…by the illusion of Still’s painting changing proportions and accessibility, artworks respond to all sorts of cultural echoes and other influences that we can seldom pinpoint easily. The Still at the top of the stairs prepares us to notice throughout the Anderson Collection fluctuating impressions made by artworks that initially seem foursquare and fully defined. Such an experience of art’s mutability is a key into the psychology of c…

…55. FASHION FOR A CAUSE … One of a kind textiles, jewelry, bags, children’s clothes and more will be offered for sale as part of the ninth annual STYLE fashion event and sale. The independent fashion showcase takes place Saturday, April 25 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday, April 26, from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Mountain View Center (701 E. El Camino Real). Tickets are $10 online or at the door, and proceeds fr…

…the Anderson Collection at Stanford University (easily reachable by public transport from San Francisco or from the airport) – it is very much worth the trip. The Anderson Collection is very much focused on American Art of the 20thCentury in general, with a specific concentration on West Coast art movements and artists. It has neither the ambition to be exhaustively encyclopedic or to go narrowly deep on one artist in particular. What I found pa…

…erson Collection at Stanford University. An exhibition of ceramics highlights artists who are reshaping ceramics in concept and craftsmanship. The exhibition – which features 11 works by Kathy Butterly, Kahlil Robert Irving, Simone Leigh and Brie Ruais – was postponed from spring 2020 and will be on view upon the museum’s reopening, hopefully in early 2021. A virtual tour of the show is available online now. “By sharing the work and voices of the…

…thoroughly understand the challenges faced by the museum team in their daily work, and areas in which staff want the museum to grow and flourish.” And how do they plan to address the issues raised last summer? “We are working closely with the staff with goals of transparency, empowerment and open communications,” according to Brezinski. For Mitchell, that means talking regularly with staff “to understand what tools and inf…

…ord alumnus Richard Diebenkorn, Manuel Neri and Nathan Oliveira, who taught at Stanford. Bay Area figurative art is a particular strength of the Anderson Collection and the second Park painting is an important acquisition. A collection of essays about the painting by Nancy Boas, Helen Park Bigelow and John Seed will be available in the galleries and online at the time of the opening. The Anderson Collection reopens to the public on Sept. 22 after…

…orschach inkblot, a large chaotic dark shape on a white background. Like Rorshcach, who asked people to tell him what they were seeing in his famous inkblots, I questioned how to interpret this painting and thought about what was going on in the artist’s mind. Was he going through a chaotic period in his life? Is it fear he is trying to draw? Anger? I went up to read the description of “Figure 8” by Franz Kline, and learned that he was capturing…