Blog Category: Collections

FRAME|WORK: Eléphantaisie by Pierre Dubreuil

FRAME|WORK is a weekly blog series that highlights an artwork in the Museums' permanent collections. This week we feature a classic photograph by Pierre Dubreuil. If you missed Eléphantaisie when it was on view in Impressionist Paris: City of Light, you will no doubt enjoy this virtual viewing.

Eléphantaisie

Pierre Dubreuil (French, 1872–1944). Eléphantaisie, 1908. Gelatin silver print. Museum purchase, Prints and Drawings Art Trust Fund. 2009.29

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Bird Bath: The Conservation of a William Morris Textile

The British Aesthetic Movement, which is the subject of the upcoming exhibition The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant-Garde 1860–1900 opening at the Legion of Honor on February 18, promoted the integration of beauty and art into every aspect of life. William Morris (1834–1896) was a chief proponent of the Aesthetic Movement and contributed luxe designs for wallpaper, carpets, tiles, and furniture. His career as a textiles designer, however, quickly surpassed his involvement with all other areas of artistic production.

Bird wall hanging, 1878

William Morris (English, 1834–1896). Bird wall hanging, 1878 (detail). Wool jacquard woven doublecloth. Museum purchase, Art Trust Fund. 1996.47

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FRAME|WORK: A Statue of Asklepios from Hellenistic Greece

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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Museum Without Walls: Sarah Wilson

This month, the de Young begins its second installment of the Artist Fellows program, which brings working artists from a variety of disciplines into the museum for a year. During this year, Artist Fellows will break open their art process by exhibiting works-in-progress and investigating new avenues of creativity through collaboration with the museum, partner institutions and other artists.

Each artist is associated with a collaborating institutional partner, an aspect of the program specifically designed to encourage museum engagement with local, community based arts organizations. Working both within and without the walls, the Artist Fellows will inhabit a new kind of museum, one without walls. In celebration of this next phase of the Artist Fellows program, we will focus on these extra-museum collaborations in a blog series called Museum Without Walls.

Sarah Wilson

Sarah Wilson. Photo © Lenny Gonzalez 2010

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

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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FRAME|WORK: The Empire of Flora by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

FRAME|WORK is a weekly blog series that highlights an artwork in the Museums' permanent collections. This week we present a dynamic work by one of Italy’s most important painters. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s The Empire of Flora is currently on loan to the Allentown Art Museum where it is featured in the special exhibition Shared Treasure: The Legacy of Samuel H. Kress.

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696–1770). The Empire of Flora, ca. 1743. Oil on canvas. Gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. 61.44.19

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