Legion of Honor

Dutch and Flemish Masterworks from the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection

July 9, 2011 - October 2, 2011

One of the finest collections of 17th-century Dutch Old Masters belongs not to a museum, but to Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, who have been called “the most important collectors you’ve never heard of.” Masterworks from this collection are constantly sought-after for American and international exhibitions. The selection of paintings includes premier examples of quintessentially Dutch subjects—from portraits and still lifes to landscapes and charming scenes of everyday life. Collectively these works chronicle a 17th-century Holland that served as a model for early American society and culture.

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Reading the Floating World: Japanese Ukiyo-e Books from the Collection of Arthur Tress

The Reva and David Logan Gallery of Illustrated Books

March 5, 2011 - July 24, 2011

The flowering of popular culture during Japan's Edo period (1600–1868) brought about a revolution in Japanese publishing and the art of the book. With prosperity and the spread of literacy, particularly among the merchant class, a great variety of reading material developed, including illustrated books of poetry, legends and folk-tales, romances, and travel guides. Other categories, including picture books (ehon), artist instruction manuals (gafu), and erotic books developed around life in the "floating world" (ukiyo), the lively subculture that flourished in the licensed pleasure quarters of cities such as Edo (today's Tokyo), Osaka and Kyoto.

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Votive Axe

Mexico, Oaxaca, 1000–400 BC
Jadeite
American Museum of Natural History, New York (30/7552)

First published in 1890, this axe has features that were thought to combine those of a human infant and a jaguar, or a “were-jaguar” being. These traits include almond-shaped eyes, small nostrils, prominent canine teeth, a large, flaring upper lip, and sometimes a central forehead cleft and a feature called “flame eyebrows.” The were-jaguar concept dominated Olmec studies during much of the twentieth century. The creature is now recognized as a composite supernatural being whose physical features are drawn from multiple sources in the natural world. In ancient times, portions of jade were removed from the back of the axe.

Photo courtesy of the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History

Zoomorphic Figure (Monument 52)

Mexico, Veracruz, Municipality of Texistepec, San Lorenzo, Tenochtitlán, 1000–400 BC
Andesite
Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City (10-81268)

This crouching figure, associated with water flow, attests to the importance of managing water at San Lorenzo. It has the cleft head, almond-shaped eyes, and snarling mouth typical of many composite creatures in Olmec art. The pleated ear ornaments are references to the water deity. The headdress is marked with a pair of scalloped designs, and the figure wears a pendant with the X motif. The sculpture was buried north of the main drain line at the western edge of the San Lorenzo plateau. Archaeologists discovered that the drain line reached more than 550 feet from east to west, with three branches extending south to north.

Photo: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes — Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia — México — Javier Hinojosa

Axe Fragment and Votive Axe

Left:

Axe Fragment
Mexico, Veracruz, El Manatí, 1500–1200 BC
Stone
Centro INAH Veracruz
Photo: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes — Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia — México — Javier Hinojosa

Right:

Votive Axe
Mexico, Tabasco, La Venta, Mound A-2,
Tomb E, 900–400 BC
Jadeite with pigment
Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City (10-9668)
Photo: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes — Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia — México — Javier Hinojosa

Colossal Head 5

Mexico, Veracruz, Municipality of Texistepec, San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, 1200–900 BC

Basalt

Museo de Antropología de Xalapa, Universidad Veracruzana (Reg. 49 P.J. 4026)

The furrowed brow, almond-shaped eyes, flaccid cheeks, flat nose, and thick mouth on this head convey great realism and suggest an individual of mature age in a
leadership role. His helmet displays elements typical of other San Lorenzo portrait heads, such as the horizontal band topped by a woven motif with circular elements. Unique to this portrait are two bird feet or feline claws with three toes, each with a talon, which may signify the subject’s name or lineage. The back is flat, implying that
the sculpture may have been recarved from an earlier monument.

Photo: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes—Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia—México—Javier Hinojosa

Marco Breuer: Line of Sight

April 2, 2011 - October 2, 2011

Marco Breuer is one of the most innovative contemporary artists working in photography today. He is well known for using an extensive range of processes to extract abstract and visually compelling images from photographic materials. Line of Sight comprises a selection of photographs made by Breuer and placed in dialogue with objects from the de Young’s permanent collection.

Selected and installed by the artist in a compressed time period of 48 hours, Breuer sets up a dynamic exchange between the works of art, the collecting practices of the institution, and the viewing habits of museum visitors. The single-gallery exhibition is part of the Collection Connections program of Cultural Encounters.

Rupert Garcia: The Magnolia Editions Projects 1991–2011

February 19, 2011 - July 17, 2011

Renowned Bay Area artist Rupert Garcia is committed to creating artwork not only as a means of achieving aesthetic ends, but also as a viable way of addressing social and political concerns. Through his bold silkscreens and layered pastels and paintings, Garcia catalyzes discussion and debate in a broad audience about the pressing issues that have faced the late 20th and early 21st centuries. His recent editions elaborate on his political concerns, as well as addressing his interest in challenging notions of folk and high art.

For over two decades Magnolia has worked closely with artists to produce and publish fine art projects, including unique and editioned works on paper, artist books and public art. The exhibition includes approximately 25 prints made by Garcia at the presses of Magnolia Editions, Oakland.

The Magna Carta

May 7, 2011 - June 5, 2011

The Magna Carta (or Great Charter of English Liberties), one of the most important legal documents in the history of democracy, is on display at the Legion of Honor May 7–June 5. The document is presented in Gallery 3 under a Spanish ceiling dating from approximately 1500. The Magna Carta coming to San Francisco belongs to the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England, and is one of four surviving manuscripts from the revised 1217 issue. The document is considered an original Magna Carta—not a copy, but an official engrossment or exemplification of the Latin text, sent out by the royal record office to Gloucestershire in 1217 and most likely housed at St. Peter’s Abbey (now Gloucester Cathedral). Seventeen vintage originals still survive from the 13th century, including the manuscript that will be shown at the Legion of Honor.

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Marvelous Menagerie: A Roman Mosaic from Lod, Israel

April 23, 2011 - July 24, 2011

First unearthed in 1996 in a rescue excavation in Lod, ancient Diospolis, Israel, this large and extraordinarily detailed mosaic floor has only recently been carefully removed from its site and conserved. Found in a large villa believed to belong to a wealthy Roman, the excellently preserved mosaic floor dates to about AD 300. Two rectangular end panels flank a large square medallion. The medallion and one of the end panels contain depictions of delightful animals and exotic beasts. The remaining panel portrays a fabulous marine scene filled with a profusion of fish and Roman merchant ships.

This glorious mosaic is in America for a limited time before it is returned to Israel, where it will become the focus of an archaeological center in Lod. The Fine Arts Museums is one of only four museums to display this treasure.