…ture collection, for example), there have been some significant changes at both museums since they last welcomed in-person visitors. In addition to current health policies such as mask mandates, timed tickets and social distancing rules, perhaps the most notable difference can be found at the Cantor, which is now being led by two interim directors, Elizabeth Mitchell and Maude Brezinski. Mitchell, who is the curator of prints, drawings and photog…

A new solo exhibition of works by Sam Francis at the Anderson Collection celebrates the hundredth anniversary of the artist’s birth and highlights his multifaceted connection to the Palo Alto community and the Anderson family. On view through March 3, 2024, this intimate presentation of works in the Wisch Family Gallery is anchored by two large-scale paintings from the museum’s permanent collection, Red in Red (1955), an early work created while…

…hey’re not the irreplaceables. The irreplaceables are here (at Stanford).” The irreplaceables The irreplaceables include work by Jackson Pollock, Richard Diebenkorn, Wayne Thiebaud, and the Frank Stella now coming up the elevator in a wooden crate. The “Zeltweg” story is indicative of how the Andersons built their collection. As Hunk tells it, the acquisition began with a doubles match at the Menlo Circus Club in Atherton. Stella and San Francisc…

…in the crown of the burgeoning campus arts district.  From private to public The museum houses 121 works of art by 86 artists, a gift to the university from the Andersons (affectionately known as Hunk and Moo) and their daughter, Mary Patricia Anderson Pence. The history of their collecting is by now the stuff of legend: After a trip to Europe in the 1960s, Hunk and Moo decided to educate themselves about art in order to build a collection. They…

…an abstraction from the 1940s to the 1970s. Their paintings are joined by two from Cantor’s permanent collection by Stanford faculty member Nathan Oliveira and San Francisco painter Elmer Bischoff and a loaned work by the Abstract Expressionist Franz Kline. Oliveira and Bischoff, along with Stanford alumnus Diebenkorn, were leaders in the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the 1950s. The painting by Kline from 1950 expands how this selection express…

…d borders. In works that engage with the legacy of American Land art, I’ll often say “earth” or “soil.” A set of individual mud hands attached to vertical sticks inserted in the ground form a cluster outside. Installation view of Kiyan Williams, Reaching Towards Warmer Suns, Anderson Collection at Stanford University, July 29–December 5, 2021. Photo by Andrew Brodhead. Courtesy of Stanford University. LB How do these considerations manifest in th…

Fall, a season experienced in other climates as crisp weather, woolly sweaters, crunchy leaves and autumnally-appropriate spiced drinks. Here in the Bay Area, September is much the same as August, except with more exciting visual art events on the calendar and a slight spike in temperatures. Don’t know where to start for a healthy dose of excellent art? Here are eight suggestions for not-to-miss exhibitions, installations, public art projects an…

Along a shady road here, you can glimpse large estates behind gates and hedges bought with fortunes earned in Silicon Valley. Then you come to the driveway of a ranch house that stands pretty much as it was when built in the 1960s by Harry and Mary Margaret Anderson. From the unpretentious exterior, few would guess that inside the house a single painting in their collection is worth as much as one or even two of those neighboring estates. This…

…te it in perpetuity, so that it could be used, shared and seen, reflected his philosophy that art can and should inspire all of us. All of us at Stanford will always have the deepest affection for Hunk as a generous, big-hearted man.” To date, the Anderson Collection at Stanford University has been seen by nearly 250,000 visitors. Every work in the museum is viewable online and the collection has grown through gifts from other members of the comm…

…faculty and the community over the course of the fall, winter and spring quarters. The residency will culminate in an exhibition of Ore-Giron’s work in spring 2021, giving new context to objects already on view at the Anderson Collection. Ore-Giron will lead a virtual panel discussion in October 22, exploring how the work of artists of color is framed in institutional settings and will organize a two-part curated film series with the first sessi…

…k, the Anderson Collection at Stanford University opened its doors for the first time. The Andersons didn’t know much about art at first, but they suffered something of a coup de foudre at the Louvre in 1964. Since then, Hunk, Moo and Putter have devoted themselves to the art of art appreciation, partly by seeking advice from local artists. Perhaps this is why much of the collection is focused “close to home.” Works by Richard Diebenkorn, Paul Wo…

…d your preconceptions, made its fortune not in tech but food service. If your college campus meals were supplied by Saga Corp., you can take comfort in knowing that, whatever you thought of the fajitas or salad bar, some of the profits were spent on undeniably great works by Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Louise Nevelson, Robert Motherwell, and Frank Stella. The museum, with 121 paintings, sculptures, and other artworks, is formally known as the A…