Five Years of the Anderson Collection at Stanford University
From the beginning, a sense of place and a meaningful connection to the American West—or, “Left Coast”—have been prominent themes in the Anderson’s collecting practice. Left of Center: Five Years of the Anderson Collection at Stanford University celebrates the fifth anniversary of the museum and demonstrates the distinct relationship between artists in the collection and the American West.
Highlights from the Anderson Collection on view in Left of Center demonstrate the unique opportunities that the West Coast offered twentieth-century artists. Irregularly shaped paintings and sculptures created using unconventional materials, such as plastic and found objects, are among the artworks on view, showcasing the inventive spirit of the West Coast. Portraits and landscape paintings likewise demonstrate West Coast innovation by boldly rejecting nonrepresentational New York art movements, such as Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism.
By including artworks by a broad range of American artists, Left of Center seeks to show how modes of art-making that originated on the West Coast decisively changed the topography of American modernism. It also celebrates the care and attention that went into assembling the Anderson Collection, as well as its stunning breadth.
Left of Center: Five Years of the Anderson Collection at Stanford University is curated by current PhD candidates in the Department of Art and Art History: Kelly Filreis, Amber Harper, Linden Hill, Beatrice Smigasiewicz, Jennie Waldow, Christian Whitworth, and Jennie Yoon.
Top left: Terry Winters, Theophrastus’ Garden, 1982, oil on linen, 87 x 70 in.
Middle: Jennifer Bartlett, At the Lake, Morning, 1979, enamel, serigraph on steel/oil on canvas, 77 x 197 in.
Virtual Tour
The Catalogue
Left of Center: Five Years of the Anderson Collection at Stanford University
Published by Anderson Collection at Stanford University
This publication was produced in celebration of the museum’s fifth anniversary and the first fully student-curated exhibition of the same name. The catalogue showcases the intellectual curiosity and discovery of a group of PhD candidates and students in Stanford’s Department of Art and Art History who curated the exhibition and authored the essays, revealing to readers their reflections on and conversations about the artists and works that they personally selected for Left of Center.
This is the inaugural publication supported by The Hunk Anderson Memorial Fund, an endowment providing long-term support to the museum for publications.
Available for purchase at the museum: $25 non-members, $20 members.
