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Blog Category: News

In Memoriam: John Edward Buchanan, Jr., 1953–2011

Posted by Andrew Fox on December 30, 2011

John E. Buchanan, Jr.

Director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco: 2006–2011

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco announces with great sadness the death of John Edward Buchanan, Jr., Director of Museums, on Friday, December 30, 2011  Mr. Buchanan passed away at the age of 58 after a battle with cancer.

Comments Diane B. Wilsey, President of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Board of Trustees, “The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco has lost a dynamic, creative leader whose vibrant energy and humor will be missed by everyone. I, personally, have lost a best friend whose vast knowledge and intellectual curiosity never ceased to amaze me.”

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Art of the Radical Left (Coast)

Posted by Sarah Bailey Hogarty on December 8, 2011

Throughout art history, politics have inspired, informed and incited the cultural production of artists throughout the world. In today’s context of social and political unrest, the subject seems particularly relevant. Two major exhibitions in San Francisco and New York currently bookend the country with the art and politics of the radical left. In both Pissarro’s People (on view at the Legion of Honor through January 22, 2012) and Diego Rivera: Murals for the Museum of Modern Art (on view at the Museum of Modern Art through May 14, 2012), the political beliefs of the artists are placed front and center.

Pissarro Harvest

Camille Pissarro. The Harvest, 1882. Tempera on canvas. 27 11/16 x 49 9/16 in. The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, donated by the heirs of Mr. Kojiro Matsukata, P.1984-3

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Whatever Happened to Friday Nights?

Posted by Gregory Stock on December 2, 2011

Last week marked the close of Friday Nights at the de Young's season seven. We sat down with public programs director Renee Baldocchi to reflect on the past successes of Friday Nights at the de Young and to learn about what’s in store for the future, including upcoming programming for The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk.

 © Adrian Arias

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Monet's Water Lilies Returns to the Legion of Honor!

Posted by Melissa Buron on November 14, 2011

Claude Monet’s incomparable Water Lilies has returned to Gallery 19 at the Legion of Honor! Following its display in two important temporary exhibitions, Water Lilies visited the Fine Arts Museums’ paintings conservation laboratory. In celebration of Monet’s birthday today, here is a behind-the-scenes look at the painting’s whereabouts over the past year.

Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). Water Lilies, ca. 1914–1917. Oil on canvas. Museum purchase, Mildred Anna Williams Collection. 1973.3

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When is a Hals a Hals?

Posted by Andrew Fox on October 5, 2011

Frans Hals Gentleman in White

Frans Hals, Dutch, 1580–1666
Portrait of a Gentleman in White, ca. 1637
Oil on canvas
Legion of Honor, Gallery 15

This week, the Los Angeles Times reported on the authentication of a Frans Hals painting that was once owned by Elizabeth Taylor. Long attributed the “School of Hals,” the painting was re-attributed to the artist himself by a team of scholars brought together by Christie’s auction house.

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Finding Picasso

Posted by Gregory Stock on September 21, 2011

While the museum is closed to the public most Mondays, it welcomes hundreds of students and teachers to visit special exhibitions, such as Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris. You may nostalgically remember this kind of field trip as day off from the classroom, but the education department’s school programs team makes the field trip a “day on” for young learners.

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