Stepping into the Wisch Family Gallery at the Anderson Collection at Stanford University evokes a polar desert’s quiet and dangerous beauty. Centered amidst  large-scale photographs of a pristine white, icy environment, an otherworldly ultramarine-blue sphere measuring slightly over 3 feet in diameter rests on a bed of what appears to be snow. The sphere, representing Rigil Kentaurus, the third-brightest star in the night sky, is a key element o…

…g care and control of the 800-plus objects in the collection, providing tours, working with art history graduate student interns, and managing relationships with galleries and institutions. Among the most memorable Anderson acquisitions, he notes, are two ceramic works by California artist John Mason, one of which will be in the collection at Stanford (Spear Form, Ember). Mason began working in Los Angeles in the 1950s with Peter Voulkos and “dev…

To the Andersons, their art is family—and so is Stanford, its new caretaker. September/October 2014 The Collection of a Lifetime To the Andersons, their art is family—and so is Stanford, its new caretaker. ©Henrik Kam 2014 The striking centerpiece of the new Anderson Collection building is a grand staircase ascending to the main gallery spaces—airy, open, graced with natural light—and their cornucopia of art. When the collection opens on Septemb…

…placeables 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 Francisco art dealer John Berggruen were the guests and opponents of Hunk and Putter. After…

Mary Patricia “Putter” Anderson Pence’s voice quavered at the microphone, for good reason. The Sept. 19 opening of the Anderson Collection at Stanford University was an “incredible journey,” she said, not only for the school, but for her parents, Harry W. “Hunk” Anderson, a food distribution company magnate, and his wife, Mary Margaret, a.k.a. “Moo.” The quiet couple’s trove of modern and contemporary art, regarded among the world’s finest, fill…

…idio & Renfro. “I think it’s very important, as the university gains in reputation in fields associated with Silicon Valley, that we send the signal that art matters, even to students who go on to work in the valley or business,” said Matthew Tiews, the executive director of art programs at Stanford. On Elite Campuses, an Arts Race John Hennessy, president of Stanford, originally identified the arts as one of five growth areas for a…

…ir art was essentially limited to Pottery Barn and Z Gallerie buys. It was interior designer Jon de la Cruz who suggested the couple consider elevating their acquisitions. Four years later, the walls of their 1905 Craftsman are decorated with contemporary works from the likes of John Chiara, Gabriel Orozco, Ed Ruscha, Richard Serra and Hiroshi Sugimoto. “We started buying a few pieces, learning a little bit more and discovering some more artist…

…ere “Hunk and Moo,” and their collection grew so vast that Stanford University had to build a new museum just to show it. Nearly 250,000 people have visited the Anderson Collection at Stanford University since it opened in 2014. Neither Anderson ever attended Stanford. “He was gracious and giving and charming, and steadfast in everything he did,” said Jason Linetzky, director of the Anderson Collection. According to gallery owner John Berg…

…ther work by Park in the Anderson Collection, Four Women , 1959, and works by other Bay Area figurative painters such as Stanford 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 ava…

…dean and director of the Native American Cultural Center and the dean for community engagement and diversity at Stanford. The lecture and conversation will focus on Red Star’s experience as an Apsáalooke artist and her American Progress exhibition. “We look forward to welcoming the artist to campus to engage with students and the community,” Linetzky said. Lady Columbia John Gast’s 1872 painting American Progress is the namesake and cornerstone…

…has explained a fundamental part of reality that seems relatively obvious to us. The spillover effect of a body submerged in a fluid is so obvious it may go unnoticed or may appear unremarkable. Yet, when it comes to the history of American empire-building, Apsáalooke artist Wendy Red Star has made it her life’s work to revere the outlying spaces and those who have been forced to occupy them. When she first encountered John Gast’s 1872 pai…