…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 work by Morris Louis,…

…Last weekend, Stanford unveiled a 33,500-square-foot building to house the Anderson Collection, 121 contemporary artworks donated by the Andersons, including major artwork by Jackson Pollock, Richard Diebenkorn and Ellsworth Kelly, among others. The couple married in 1950. During an around-the-world trip in 1964, they were overwhelmed by the Impressionist art on view in Paris. “On the way home, we may have had a glass of wine too much, but…

… Anderson Collection at Stanford University, the Faculty Senate gave members the opportunity to visit the newest addition to the university’s growing arts district and to take guided tours of the galleries. “I hope one thing that gets accomplished this afternoon is that you have the chance to see – for those of you who don’t spend time in this area – just how much the arts district is blossoming,” said Richard Saller, dean…

…he course. The clinical portion of the course drew Cartmell, but so too did the opportunity to see the treasures in the Cantor Center and the Anderson Collection. Two of those treasures, Lucifer (1947), by Jackson Pollock, and Red in Red (1955), by Sam Francis, in the Anderson collection, made Cartmell see how works of art “can be made up of numerous small elements, coming together to form a larger image, much like cells coming together to form a…

…statues of Confederate criminals throughout the United States, and so there was a public conversation happening about, “what is the role of public art,” “what is the role of monuments to white male war criminals.” Given all of that, I was inspired to create a public artwork, a monument rooted in a different aesthetic and conceptual framework. TSD: Could you go more into depth about why you choose to use soil in so much of your artwork, and espec…

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…

…gift last year, a slideshow presentation included a shot of Jackson Pollock’s large mural Lucifer (1947) hanging in daughter Patricia’s childhood bedroom above her stuffed animals and dolls. Now these works will be exhibited in a dedicated building on the Stanford campus specially designed for the collection by Ennead Architects. It will open to the public on September 21 and admission is free. The Anderson Collection building  (see “Stanford Uni…

…rary American art movements, but at the same time, and just as importantly, it represents the collective choices and tastes of the family who built it. Maintaining the care, custody and control of the collection up until now has been a tremendous pleasure, and I am excited to engage with campus partners and collaborate on presenting the objects and their stories in ever-unfolding ways.” Admission to the Anderson Collection is free. Opening day is…

…er”–or Post-Minimalism. Some of the sculptures, at least, will make you grin, if not laugh out loud. A piece in the Funk area titled “Hoarding My Frog Food” (1982), by David Gilhooly, is a tottering tower of toads, bread, buns and…toothy beavers. Prior to their epiphany at the Louvre, Hunk and Moo had had no formal art education. Once they decided on their new mission, however, the Andersons eagerly absorbed art hist…

…s Arnoldi and David Sultan. Collectors and philanthropists mingled with no fewer than five museum directors past and present: Connie Wolf of the Cantor Arts Center, Neal Benezraof the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, former Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco director Harry Parker and its current director, Colin Bailey, and Jason Linetzsky, head of the Anderson. The museum, open to the public for free, was intended to help in “cementing relatio…

…ed Stanford’s stellar Bing Concert Hall, the structure houses 121 works of modern and contemporary American art, all donated by Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson. Of course, we’re most excited about the pieces that have a Western flavor: three lovely Diebenkorns, a Thiebaud “Candy Counter,” and a particularly San Francisco–appropriate Paul Wonner. No prize for guessing where you’ll find us on our lunch breaks come late September… Admission is f…

…tcheva, associate professor of art and art history, to function as a lab for her winter quarter students to test and examine different approaches to presenting objects. With the exhibition, Pentcheva explores the questions, what happens when we see works or art in a culturally and aesthetically sympathetic environment? And how does the flicker of light or sound or smell enhance a viewing experience? Sunday, Jan. 4, is your last chance to walk thr…

…a field of color — Rothko’s “Pink and White over Red” consists of a white, rectangular spot of paint overlaid on an expansive red background. The piece’s unconventional composition attests to Rothko’s mentality of free self-expression, whereas his bold color choice holds traces of the 1920s Surrealist movement that sought to reconcile dreams and reality. 5. “Lucifer” by Jackson Pollock As evidenced in “Lucifer,” Jackson Pollock is known for rejec…

…ying afghans. Each item he finds holds a story — the energetic imprint from every previous owner, which he assembles into his Soundsuits. In that way, it can be said that Soundsuits are formed from memories. The Chicago artist’s creations are part sculpture and ornament, armor and instrument and are often worn as costumes and performed in. The energetic vibration of each single, insignificant article is magnified by how Cave chooses t…

If you’d been dragging your feet on getting to Palo Alto for the Anderson Collection’s Nick Cave exhibition (of Soundsuits, not Bad Seeds fame), now is the time. In addition to person-sized sculptures made for shimmying, the free collection displays Abstraction and the Movies March 1-17 only. Curated by current Stanford undergrad Carlos Valladares, Abstraction and the Movies pairs works from the Anderson Collection with images and posters from f…

…ts. It is said that she initiated the practice of pouring thinned-down oil paint onto unprimed canvas, resulting in a fusion of surface and color (which later would be called “color-field painting”). Her “Monotype VII” has the same energetic feeling as “Approach” upstairs. In the painting, the staining is applied sparingly, so as to create more perspective space. The monotype, however, is a joyous expanse of co…

…7;s Figure by Window and Jennifer Bartlett’s massive At the Lake, Morning. They offer the elusive dream of a world settling in for a quiet repose. Wonner’s figure reads a newspaper in a cool blue room. She’s probably waiting in peace while the rest of her family swims in Batlett’s lake. What “Left of Center” conjures up is a sense of psychic real estate. No one in the Bay Area is lazily drifting toward a sopori…