In 2014 the Anderson Collection at Stanford opened its doors and was hailed as one of the most significant gifts of art from private donors to a university. The museum, a small bespoke gem located next to the Cantor Arts Center, will mark its 10th anniversary on Sunday, Sept. 22, with two new exhibitions and a community day of celebration that will include music, art-making activities and art talks by Stanford University graduate students. The events take place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and are free to the public.
The museum began with a gift of 121 works of postwar American art that Harry W. (“Hunk”) and Mary Margaret (“Moo”) Anderson had collected, along with their daughter Mary Patricia, over several decades. Major art movements like abstract expressionism, pop art and Bay Area figurative are reflected in the core gift, which has been added to over the years by important gifts from the Anderson Family Collection. The original collection was housed at the Saga Company headquarters (now Quadrus) on Sand Hill Road and in the Andersons’ home. Following the death of her parents, Mary Patricia Anderson Pence now oversees the Family Collection.
The challenge for a permanent collection museum like the Anderson Collection is to find ways to keep the exhibitions fresh and interesting, which has been achieved by numerous changes in the installations and special programming. While the permanent works can be found on the second floor, a small temporary gallery in the entry level has allowed for a continuous schedule of non-Anderson works to be displayed.
For this anniversary celebration, the museum looks back in time with “Bringing it Home,” a nostalgic look at how the Andersons lived with art in every room of their home — including the kitchen. This exhibition, installed in the Wisch Family Gallery, includes the actual kitchen table and chairs where the Andersons ate meals while gazing at small-scale works by artists like Wayne Thiebaud and Phillip Guston. Do you have prints by Frank Stella over your refrigerator? The Andersons did, along with others by California artist Ed Ruscha.
“We wanted to celebrate the way the Andersons lived with art at home and the way they made art and artists part of their everyday life,” said Anderson Collection Director Jason Linetzky.
Integral to the exhibition are photo montages that show the couple entertaining artists in their home, as well as replicas of notes, letters and holiday cards they received over the years. Unlike contemporary art collectors who can now buy art via online auctions, the Andersons had to go to the art in order to build their collection. They made yearly trips to New York City where they visited artists’ studios and established relationships with gallerists.
“I think the Andersons fell in love with the artworks first, then if they were lucky enough to meet the artists, then those relationships were formed. It added a special element,” Linetzky said.
Quite often these relationships were mutually beneficial in that the Andersons were able to acquire some of the best examples of an artist’s work, and inclusion in the family’s prestigious collection often resulted in major museum exhibitions for the artist.
The second-floor galleries continue to examine how the Andersons lived with art with re-creations of key rooms like the dining room, where Jackson Pollock’s “Lucifer” hung over a sideboard, and in the living room where “Red in Red” by Sam Francis was installed over the fireplace (a mock version here). A small room called the Gallery is replicated with paneling, brick walls and a large Persian carpet. This was how the Andersons melded their art collection with the other elements of their life; their expansive art library and Moo’s collection of English antique furniture. It was a far cry from the white walls and sterile coolness of most art installations.
“It was an intimate setting and experience,” explained Linetzky. “We want the visitor to think of this place as welcoming, comforting. It’s a place for respite, meditation, reflection, contemplation and inspiration.”
The second installation, “An Expanded Lens,” takes a more contemporary look by comparing and contrasting works from the permanent collection with art from the current Anderson Family Collection. Linetzky said that Pence invited selected graduate art history students to her home to see the collection and have a conversation. The students were then allowed to borrow art from that collection that would be installed in groupings with the permanent collection works. The students were also given the opportunity to explain their choices via written wall statements.
Linetzky pointed out how the pairing of Robert Irwin’s “Untitled,” an iconic example of the light and space movement, with a large-scale monochromatic painting by minimalist Mary Corse allowed the museum to “bring new insight, new experience to the works.” There are interesting juxtapositions like this in four of the galleries and the result is that even oft-seen and familiar pieces take on a whole new light.
In another gallery, a Soundsuit by sculptor Nick Cave, constructed of discarded materials, faces off against Robert Hudson’s funky “Plumb Bob,” also a standing figure constructed from found materials. On the wall in this space is Deborah Oropallo’s painting, “Three Man Patrol” which was inspired by the Rodney King riots. “Nick Cave has said that he considers the Soundsuits to be like a suit of armor for the Black male body,” Linetzky said. “There are just many interesting visual experiences that can happen between these works.”
Linetzky said that the weekend activities are just the beginning of how the museum intends to mark this landmark event. “We hope to invite some of the artists whose work is in the show to speak to students and engage with the public. The celebration and programs will continue through the academic year.”
Linetzky, who is an art historian, worked for the Anderson Family Collection for a number of years before taking the role of museum director. He noted that the museum must straddle two distinct audiences, the students and faculty of Stanford University as well as the general public.
“It is, by design, a small unit (museum) on campus but very collaborative in nature,” Linetzky said, adding, “The museum will soon partner with the faculty in creative writing as well as the school of medicine, whose students will participate in close looking at works of art.”
“Since we opened, we have had hundreds of thousands of visitors, presented 37 exhibitions and hundreds of public programs,” he said. “We are grateful for the outpouring of support from the community and are always striving to do more and in a more successful way.”
When the Anderson Collection at Stanford opened 10 years ago, Hunk Anderson stood in the lobby and proclaimed that the museum was “A gift that keeps on giving.” It appears that he was correct.
The Anderson Collection Community Day takes place Sept. 22, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Anderson Collection, 314 Lomita Drive, Stanford. Admission is free. More information is available at events.stanford.edu. “Bringing it Home” is on display through Feb. 16, 2025 and “An Expanded Lens” is on display through Aug. 17, 2025. Visit anderson.stanford.edu.
