…17;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 collecting as the Anderson fam…

…reveals that, while some things have remained the same (the venerable Rodin sculpture 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 Mitchel…

…co nonprofit Southern Exposure that was curated by Christian L. Frock and Tanya Zimbardo, Public Works: Artists’ Interventions 1970s – Now brings together a group of female artists working in the public realm. Believing not all public art is monumental and not all monumental art is truly impactful,Public Works focuses on temporary interventions online and in the urban environment. The list of participating artists — too lengthy to mention here —…

…Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall last year, may not be on the same plane as Louis Kahn’s Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth or even Mario Botta’s original concept for SFMOMA, now under siege as a result of that museum’s expansion, the building is simple and unpretentious, Most importantly, it provides a tasteful showcase for the art – the majority of which is installed on the expansive second floor – while not overshadowing it. Cle…

The Cantor Arts Center and Anderson Collection at Stanford University miss seeing you. We are eager to welcome you back to campus, share art and connect over ideas. Now through August 31, 2020, we are offering all Stanford graduates in the class of 2020 one year of free Ambassador membership ($100 value*) to both museums. Each membership covers up to two adults and children within a single household. To get your FREE membership, fill out t…

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…

One of HUNK ANDERSON’s favorite observations about the remarkable artwork that once hung in his dining room, including Jackson Pollock’s Lucifer and Willem de Kooning’s Woman Standing – Pink, among others, is that one could enjoy a feast in the room without ever having a meal, thanks to the rich visual display. The feast proved moveable and equally rich when the paintings were relocated to the campus over the summer and served to the Stanford co…

…keep on giving. Students for generations will take advantage of this assemblage of iconic modern pieces. Again, the open-air, naturally-lit environs drive home the idea, at least for me, that this is a collection accessible to anyone. There are no crazy, over-the-top experimental pieces. You don’t need to be schooled in stuffy academic artspeak. You can be as Luciferian as you want. And it’s free. Just bring money for parking. With R…

…ys. Anh-Minh Le is a Portola Valley freelancer. E-mail: travel@sfchronicle.com Museum highlights Jason Linetzky, the Anderson Collection’s founding director, recommends allotting about 90 minutes for a visit. Here are just a handful of the museum’s highlights: “Jackson Pollock’s ‘Lucifer’ is something that people come to see. It previously hung over Putter’s bed, before moving to the dining room and before coming here.” “There’s an incredible Mar…

…or candy store. Through his brushwork, Thiebaud conveys the tactile duality of his subject. He virtually frosts the surface of the canvas with paint to suggest the rippling of fudge or the shiny stickiness of caramel. Isolated in a cold, ambiguous environment, the various sweets become a means for formal exploration and finally works of art in themselves, displayed in a glass case. Explore Candy Counter, part of the Anderson Collection at Stanf…

…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…

…ts, on the Stanford campus. “They consider themselves custodians of the work they collect,” says Jason Linetzky, the director of the Anderson Collection at Stanford. But, he adds, “they’re very down-to-earth and casual about how they live with the art.” A Renoir was moved from Putter’s room to make way for the Pollock. In the living room, Sam Francis’s 1955 Red in Red has pride of place above the fireplace; over the sofa isNumber  64, a 1958 wo…

…uding Neal Benezra, MA ’81, PhD ’83, director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, worked with the collection for several years before moving into careers as teachers and museum professionals. Hunk willingly wrote them letters of recommendation and has always taken great pride in their later achievements. The long history of Stanford and the Andersons working together to educate students in the arts is by no means over. It is th…

For the past 44 years, a pivotal painting in the evolution of American Modern art in the exhausted aftermath of World War II has hung in a private home in an affluent San Francisco suburb — first in a child’s bedroom and then over a dining room credenza. Jackson Pollock’s “Lucifer” (1947) is the canvas in which the artist’s tentative experiments with a revolutionary new way of painting first took flight. Now the pa…