Steins developed one of mutual respect, affection, and support. Late

in 1907,

rapidly,

becoming

Sarah Stein, the sculptor

Hans Purrmann, and

others founded the

Academie Matisse,

a school centered around

Matisse's teaching. Matisse was a frequent visitor at the Stein- Saturda) night gatherings,

where he met many American collectors who. persuaded

In

Sarahs eloquent enthusiasm,

acquired his work.

The

portraits of

evidence

of

Sarah and Michael Stein, painted by Matisse

this close friendship.

Although nearly identical

format, they differ greaily in approach and effect.

more

traditional of the two. Like

pose

is

is

The

in L916,

are enduring

and similar

in size

portrayal of Michael

The Girl with Green Eyes (page

:{.?).

its

far the

is l>\

direct, frontal

set slightly to the left, hut here, in contrast to the earlier portrait, the palette

severely limited to ochers and browns with hold black outlines.

The face

is

simplv

defined and broadly modeled, and the relationship between figure and background

seemingly straightforward, save

for the fluid

brushwork on the

neck which momentarily links foreground and background. element of the

it

adrift.

theless projects a feeling of

warm

conversation, and approbation.

my paintings than

I

He

affection

its

right side of the sitter's

force! til

it

was

to

for

advice,

has been quoted as saying. "She knows more about

to

filling the top half of

facial features in abstract

tains this inverted-triangle composition,

black wedges which form a V that

interjects the

right side of the subject's

is

is

its

strongly in evidence.

Matisse's other work of 1916,

insightful. In a preliminary charcoal study the artist

and describing the

v

Sarah that Matisse turned

companion and closer

cuneate composition virtually

I

and respect.

do." In his portrait of her, this rapport

More adventurous than

is

Austerely presented, this portrait In Matisse none-

Fond as he was of Michael Stein,

more

and visually frees the

will of the artist/creator,

head, essentially setting

also

in

it

is

determined the basic

the paper with the enlarged head

schematic shorthand. The painting releft

and

right sides sliced by tapering

echoed and reinforced by the throat of the

sitter.

This effectively frames the head and sets up the simple geometric structure of circle (head) within truncated triangle. Like silhouette of the head

Against this stark, sculptural form.

is

many

of Matisse's earlier portraits, the circular

cut off along the top, thus

flatly

moving the focus back

to the face.

rendered backdrop, the visage emerges as a surprisingly

KCH

35

v; l

t,;-'-*.'v<«y

Henri Matisse FRENCH. 1869-1954

Born

northern France,

in 1869 in

Matisse was

began

to

initially trained to

study

art,

become a

Saint-Quentin. Determined

LE SERF 1900-1903

capital in the winter of 189l/92. at the

36'/Âť

X

14 7/ÂŤ

91.8 X 37.8

known X

was not

it

in a

until

he was twenty that he

course taught by Professor Croise in

receive formal training in Paris, Matisse

to

He

moved

to the

studied briefly with the academician Adolphe

Academie Julian and

Moreau, where he remained bronze 6/10

town of Le Cateau-Cambresis, Henri

lawyer;

drawing from plaster casts

The Slave

Bouguereau

in the

until 1897.

shortly afterward entered the studio of Gustave

Moreau, a Symbolist and inveterate Romantic themes, encouraged individ-

for his jewel-like paintings of mysterious, Oriental

13"

X 33.0 cm

Bequest of Harriet Lane Levy

ualism in his students; his studio attracted the most talented of the young

among them Georges Rouault,

50.6095

While

his early

Albert Marquet, and Henri Manguin.

academic years entailed some study of the human body, Matisse's

work throughout the Moreau years was dominated by landscapes, lifes.

artists,

interiors,

and

Moved

In 1899 he purchased a small painting of three bathers by Paul Cezanne.

by Cezanne's carefully studied approach

examine the nude and he Although he had

to the

do so

set out to

human

body, Matisse decided to re-

in paintings, drawings,

experimented with sculpture

briefly

bronze medallions depicting a woman's profile in shallow thirty that

he turned his

Determined

to

full attention to

still

executing a pair of

in 1894, relief,

it

and sculpture.

was not

he was

until

the creation of three-dimensional objects.

medium of sculpture, Matisse spent the evenings Ecole Communale de la Ville de Paris thoroughly and

educate himself

of the next two years at the

in the

painstakingly studying technique and anatomy. During this time he executed a free

copy of Antoine-Louis Barye's 1852 sculpture of a jaguar devouring a hare,

in

which he

concentrated on the visual dynamics of the attacking animal. In the winter of 1900 Matisse embarked on his

first

original sculpture,

an examination of the male figure

which he called The Slave.

On

first

inspection The Slave appears to be closely allied with the work of Auguste

Rodin, and

Matisse greatly admired the older master,

in truth,

whom

he had met,

possibly in 1898. But in the evolution of The Slave, a process that took three vears,

Matisse grappled with the work of both Rodin and Antoine Bourdelle.

to

whom

he

turned for technical advice, and painstakingly developed his own personal direction

and statement. The model fact

been the model

earlier sculpture

and the moment

The Slave, an

for

for the legs of Rodin's

had captured the after,

focused instead on the

Italian peasant

Walking

Man

of 1875-78; but

figure in motion, alluding to the

Matisse stabilized his form, planting

human

named Bevilaqua, had

in

where the

moment

before

heavily and solidly, and

it

essence. Eyes gravely cast downward, shoulders hunched

forward, the figure turns upon

itself,

fixed

and immobile. The emphasis

is

placed on

the spirit of the subject, dignified, intense, introspective.

Matisse was acutely aware of the

totality of the figure

manipulated his surface. While basically true

to the

and

it

was

to thai

end

that

underlying anatomy, the energetic

texturing, broken almost to the point of being pointillistic, takes on an aesthetic its

own. sometimes serving

lo

mold and model, Matisse also used the sculpture knife

great swaths

which he

left

to

balance, sometimes

he

to enliven. to

Working with

life

of

his fingers

pare and slice, cutting

unmodulated. The surface shimmers and pounds, reaching

for the core.

Executed

in

the nascent years of the twentieth century, The Slave looks back to the

tudio-model sculpture of the preceding years and ahead

to

the rhythmic art to

come.

presaging the elements which Matisse and his contemporaries would develop and perfect.

38

k<

11

In

Henri Matisse

DECEMBER

itan life,

FRENCH, 1869-1954

1916,

weary of the northern winters and constant pressures of metropol-

Matisse traveled

to the city of

Nice on the French Riviera. Finding both

made

relaxation and inspiration there, Matisse gradually

this sunlit

town his home

reflect not only the

Nice during the subsequent years

Henriette, II

base.

CROSSE TETE; HENRIETTE,

heightened colors of the environment

DEUXIEME

also the area's proximity to the alluring lands of North Africa. Canvases depicting

fiTAT

The paintings executed

1927 light-filled interiors

crowded with

ing on tufted chaises, or bronze 6/l0 13

x 9 x

in

—

the sea, luxuriant foliage, exotic flowers

richly patterned textiles,

windowed scenes revealing

—

but

sensuous odalisques reclin-

the silky blue of the Mediterra-

nean flowed from Matisse's hand. Midway through the following decade, perhaps

12"

33.0 x 22.9 x ho. 5

cm

in

reaction to this decorative inclination, Matisse returned to the three-dimensional object,

Bequesl of Harriet Lane Lev)

seeking

to

purify his forms and render

them monumental. After completing a semi-

50.6096

reclining nude {Seated

Nude

in the

Cone

Collection, Baltimore

pared surface and powerful silhouette speaking

menced

initial

him since

for

head

in the series,

executed

was rendered

in 1925,

The following year Matisse began work on

purifying, stylizing

its

model who

1920.

subtly animated surface and faithful adherence to the convex the face.

of Art),

new concerns, he com-

to the artist's

a series of three portrait heads of Henriette Darricarrere, a Nice

had been posing

The

Museum

and compacting, he achieved

realistically, with a

and concave nuances of

a second head. Reducing and

a classic ideal.

Emphasis was on

weightiness. underscored by the wide-set eyes, jowly, pear-shaped countenance, thick-

ened neck, and downcast direction of eyebrows and mouth. Expunged of superfluous and even natural

details, including ears, the

smooth visage

is

volumetrically conceived,

transmitting a sense of outwardly expanding pressure.

Albert Elsen has noted the presence of an African mask, perhaps of the Baules, in Matisse's studio during the time this sculpture was modeled.

tween the primitive and the modern

is

The resemblance be-

certainly visible in the serene, aloof aspect of

the head, abstracted handling of the orbed, high forehead, and strictly controlled

waves of the coiffure. The ovoid.

The

final

hair, in fact, nearly

head, Henriette,

III,

sliced,

much

oi

the facial definition

is

lidded. Although suggestive of an individual, series a sense of

The 1

Vlberl E. Elsen, Hi-tin Matisse

1

New

The Sculpture York:

Ham

Vbrams, 1972 1, pp.166-67.

oj

predecessor.

Its

more personal

surface

is

modeled

planar and angular, and the eyes are it

nonetheless shares with the rest of the

stylization found in the Henriette portraits

Matisse's next series, the Tiare, which

K)

its

to a

calm introspection.

N.

of

bas-relief applied to the basic

executed in 1929, returns

expression, yet retains the austere aspect of

and

becomes a

feminine beaut)

in his

marked the

sculptural oeuvre.

was enhanced and made artist's

kch

lyrical in

return to the sensual aspects

Kees van Don gen FRENCH. BORN NETHERLANDS, 1877-1968

The legendary thirty YEARS preceded World War

are nostalgically

I

known

was the cultural capital of the world, a center

arts,

fashion,

and the pleasures of

as the old order clashed with the new, a

LA CHEMISE NOIRE ca. 1905-9

were the center of

Among them was

in

mores, the

which Picasso

and attracted many young

life

France that

bohemian underground was born.

Montmartre, and particularly the bateau-lavoir, the building

bohemian

in

artists flocked to this cultural

The Black Chemise

this

change

for revolution in social

Avant-garde

life.

social

as la belle epoque. During this period

Paris

mecca and

and

of peace, prosperity,

artists

and

lived,

writers.

the Dutch painter Kees van Dongen.

Dongen experimented with Modernism by working first and then in a Neo-Impressionist vein. By 1905 he had arrived at

Settling in Paris in 1900, van oil

on canvas with wood attachment

X I8/4" 56.5 X 46.4 CI11

in

an Impressionist style

22'/,

Gift of

64.59

Wilbur D. May

impromptu

a vibrantly colored, loose,

and

for in

them

La

belle

the Fauvism of Henri Matisse

to

was van Dongen's penchant

for depict-

epoque was the era of the cafe and the cabaret,

found a new, free-form milieu

artists

in

which

express their ideas. Cafe

to

fascinated van Dongen. as did the sinister and at times pathetic underworld of

A

nighttime Paris. poverty,

of

analogous

his circle. Different from Fauvism, however,

ing the nightlife of Montmartre.

life

style

and the

many

general tendency toward the bizarre and a romantic taste for vice,

lowlife

intellectuals

French Realist

—

petty criminals, pimps,

and

and

prostitutes

— shaped

Originating in

artists in the early years of the century.

literature, the

theme

of the prostitute in art

by Edgar Degas, in a series of monotypes

made

in

was

first

the attitudes

extensively explored

1879—80, and Henri de Toulouse-

Lautrec during the 1890s. Influenced by Toulouse-Lautrec, Pablo Picasso's paintings of prostitutes of late 1900

Dongen, who lived Dressed

at

and

1901 set

an important precedent

for the

work of van

the bateau-lavoir from 1906 to 1907.

black lace and black stockings, the demimondaine in van Dongen's The

in

Black Chemise stands

in

an awkward pose, striving

while being highly conscious

oi

to

appear feminine and alluring

both the reality of the situation and her audience. Her

large, deep, purple-black, nocturnal eyes stare wistfullv into the distance.

inviting

atmosphere of the surrounding bedroom, loosely rendered

The

soft.

in gentle pinks,

lavenders, and whites, boldly contrasts with the stark figure in black.

The

disparity

is

underscored by the delicate, feminine bows on the bed and the bright floral-patterned rug stylized in the

While the other van

manner

of Matisse.

overall coloration of

Dongen works

The Black Chemise

may have enabled some women

experience the heady, exciting but for

many women,

prostitution

sad

woman

in

comparison with

life

to

is

decidedly Fauvist.

throw off the shackles

of the cabarets

and dance

of

convention and

halls of Jin-de-siecle Paris,

victims of increased urbanization and a changing family structure,

was the only option and a harsh existence. Van Dongen sympathized with of the night

Black Chemise >i

subdued

of the period, the use of non-naturalistic color, as seen in the

green highlights and the purple shading of the face, Prostitution

is

is

whose head

not an

compassionate look

at

is

surrounded by an aura

of

melancholy purple. The

image of prurient voyeurism or wanton sensuality; rather the underbell) of la belle epoque.

this

DCduP

it

is

Andre Derain

The celebrated salon d'automne OF

1905 held at the Grand-Palais of the

Elysees in Paris provoked a wave of virulent criticism that gave the

FRENCH, 1880-1954

first

reaction to the vibrantly colored paintings of Henri Matisse,

1906

Vlaminck, and their friends by provincial art is

on canvas mounted on board

oil

20 X 25/2" 50.8 X 64.8

Bequest of Harriet Lane Levy 50.6075

critics

to the

this hostile

Andre Derain, Maurice

and a public weaned on academic

captured by the words of Marcel Nicolle in his exhibition review for the Journal

de Rouen:

"We now come

astonishment. Here

cm

name Fauvism

major aesthetic movement of the twentieth century. The essence of

Landscape

Champs-

all

impossible since what

description, is

— has nothing whatever red, yellow, green;

all

presented

to

reporting as well as

to

us here

—

all

in this

Salon so rich

criticism

in

become equally

apart from the materials employed

do with painting: some formless confusion of colors; blue,

some splotches

who

naive sport of a child present."

most stupefying gallery

to the

of pigment crudely juxtaposed; the barbaric

and

plays with the box of colors he just got as a Christmas

1

The three most important

artists of the

group, Matisse, Derain, and Vlaminck, were

united by their friendship and by broadly similar aesthetic concerns, not by clearly

defined ideological premises or a group manifesto, as were subsequent modern

movements. As

dom and

artists,

they were

all

deeply committed

to a belief in

individual free-

a desire to renew the instinctive directness and anti-theoretical nature of

Impressionism, while also incorporating the exaggerated, heightened color and emotive

The

possibilities of Post-Impressionist painting.

celebrating the pleasures of

life

that resulted

inviting, dazzling, idyllic

seem today

as far

of lesfauves (wild beasts) as possible, but to the public in 1905 to

know

—

or understand the work of Vincent van

Gogh and

images

removed from the idea

— who had

not yet

come

the other Post-Impressionists

these paintings shattered their notion of the function of art and as a result appeared

brutal

and

violent.

Fauvism emerged during the summer of 1905 when Matisse and Derain worked closely together at Collioure, a small Mediterranean seaport on the southwestern coast of France near the Spanish border.

the following

France,

it

Even though Derains Landscape was painted during

summer when he was working

belongs

to the

at

L'Estaque, also on the southern coast of

height of the Fauvist movement. Daringly free in his paint

application and rendering of natural appearances, Derain created a joyous, brilliantly

colored image proclaiming the intensity and clarity of light of the warm, semi-tropical

Mediterranean landscape. Landscape

"mixed-technique" Fauvism,

2

in

is

the result of what has been characterized as

which the broken brush strokes, ultimately derived

from Neo-Impressionism, are combined with 1

Quoted

in

Alfred H. Barr,

Matisse: His Art (

New

York:

Jr..

and His Public

The Museum

of

I

i>.

1

Museum 1.

of

and

flat

color planes which emphasize an

divisions of color juxtaposed with the curvilinear rhythms

their Fauvist color-breaks create a decorative

mode indebted

to

the work of the Post-Impressionist Paul Gauguin. Through radiant, dissonant color,

"John Elderfield, "The Wild Beasts": Fauvism and Its Iffinities New York: he

of the tree trunks

Modem

Art, 1951), p. 55.

'I

absence of shadow. These

flat

Modern

Art, 1976I.

distorted drawing,

and brisk, raw brushwork, Derain created a sensuous visual

feast:

a

world of joy and pleasure removed from the anxieties of the dawning twentieth century.

44

DCduP

Othon Friesz

Landscape was fauvism's most celebrated theme. Stimulated by culture"

FRENCH, 1879-1949

1

the "vacation

subject matter and plein air tradition of the French Impressionists, the Fauvist

painters exuberantly portrayed the pleasures of seashore and countryside. In the years

Landscape (The Eagles Beak,

La

between 1904 and 1907, many of them were drawn semi-tropical vegetation of southern France.

Othon Friesz

Ciotat)

Fauvism, with

PAYSAGE (LE BEC-DE-

summer of 1907. A latecomer to Raoul Dufy and Georges Braque, he was among the last to gather first

visited this region during the

even though he had exhibited with Henri Matisse in 1904 and

l'aigle, LA CIOTAT)

around the Fauve

1907

with lesfauves (the wild beasts), as Matisse,

circle,

called in the famous Salon oil

during the

on canvas

25% X

32"

64.5 X 81.2

stvle

cm

Bequest of Marion W. Sinton

summer

d"Automne

of 1906, he

Andre Derain, and

began

their colleagues

While painting with Braque

of 1905.

in

were

Antwerp

adopt a looser, more spontaneous drawing

to

and a bolder method of composition, although he remained fundamentally Im-

pressionist in his use of spatial illusion and his concern for the nature of light at a

given time of day or particular season.

81.52

the sun-drenched vistas and lush,

to

to intensify his color, for, like

It

was not

until the fall of 1906 that Friesz

Braque, he appears

Fauvist works exhibited at the Salon

d'Automne

Friesz's Fauvist style flourished during the

painted together in the south of France

at

to

Ciotat.

of 1907

of paintings in

viewpoints.

many

which Friesz features

He

Mont

studies of

this

influenced by

when he and Braque

Landscape, a painting of Le

Bec-de-rAigle, a well-known rock formation in the area, belongs

Like Paul Cezanne's

first

that year rather than those of 1905.

summer

La

have been

began

to this

Sainte-Victoire, this

productive period.

is

one of a series

unusual geological outcropping from varying

bathes Le Bec-de-1'Aigle and the surrounding landscape in a warm,

golden sunlight, epitomizing the joie de vivre of the Fauvist landscape. his forms to an arrangement of colored areas that create a rhythmic,

dynamic

pattern.

He

simplified

and Art Nouveau-influenced arabesques

However

flat

this curvilinear design,

it

none-

theless appears placed over an illusion of spatial recession that suggests a lingering

attachment is

to

Impressionist tradition.

The heightened

primarily based on the harmonious

At the height of his Fauvist positions that

mark

warm

style, Friesz

his transition to a

tones of yellow, pink, and orange.

began a series of figure-in-landscape com-

more conservative mode influenced by Paul

Cezanne. His spontaneous method of drawing and A term devised

by Meyer Schapiro,

Fauvist color, radiant and inviting,

brilliant Fauvist color

were

re-

placed by a subdued palette and solidified, volumetric forms. "Color," he said, "ceased

John Elderrield, The "Wild Beasts": Fanvism and Its Affinities

to

(New York: The Museum

color remained a savoury adjunct."'" In contrast to his image of Le Bec-de-1'Aigle,

quoted

in

of

Modern

Art, 1976), p. 16.

be the master of the picture, and under volume and

light the

drawing was reborn;

these works by Friesz speak of an alternative approach to the landscape that

many

of

"Marcel Gin. Faurism: Origin* and

Development l\c\\ Virk:

-\lpine

Fine Arts Collection. 1982). 3

SeeElderfield. op.

for a

discussion

the landscape.

cit.,

oi thi>

p. 240.

pp. 97-139.

concept of

the Fauve painters explored concurrently. Besides celebrating the immediate joys of a

dynamic, ideal,

vital

world of the present, some of the Fauvists also presented a serene,

peopled landscape that nostalgically looks

nature peacefully co-existed.

46

-i

DCduP

to a

Golden Age, when man and

BFf^a.

^

Pablo Picasso SPANISH. 1881-1973

Spanning the first three-quarters

of the twentieth century, the artistic achieve-

ments of Pablo Ruiz Picasso can be described, somewhat modestly, as extraordinary. Incessantly energetic and innovative, Picasso produced masterworks in nearly every

Street

Scene RUE

SCfeNE DE 1900

medium

—

painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, ceramics

tion of his turn-of-the-century canvases to the terrors

on canvas

18'/.

X 26'/"

47.7 X 66.7

cm

new

Cubism

to

conveyed by Guernica, from the

the benign serenity of his classical figures,* each

direction was explored fully, then discarded or assimilated, and later revived in

another context.

Although the major portion of his work was done

Bequest of Harriet Lane Levy 50.6097

participated in

an impressive array of historic modern movements. From the psychological introspec-

cool objectivity of Analytic oil

— and

remained throughout he was ten; his

his

father,

Picasso was born, and

a Spaniard. His fine arts studies were initiated

life,

an

in France,

artist,

began instructing him

in painting

when

and drawing. By

the age of sixteen he had received formal training at academies in both Barcelona and

Madrid. During numerous trips

to

the Prado he enthusiastically viewed the work of the

Spanish masters, most notably Velazquez and El Greco, whose attenuated forms would figure prominently in his future work.

Steeped in the classical tradition, the drawings

and canvases of these early years were somber

and academic

in tone

in execution.

In 1899 Picasso began frequenting Els Quatre Gats, a Barcelona gathering place for artists

and

writers.

There he designed menus and sketched the cafe habitues, his quirky lines and caricature-like features of the posters of

efforts exhibiting the heavy,

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Theophile Steinlen which he had seen reproduced Paris periodicals. In October of 1900, first visit to

galleries

Paris. Settling in

when he was

just nineteen, Picasso

life

and inhabitants of

city.

Street Scene, painted during that brief initial trip, reflects Picasso's ity to

the

human

condition.

Marking

a return to both the

ongoing sensitiv-

melancholy tone of his

academic canvases and the subject of the poor, which he had explored portraits of beggars painted while

mood

of solitude

his

Montmartre, he spent the following three months visiting

and exhibitions, and drawing and painting the cabaret

the back streets of the

made

in

and despair

he was

still

in school,

that pervades Picasso's

it

in a series of

further foreshadows the

work of the following

five years,

through both his "blue" and "rose" periods. Set on a dingy urban road, the quiet scene gray, the

shadowed hue of impending

winter.

is

The

bathed

in

an impressionistic mist of

figures, psychologically isolated, are

defined cursorily with emphasis placed on their bulky shapes rather than on any individual features. Reminiscent of Steinlen's canvases in

and containing traces of Daumier's influence unarticulated

human

figures. Street

innovative work of the

48

new

century.

in the

its

romantic, suffusive haze

expressive silhouettes of the

Scene looks back, rather than forward

KCH

to Picasso's

Born

Jacques

in

LITHUANIA IN

Jacques Lipchitz arrived

1891,

and Braque were beginning the fragmentation of form

Lipchitz

advanced Cubism. But Lipchitz continued his

FRENCH, BORN LITHUANIA

stint at the

strictly

in Paris in 1909,

that signaled the

academic

related subjects at the

Academie

stage of

first

training; after a brief

Ecole des Beaux-Arts, he studied sculpture, anatomy,

1891-1973

when Picasso

drawing, and

life

Julian. His initial efforts at expressing the figure in

Draped Woman

three dimensions looked back to the previous century, bearing traces of Romanticism

1919

and the influence of Art Nouveau. In 1913, Lipchitz's close friend

introduced the young

bronze 3/7 My'/,

X

12 s/a

X

13'/."

started,

artist to

Diego Rivera, then deep into Cubist experimentation,

Picasso.

A

long affiliation with the audacious innovator

and the application of Cubist principles

form began

to sculptural

to

preoccupy

93.3 X 32.0 X 33.6CI71

the young sculptor during these explorative years of his artistic career. Stylization and Gift of Mr.

and Mrs. Wellington

S.

Henderson

planar definition soon began appearing in Lipchitz's work. At

63.4

of surface application

and did not resolve themselves

into

first

these took the form

an integrated conception.

But by 1915 Lipchitz had developed an approach which utilized the cutout planes of Synthetic

Cubism

in strictly vertical architectonic

works that teetered on the edge of

pure abstraction. Despite their formally conceived juxtaposition of opposing planes, streamlined rectilinearity, and rigidly disciplined syntax, they retained an implied

humanity not only

eyebrow

in the

lines, but also in the purposefully

included eyes.

After 1916, Lipchitz re-emphasized figural references, this time breaking

forms and reassembling them according

to

down

the

the tenets of Analytic Cubism, using fac-

eted planes, multiplicity of views, and an increased emphasis on mass. Moving from a

approach

front-to-rear

to

a four-sided one, Lipchitz arranged the elements to initiate

movement around the work. By spiral core directed the eye easily

1917,

interlocking planes cantilevering out from a

around the form. With

its

fractured surface, jutting

and angular, the mass became more complex, setting up interplays of light and shadow which defined volume.

By

1919 Lipchitz

had explored

duce curvilinear elements and

this direction to his satisfaction to

simplify planes once more.

and he began

The

to reintro-

cool objectivity of

the analytical approach rubbed against his essentially humanistic nature, and he

countered this by expressing individualism of personality in his figures. Draped

stands at the crossroads of this change in direction. Although retaining the

of 1919

angularity and diagonal thrusts that defined rotating this

Woman

movement

in the

preceding works,

composition exhibits a softening of edges, hints of integrated curves, and a ten-

dency toward

frontality that denies the pivoting facets.

called representational,

only in

its

it

this figure

can hardly be

does convey key components of personal particularism not

cascade of wavy

project a sense of person

While

hair,

but also in the definition of eye and brow which

and serve as stabilizing elements, reinforcing the

frontality of

the figure.

Moving away from an emphasis on form, in his

vet always retaining vestiges of

Cubism

work. Lipchitz directed himself more and more toward Expressionism, trans-

forming heroic themes into powerful statements of twentieth-century humanist concerns,

kch

Of those who FORGED the revolution

in

modern sculpture, Constantin Brancusi

Constantin Brancusi

gave new meaning

FRENCH, BORN ROMANIA

vealing the most basic, elemental organic shapes. With the few themes that he re-

to

the classical pursuit of an ideal form.

While never completely

abandoning natural appearances, he increasingly simplified form with the aim of

1876-1957

re-

peated and refined throughout his career, he explored the ideas of creation, birth, and the natural process of growth.

Blonde Negress

In Paris, where he settled in 1904, Brancusi worked

LA NEGRESSE BLONDE 1926

tors as Elie

among such avant-garde

sculp-

Nadelman, Alexander Archipenko, and Amedeo Modigliani and became a

major influence in establishing the modern aesthetic of direct carving. Not interested bronze (polished)

method of modeling, but preferring

in the traditional

to

carve directly into the material,

"

X 4 7/Âť X 7 3/8 38.5 X 12.4 X 18.8 cm 15'/b

Agnes Stern Haas Gift of

E.

he regained a sense of immediacy

Meyer and Elise

for

modern sculpture. His wish was

to

return to

fundamental sculptural values, a feeling encouraged by the example of non-Western

and

folk art.

58.4382

At the same time, however, Brancusi continued

to

work with the established and

sophisticated process of bronze casting, which illustrates the complex and

at

times

contradictory aspect of his aesthetic. Cast from a carved original, Brancusi's calm and

majestic Blonde Negress of 1926

is

human

reduced

which the head

face, in

is

a highly simplified, schematic rendering of the to a perfectly

formed ellipse whose smooth,

flowing surfaces reveal no trace of distinguishing features except for the large sensuous lips, top knot,

and rear ornament.

It is

at

once an allusion

to

the

human countenance

and an abstract arrangement of gracefully composed volumes. To Brancusi, the shape symbolized primordial beginnings. "The egg-skull," he "elongated,

full

is

oval

quoted as saying,

is

of angular, virtual, underlying structures, the mystery of creation/"

While the upright

thrust

and extended proportions of the composition, as well as the

staccato zigzag motif, are in the spirit of African sculpture, this influence has been

generalized and thoroughly assimilated into a personal style.

His feeling

modern

for surfaces is revealed in the

gleaming golden-yellow

finish that

was his

invention. His polishing of the sculptural "skin," a technique antithetical

to traditional

bronze casting, initiates a dialogue with

ment with the material

As with

his other

that

he aimed

light

and speaks of an involve-