Blog #8 Museum Visits this Semester

Since there is no topic listed for this blog, I will do it on my visits to the museums of the bay area. I started my tour of our museums at the De Young Museum on Feb 17th. I was there the weekend after the Warhol exhibit went in. I arrived just as the museum opened and took the first guided tour of the day, which was empty except for me.. so I got a private tour of the exhibit! It was wonderful to hear all about Andy Warhol’s life and have the tour guide all to myself, to ask questions and get into a dialogue about Warhol. You are not allowed to take photos of special exhibits, so I don’t have any of Warhol, but I did take some pretty cool pictures of Dale Chihuly’s glass works, including Rover’s Garden Grows. This is his piece. I decided that it would be really great to learn how to blow glass.

On March 5th, I went to The Cantor Arts Center. I went to see the new Rodin Exhibit, but I was there on a day when they were not giving a tour. So I went around and took lots of photographs of the art works that were outside, and began to explore the inside before I had to leave. I knew I would have to return. This is me in front of the Gates of Hell by Rodin.





On April 3rd, I made a visit to the San Jose Museum of Art. I realized that it was not one of the museums on our list of places to visit, but I wanted to check it out. It is a contemporary art museum, displaying works of artists in the last 100 years. They also are hosting a Warhol exhibit and it is worth visiting. Also, there is a fantastic 3 piece chandelier in the 2 story entrance hall of the museum. You are not allowed to photograph any of the exhibits, but you can take a photo in the lobby… so I photographed myself from the 2nd floor with the Chihuly chandeliers behind me.



On April 5th, I returned to the Cantor Museum and took the 1 hour docent led Rodin tour. I am writing on Michelangelo and Rodin, so I took lots of notes and photographs. The museum was nice enough to allow photographs of the pieces. It was very interesting to go on the tour, and I found that I actually knew a lot about Rodin, having read a book on him, and that made the tour even more enriching.
I was able to get the tour guide to take my picture against the Gates of Hell.. a better picture that my self portrait of before!









On April 14th, I visited the Portland Art Museum and saw the special collection of French Paintings in the age of Madame de Pompadour, entitled “ La Volupte du Gout”. Again, the museum does not allow photographs, but it was very good timing as we started on Rococo paintings the very next week!











And finally today, almost as an afterthought, I visited the Legion of Honor Museum. I had a free day and took my daughter and her friend. I was very surprised and impressed with this museum. It was the perfect museum for us to see, having taken this class. The 19 rooms on the main floor are organized by time and artistic style periods, starting with Medieval, Renaissance and Mannerist art in rooms 2-5 and ending with 18th -20th century neoclassical art through post impressionism in rooms 16-19. It was very nicely organized, and each room had a wallboard explaining the period, and the significance of the style being presented. Additionally, the center 3 galleries contained a very extensive collection of Rodin with his bronze castings as well as his plaster carvings, and a few marble pieces. The information plaque said that the Spreckels family, who donated the museum and this collection to the city of San Francisco, had acquired many of the pieces from Rodin or his friend and got pieces cast while the artist was alive! And- I was very happy to find that this museum allows you to take photographs of the pieces as long as you don’t use a flash. I ended up with over 200 photographs of the works of art.. and was able to find examples of art from every period we have studied so far!
I was very impressed with the Legion of Honor, and would have enjoyed spending much more time there, but my 12 year old daughter and her friend were ready to move on… they were saturated! So my last photograph is of me, in the mirror (pink jacket) in the recreated Neoclassical room from the Salon of the Hotel d’ Humieres, Paris, 1788.


What I have learned is that there is a fantastic wealth of art in the bay area that we can enjoy. Art museums have gone the extra mile to provide informative placards, made hand held devices to listen to tour guides, provided docents to give free tours on a regular basis, and even gone to ipod downloads that you can get ahead of time and listen to while in the museum. All you have to do is have the time, curiosity and the willingness to dig a bit deeper when there- and you can learn a whole lot from the artists of our past!