The New de Young Celebrates Its First Anniversary

A community-wide celebration with music, dancing, and art programs set for October 13–14, 2006

San Francisco, September 1, 2006—On October 15, 2005, the de Young Museum re-opened in Golden Gate Park to worldwide acclaim. One year and over 1.6 million visitors later, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco thanks the Bay Area with a celebration that kicks off on Friday evening, October 13th, from 5:00 PM to midnight. Following the Friday festivities, the de Young will host a community-wide free day on Saturday, October 14.

Activities scheduled for Friday evening and the Saturday community free day are influenced by the de Young’s permanent collections as well as the popular special exhibition Chicano Visions, currently on view at the de Young. Festivities will include music, spoken word performances, and book signings by performing artists. Salvador Santana Band, The Stairwell Sisters, The Marcus Shelby Jazz Trio, and Voices of Latin Rock All Stars are just a few of the bands scheduled to perform. A complete schedule follows. KFOG and Chuy Valera will serve as emcees for these events.

A Year in Review
The de Young Museum celebrates a number of milestones in addition to the re-opening of the Herzog & de Meuron-designed museum in Golden Gate Park:

  • The appointment of John E. Buchanan, Jr. as Director of the Fine Arts Museums.
  • More than 1.6 million visitors since the new museum doors opened.
  • Membership increase to nearly 80,000 member households.
  • Popular exhibitions Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh, International Arts & Crafts, The Quilts of Gee’s Bend, and Chicano Visions (the latter two are currently on view).
  • Landmark accords signed with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Israeli Antiquities Authority that will bring new and exciting art to the de Young.
  • New commissions by Andy Goldsworthy, Kiki Smith, Ed Ruscha, James Turrell, and Gerhard Richter.
  • Acquisitions from artists El Anatsui, Cornelia Parker, Paloma Torres, Zhan Wang, and Joan Miro.
  • Numerous awards for architecture, education programs, museum store branding, and accessibility.

The Year Ahead
“Our first year in the new building has generated a lot of excitement throughout the Bay Area and among our visitors from all over the world. We look forward to continuing our tradition of bringing the best art and culture from public and private collections to our broad and diverse audience,” says Mr. Buchanan. “In 2007, we have planned exhibitions that feature California art and cutting-edge fashion.”

Exhibitions include:

  • The Sculptures of Ruth Asawa: Contours in the Air (November 18th–January 28th): This is the first complete retrospective of Ruth Asawa’s work. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue co-published by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and The University of California Press.
  • California Impressions Featuring Landscapes from the Wendy Willrich Collection (November 18th–January 28th): An exhibition of 60 important 19th century California landscape paintings from the museum’s collection and the collection of Wendy Willrich. The works trace the breadth and depth of painting in this state from the Hudson River School style to the Society of Six. The Fine Arts Museums will publish a catalogue to accompany this exhibition.
  • Vivienne Westwood: A Retrospective (February 24th–June 17th): Organized by London’s Victoria and Albert Museum through an accord signed with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, this exhibition examines the life and work of the iconoclast and global fashion legend. More than 150 objects will showcase Westwood’s exploration of the extremes of fashion and will build on the museum’s collection of fashion, couture, and textiles. This is the only venue in the United States for this exhibition.

About the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
The de Young Museum and its sister museum, the Legion of Honor, together comprise the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the largest public arts institution in the city and one of the largest art museums in the United States. The de Young Museum is the largest private cultural gift ever given to the city of San Francisco.

The Legion of Honor is located in San Francisco's Lincoln Park (34th Avenue and Clement Street). Its collections span 4,000 years and include major holdings in Rodin sculpture; paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Watteau, de la Tour, Vigée Le Brun, Cézanne, Monet, and Picasso, among other Dutch, Italian, German, English, and French masters; a 15th-century Spanish ceiling, European decorative arts, tapestries, and over 70,000 prints and drawings.

Founded in 1895 in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, the de Young museum has been an integral part of the cultural fabric of the city and a cherished destination for millions of residents and visitors to the region for over 100 years. In October 2005, the de Young reopened in a state-of-the-art new building and attracted more than 50,000 visitors during its opening weekend. Designed by the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron and Fong & Chan Architects in San Francisco, the new de Young provides San Francisco with a landmark art museum to showcase the museum’s significant collections of American art from the 17th through the 20th centuries, art from Central and South America, and from the Pacific and Africa, as well as an important and diverse collection of textiles.