Welcome to the Anderson Collection
Stanford University's free museum of modern and contemporary American art
Many in the art world have been anticipating the opening on Sept. 21 of the collection of Harry and Mary Margaret Anderson at Stanford — even from afar. In 2011, the couple donated 1 21 works of contemporary art, filled with paintings by the likes of Pollock, Diebenkorn, Rothko Elsworth Kelly, de Kooning, Joan Mitchell (Begin Again IV at left), and Elizabeth Murray, to name a few, to Stanford on the condition that it build galleries to house the…
Senate visits the arts district to discuss the humanities Richard Saller, dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, and Debra Satz, senior associate dean for the humanities and arts, talked about the state of the humanities at Stanford. Jason Linetzky, director of the Anderson Collection, invited faculty members to collaborate with its staff and create new programs. BY KATHLEEN J. SULLIVAN Richard Saller and Debra Satz addressing the F…
Stephanie Syjuco Goes Full Color The politics of color photography explored in new exhibit There’s a colorchecker at the center of Stephanie Syjuco’s collage Pileup (Brass Bells). It’s 24 squares of color contained within a black frame. The artist arranges sheaves of paper, journals, letters and photographs around the colorchecker to create a disorderly narrative. If there’s a plot, the world’s greatest detective might be able to piece together…
The end of the calendar year is a time for first and last chances at the Cantor Arts Center, and the opportunity to revisit favorite works across campus. Loose in Some Real Tropics: Robert Rauschenberg’s “Stoned Moon” Projects, 1969–70 opens at the Cantor on Saturday, Dec. 20, and runs through Mar. 16, 2015. In 1969, American artist Robert Rauschenberg was invited by the NASA Art Program to document the launch of Apollo 11, the…
…11;a series of interconnected spaces where gigantic art can be displayed with ease. At Stanford, those spaces in the second-floor gallery are exceptionally inviting, just as one might imagine it would be. Each work represents a movement in art and is arranged accordingly: Bay Area Abstraction, for instance, or New York School–which anchors the collection and includes “Lucifer”–or Post-Minimalism. Some of the sculptures, at…
…t their home, where “Lucifer” (1947), one of Jackson Pollock’s early drip paintings, hung over their daughter’s bed as it had done for years. (The artist’s cigarette paper is famously stuck somewhere on the canvas.) The Andersons parted with that prized masterpiece along with the others; 104 are on display, with more to be exhibited on a rotating basis going forward. The collection is heavy on the New York School – m…
…this wonderful painting, reflecting Park’s artistic vision and his life-long embrace of learning and teaching,” the couple said. In her research on the Anderson Collection and the importance of Park, former curatorial intern Sydney Simon, PhD ’18, wrote, “In the 1950s, a small group of artists in San Francisco took a surprising turn away from Abstract Expressionism, which dominated progressive art in New York and California, by reintroducing rec…
Jason Linetzky, Director, Anderson Collection at Stanford University Jason Linetzky has spent the better part of his 20-year career working with one of the world’s most coveted private collections of 20th-century American art: the Anderson Collection. The collection was built over the last 50 years by Bay Area residents Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson, and by their daughter, Mary Patricia Anderson Pence. The core of the collection, pledged…
…and classrooms.” Ore-Giron’s work draws on motifs from indigenous and craft traditions alongside aesthetics from the 20th-century avant-garde. His paintings and use of geometric figures bring to mind early Modernist movements, such as Suprematism, Futurism and the Color Field painters of the New York School. “Something I’ve been interested in is this idea of Pan-Americanism, an aesthetic rooted in the Americas that moves forward and generates dis…
…n art. They sought to educate themselves, and forged personal relationships with scholars, curators and artists. They filled their home with masterpieces, welcoming each as a new family member. Living with art is a joy only collectors can appreciate. “When you get to live with art, everyday it changes”, says Moo Anderson. Fast-forward 50 years, they’ve collected one of the world’s most outstanding private assemblies of mod…
…It works like a bolt of lightning, as swaths of red, blue and white rip across the canvas, shaking you free from the outside world. What’s brilliant about Still’s painting is also what’s exceptional about the Anderson Collection overall: It is a visceral, aesthetic experience, which sweeps you off your feet no matter your background in art or art history. None of this is academic. But the Anderson Collection feels inexhaustible. Every room is a…
