Category: Collections

Friday, November 13, 2009

2009 Jolika Fellowship Wrap-up

Martin Morububuna and Purago Marabe completed their one-month-long residency in the Kimball Artist Studio on November 1, 2009.

Martin created a vibrant mural showing Papua New Guinea as a panoramic collective of plants, animals, houses, boats, people and their bilas. Bilas is a word in Melanesian Tok Pisin that refers to the array of headdresses, necklaces, belts, armbands, and aprons that people use to adorn themselves for dance and ceremony. The mural expresses Martin’s wish for all people to honor the past and keep traditional values strong.

Simultaneously, Martin worked on some partly finished canvases that he brought with him from Port Moresby. These canvases might make another appearance in Victoria, British Columbia at the Alcheringa Gallery where Martin’s work will be included in Hailans to Ailans.

Meanwhile, Purago offered our visitors pairings of his poetry and his paintings such as Hanuabada... [more]

Friday, May 22, 2009

A Day at the FAMSF Photo Studio

Amazing art comes through the photo studio on a regular basis.

We tend to save Mondays (when we’re closed to the public) to photograph artworks that are normally installed in the galleries. This way we can take the objects out of the galleries and into the photo studio without impacting the public.

Recently we shot two recent acquisitions from the AOA department. The images will appear in the next edition of the museums' Fine Arts magazine.

The first object: Mayan plate with Maize God head in cacao tree and "kill hole" passage to the afterlife

Lesley Bone, our objects conservator, deinstalling the plate in the morning.

The plate waiting for its appointment under the photographer’s lights. Our mount maker quickly soldered together (and painted) the mount this morning (sitting next to the plate). He made the mount specifically for the photo shoot.

The plate being carefully installed on the photo table.

Joe McDonald, our photographer, adjusting the lights... [more]

Posted by: Sue Grinols | May 22 at 2:26:40 PM
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Listed under: de Young News | Collections | Conservation

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

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

A Dinner Table at Night

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