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FRAME|WORK: Zig V by David Smith

Posted by Sarah Bailey Hogarty on May 9, 2012

FRAME|WORK is a weekly blog series highlighting an artwork in the Museums’ permanent collection. This week, we feature David Smith’s monumental sculpture, Zig V (1961).

Zig 5

David Smith (American, 1906–1965). Zig V, 1961. Steel and automotive paint. Museum purchase, Gift of Mrs. Paul L. Wattis. 1999.66

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Outlasting Eternity: A Reflection on the Figures of Stephen De Staebler

Posted by Sarah Bailey Hogarty on May 4, 2012

Guest-blogger Tim Svenonius is the interpretive media producer at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and an artist in his own right. Here he shares his insights and reflections after seeing Matter + Spirit: The Sculpture of Stephen De Staebler on view at the de Young through May 13.

Three Figures

From left to right: Man with Broad Chest, 2010. Bronze with patina. Courtesy of Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco; Winged Woman Walking I, 1987. Bronze with patina. Courtesy of Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco; Winged Figure with Three Legs, 2003. Collection of Peter and Beverly Lipman, Portola Valley, California.

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Matter + Spirit: A Conversation with Danae Mattes

Posted by Leslie Dutcher on April 2, 2012

The exhibition Matter + Spirit: The Sculpture of Stephen De Staebler is on view at the de Young Museum through May 13. Stephen De Staebler’s widow, the artist Danae Mattes, worked closely with the Museums on this exhibition and its accompanying catalogue. She shares with the Museums’ managing editor of publications, Leslie Dutcher, some of her impressions of Stephen De Staebler’s work and her collaboration with him.

De Staebler and his work

Left: Stephen De Staebler, ca. 1995. Right: Stephen De Staebler. Yoke Winged Man (detail), 1994. Bronze, oil paint and patina. Collection of Russ Solomon, Sacramento. Photo by Scott McCue

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Mad Men at the de Young: Protests, Pop Art and Pews

Posted by Sarah Bailey Hogarty on March 27, 2012

On Sunday night, millions of viewers tuned in to watch the much-anticipated season premiere of AMC’s Mad Men. Set in 1960s New York, Mad Men follows the careers and lives of Madison Avenue advertising executives as they negotiate the changing landscape of that mythologized decade. Currently on view at the de Young are three exhibitions that tap into this tumultuous time period: Arthur Tress: San Francisco 1964 (through June 3), New Dimensions: Prints and Multiples from the Anderson Collection (through July 1) and Matter + Spirit: The Sculpture of Stephen De Staebler (through May 13).

Mashup

From left to right: Arthur Tress, Untitled (Coit Tower), 1964. Printed 2010–11. Selenium-toned silver gelatin print. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. ©2012 Arthur Tress. Jasper Johns (American, b. 1930). Flag, from the Lead Reliefs series, 1969. Sheet-lead relief. Anderson Graphic Arts Collection, gift of the Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson Charitable Foundation. 1996.74.214. Stephen De Staebler. Masks. Photo courtesy the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Artwork © Estate of Stephen De Staebler

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FRAME|WORK: A Relief of a Gift Bearer from Ancient Persia

Posted by Sarah Bailey Hogarty on March 6, 2012

FRAME|WORK is a weekly blog series that highlights an artwork in the Museums' permanent collections. This week, we feature an exquisite bas-relief of a gift bearer from ancient Persia, currently on view in the Hall of Antiquities at the Legion of Honor.

2008.1

Relief of a Gift Bearer, Persian, Achaemenid Empire, Persepolis, Palace of Darius or Xerxes, ca. 490–470 B.C. Limestone. Museum purchase, gift of Lisa Sardegna, Albert P. Wagner Bequest Fund, William A. Stimson, Friends of Ian White Endowment Income Fund, Unrestricted Art Acquisition Endowment Fund, Volunteer Council Art Acquisition Fund, Ancient Art Trust Fund and Auction Proceeds, Mrs. John N. Rosekrans, Jr., Sande Schlumberger, Endowment Fund in Honor of Francesca and Thomas Carr Howe, Walter H. and Phyllis J. Shorenstein Foundation Fund, Tish and James Brown and various Tribute Funds. 2008.1

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FRAME|WORK: Untitled (Stack) by Peter Voulkos

Posted by Sarah Bailey Hogarty on February 1, 2012

Matter + Spirit: The Sculpture of Stephen De Staebler, currently on view at the de Young, presents a retrospective of the artist’s work. This week’s FRAME|WORK draws attention to De Staebler’s mentor, Peter Voulkos. A renowned sculptor and teacher, Voulkos was hugely influential in the world of ceramics and the Bay Area in particular. Untitled (Stack) is currently on view at the de Young in Gallery 5.

Untitled (Stack), 1980

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What's the Matter: Conserving the Sculpture of Stephen De Staebler

Posted by Lesley Bone on January 24, 2012

Matter + Spirit: The Sculpture of Stephen De Staebler presents the work of an artist who used a variety of materials ranging from metal to clay to create lasting works of art. Working with stoneware and sometimes porcelain, De Staebler built monumental sculptures that pushed the limits of the media and extended the boundaries of how these materials had been used in the past.

Standing Woman and Standing Man, 1975

Stephen De Staebler, Standing Woman and Standing Man, 1975. Pigmented stoneware and porcelain with surface oxides. Courtesy of Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco. Artwork © Estate of Stephen De Staebler.

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FRAME|WORK: A Statue of Asklepios from Hellenistic Greece

Posted by Sarah Bailey Hogarty on January 18, 2012

The subject of quality health care has dominated political rhetoric for decades, but the issue has been of interest for centuries. This week’s FRAME|WORK examines one of the earliest manifestations of the power of medicine in the form of the Statue of Asklepios currently on view in the Hall of Antiquities at the Legion of Honor.

Statue of Asklepios

Statue of Asklepios. 2nd century BC. Greece. Pentelic marble. Museum purchase, United Hellenic American Congress and the William H. Noble Bequest Fund. 1981.41

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Accessing Matter and Spirit: The Public Art of Stephen De Staebler

Posted by Sarah Bailey Hogarty on January 12, 2012

On Saturday, Matter + Spirit: The Sculpture of Stephen De Staebler opens at the de Young. Matter + Spirit represents the first major museum exhibition of the artist’s work since his death last year.

Stephen De Staebler

Stephen De Staebler in his Berkeley studio, 2009. Photograph by Philip Ringler

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The Metamorphosis of Medusa

Posted by Sarah Bailey Hogarty on January 6, 2012

The Legion of Honor is currently host to a terrifyingly beautiful bust of The Medusa, on view through February 19. Created by master Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680), this nightmare in marble arrives at the museum via the Dream of Rome, a project initiated by the mayor of Rome to exhibit timeless masterpieces in the United States. The Medusa is the inaugural loan in the prestigious partnership between the Fine Arts Museums and Rome’s Capitoline Museum.

Medusa projected onto the facade of the Legion of Honor

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