Friday, May 8, 2009

Celebrate Mother’s Day For Free

Looking for something that won’t break the bank on Mother’s Day? Look no further, the Legion of Honor and de Young host Koret Museum Days on May 10, a tribute to the Koret Foundation’s 30th Anniversary with free general admission. View the permanent collection and enjoy complimentary public programs. For more information, please go to www.koretmuseumdays.org.

Legion of Honor
1–3 pm
Live Music by The Frisky Frolics
Hands on art-making of flower accessories
4–5 pm
Skinner organ concert of early 20th century American music

de Young
12:30–1:30 pm
Special Mother’s Day docent tour

Posted by: Cheryl McCain | May 8 at 3:58:28 PM
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Listed under: de Young News | Legion of Honor News

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

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

Monday, November 24, 2008

New Podcast: Tim Simon

We've posted a new podcast episode, this time featuring Tim Simon, descendant of James Simon and San Francisco resident, discussing the legacy and history of the Simon family and the exhibition The State Museums of Berlin and the Legacy of James Simon.

This podcast provides a fascinating look at the man and the family behind the philanthropy responsible for many of the treasures in the collections of Berlin's state museums, as well as shedding light on the local connection responsible for its exclusive showing here in San Francisco at the Legion of Honor.

You can grab two different versions: MPEG4 (enhanced with a images) and MP3.

You can also subscribe to our podcast RSS feed and be notified of new episodes when they go live.

The State Museums of Berlin and the Legacy of James Simon runs at the Legion through January 18, 2009.

Posted by: Andrew Fox | November 24 at 1:48:35 PM
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Listed under: Legion of Honor News | Exhibitions | Web and Technology | Podcast

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Lions of Babylon at the Legion

Dr. Joachim Marzahn from the Museum of the Ancient Near East in Berlin reassembles the Lion Relief at the Legion of Honor.

The current special exhibiton at the Legion has not one, but two examples of rare Lion Reliefs from the Processional Way in ancient Babylon. These 6th-century-BC works of art once lined the great Processional Way that led to the city's Ishtar Gate, which has been reconstructed at the Museum of the Ancient Near East (Vorderasiatisches Museum) in Berlin.

One of the examples comes from the Museum of the Ancient Near East. It was accompanied and assembled at the Legion by Dr. Joachim Marzahn, whom you can see working on the relief in the photos above and on our Flickr photostream. This reassembled lion is joined in the exhibition by a similar, but completely reconstructed, example from the National Museum of Egyptian Art in Munich, Germany.

You can view installation photos on our Flickr photostream.

Posted by: Andrew Fox | October 22 at 11:24:39 AM
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Listed under: Legion of Honor News | Exhibitions | Conservation