Wednesday, May 6, 2009

My Favorite Work: John Singer Sargent, La verre de porto (A Dinner Table at Night), 1884

View this work on the ImageBase

John Singer Sargent's La verre de porto (A Dinner Table at Night), 1884, was chosen by FAMSF Docent Candy Hisert. It can be seen at the de Young on the museum's upper level in the late-19th century galleries.

It’s intimate yet enigmatic. We are drawn into the lives of a woman who greets  us and a man who is only a profile. Did Sargent want that man out of the picture? Or is this a study of non-communication between husband and wife? Visitors love to talk  about this painting.

Posted by: Andrew Fox | May 6 at 3:57:17 PM
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Listed under: de Young News | Collections | My Favorite Work

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

My Favorite Work: Joos van Cleve, Lucretia, ca.1525

Detail of Lucretia. View this work in the ImageBase

Today's pick is from Mark Garrett, Senior Museum Technician at the Fine Arts Museums' Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts: Lucretia, ca.1525 by Joos van Cleve. Lucretia can be seen at the Legion of Honor in Gallery 3

This work is special to me because it seems so utterly bizarre for its time. It so graphically represents a surreal limbo between life and death. I love how the transparent veil behind her head floats away. Plus, it's technically an amazing painting on canvas.

Posted by: Andrew Fox | May 6 at 3:39:45 PM
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Listed under: Legion of Honor News | Collections | My Favorite Work

Monday, May 4, 2009

My Favorite Work: Chiura Obata, Lake Basin in the High Sierra

Click to zoom in to the painting

Today’s highlighted work, Lake Basin in the High Sierra, was selected by Debra Evans, the Fine Arts Museums’ head of paper conservation... [more]

Posted by: Andrew Fox | May 4 at 1:53:59 PM
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Listed under: de Young News | Collections | My Favorite Work

Monday, May 4, 2009

New Blog Series: My Favorite Work

Starting today, we’re premiering a new series of blog posts that focus on the permanent collections of the de Young and the Legion of Honor. What we’ve done is to ask Fine Arts Museums staff, volunteers, and docents to reveal to us their favorite work on view at either museum and tell us why it’s special to them.

The series is a fun and fresh way to highlight works in the permanent collections that may not be familiar to many visitors. It also introduces some of the people whose hard work—both with the public and behind the scenes—makes the Museums one of the top destinations for art lovers in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout the world, for that matter.

This week, we’ll present a new work every day, and then turn this into a weekly feature. We’re getting a great response from everyone here, and the range of selections is diverse and, above all, interesting.

Posted by: Andrew Fox | May 4 at 1:36:17 PM
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Listed under: de Young News | Legion of Honor News | Collections | My Favorite Work