de Young Museum

Gifts from the Gods: Art and the Olympic Ideal

July 28, 2012 – June 23, 2013

Plato considered both art and athletics to be gifts from the gods, and the connection between art and sports in ancient Greece can be viewed as an aspect of its religious beliefs as well as its competitive spirit. Every fourth year for a thousand years, from 776 BC to AD 395, the pageantry of the Olympic festival attracted citizens from all over the Greek world. The Games at Olympia were held in honor of Zeus, and a visit to these competitions was also a pilgrimage.

Location:

Legion

Press Release:

Gifts from the Gods: Art and the Olympic Ideal

Sponsors

Support for the exhibition is provided by Richard Beleson in memory of the 1972 Israeli Olympic Team.

Red-figure Kylix (detail). Greek, Athens, 440−430 bc. Painter of London E 777 Painter. Terracotta. Interior: Two athletes. Exterior: Athletes conversing. Gift of the Queen of Greece through Alma de Bretteville Spreckels. 1925.346.16

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Man Ray | Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism

July 14, 2012 – October 14, 2012

Man Ray |Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism consists of approximately 115 photographs, paintings, drawings and manuscripts that explore the creative interaction between Man Ray and Lee Miller, two giants of European Surrealism. This is the first exhibition to focus exclusively on the pair’s artistic relationship. It also includes selected works by artists in Ray and Miller’s circle in Paris, including paintings by Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, Roland Penrose, Dora Maar, and a small sculpture by Alexander Calder.

Location:

Legion

Ticket Information:

Adults $15; seniors 65+ $12; youths 13–17 and students with current ID $11; free for members and children 12 and under.

Purchase tickets online »

Press Release:

Man Ray | Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism

Sponsors

Man Ray|Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism is organized by the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts.

Man Ray (1890–1976). A l’heure de l’observatoire—les amoureux (Observatory Time—The Lovers), c. 1931; color photograph, 1964, after the original oil painting. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. © 2011 Man Ray Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo © The Israel Museum by Avshalom Avital

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Bernini's Medusa

November 17, 2011 – March 4, 2012

Musei Capitolini in Rome are lending San Francisco one of their greatest treasures, the remarkable Baroque masterpiece The Medusa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680), one of art history’s finest sculptors and a leading figure in Italian Baroque art and architecture. Recent conservation efforts have restored this sculptural triumph to its full glory and revealed previously hidden artistic techniques.

Location:

Legion

Press Release:

Bernini's Medusa

Sponsors

This loan is made possible by Sovraintendenza ai Beni Culturali di Roma Capitale—Musei Capitolini. George and Judy Marcus are the exclusive sponsors of the exhibition.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, The Medusa, 1640s. Carrara marble. Musei Capitolini, Rome

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Artistic San Francisco

October 22, 2011 – January 22, 2012

Location:

Legion

Press Release:

Artistic San Francisco at the Legion of Honor

Angelo A. Sottosanti, San Francisco Outdoor Art Exhibit

Angelo A. Sottosanti (American, 1917–2004), San Francisco Outdoor Art Exhibit, 1941. Transparent and opaque watercolor. Allocated by the Federal Art Project, L43.2.926

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Program Support

To support our mission, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco offer an extensive array of education and public programs for audiences of all ages that complement our special exhibitions and permanent collections. The Museums are further committed to caring for and preserving our holdings, conducting and presenting in-depth collections-based research, training and mentoring young conservators, and providing greater access to the collection for scholars, students, and the general public.

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Favorite Things: An Exhibition of Artist Books in Memory of David Logan, 1918–2011

August 6, 2011 – February 12, 2012

The Reva and David Logan Gallery of Illustrated Books was one of David Logan’s favorite things. In 1998, Logan and his wife, Reva, gave their outstanding collection of more than 300 modern artist books to the Fine Arts Museums; their generous gift was celebrated that year in a newly constructed gallery named for them at the Legion of Honor. Since then, the gallery has been devoted to exhibitions celebrating the excellence and diversity of the artist book, a unique art form that combines text with art (usually in the form of original prints) to form a unified whole.

Location:

Legion

Favorite Things: An Exhibition of Artist Books in Memory of David Logan

Above: Joan Miró, pages from À toute épreuve (Proof Against All), by Paul Éluard (Geneva: Gérald Cramer, 1958). Color woodcuts. FAMSF, Museum purchase, Reva and David Logan Collection of Illustrated Books, Reva and David Logan Fund, Prints and Drawings Art Trust Fund, Fine Arts Museums Foundation Auction Proceeds, Unrestricted Art Trust Fund. Artwork © 2011 Successió Miró / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

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The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant-Garde 1860–1900

February 18, 2012 – June 17, 2012

The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant-Garde 1860–1900 is the first major exhibition to explore the unconventional creativity of the British Aesthetic Movement, tracing the evolution of this movement from a small circle of progressive artists and poets, through the achievements of innovative painters and architects, to its broad impact on fashion and the middle-class home.

Location:

Legion

Ticket Information:

Admission prices: adults $20, seniors 65+ $17, students with current ID $16, youths 6–17 $10, members and children 5 and under free.

Groups of 10 or more have access to priority booking and discounted rates. For additional information please contact the group sales office at groupsales@famsf.org or by calling 415.750.3620.

Order tickets online »

Press Release:

The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant-Garde, 1860–1900

Sponsors

Exhibition organized by the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco in collaboration with the Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

Grand Patron

Diane B. Wilsey

Lead Patrons

Athena and Timothy Blackburn

Patrons

Lucy and William Hamilton
Maria and John Pitcairn
Arlene Schnitzer
The Frances K. and Charles D. Field Foundation

Sponsors

Rosemary Baker
Marie Mendenhall Cleasby
Leslie and Troy Daniels in memory of Diana V. Hind
Charles and Ann Johnson
Ross Auxiliary of the Fine Arts Museums

HansonBridgett The Fairmont San Francisco

John Spencer Stanhope, Love and the Maiden, 1877. Tempera, gold paint and gold leaf on canvas. FAMSF

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Reservation Request

Reservation and Scheduling Guidelines

Reservations for the 2010/11 school year begin August 1.
Guided visits are offered October 1, 2010 to May 27, 2011.
Get Smart with Art guided visits are offered Wednesdays and Fridays at 10:30 and 10:45 am.

General Guidelines

A minimum of 8 weeks advance notice is required.
Please note that the maximum size of a class group is 35 students.

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The Mourners: Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy

August 20, 2011 – January 1, 2012

The Mourners: Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy consists of 37 sculptures from the tomb of John the Fearless (1371–1419), the second duke of Burgundy. His elaborate tomb, once housed at a monastery on the outskirts of Dijon, is now one of the centerpieces of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon. The exhibition draws almost entirely from the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon.

Preview the sculptures in 360º and 3D at www.themourners.org.

Location:

Legion

Ticket Information:

Entry to The Mourners is included with Legion of Honor general admission.

Purchase tickets online »

Press Release:

The Mourners: Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy

Sponsors

The Mourners: Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy has been organized by the Dallas Museum of Art and the Musée des Beaux Arts de Dijon, under the auspices of FRAME (French Regional and American Museum Exchange).

FRAME

The exhibition is supported by a leadership gift from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation.

Major corporate sponsorship is provided by Bank of the West – Member BNP Paribas Group.

Bank of the West

Additional support is provided by the Florence Gould Foundation, the Eugene McDermott Foundation, Connie Goodyear Baron, and Boucheron.

This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Education programs held in conjunction with the exhibition are part of the FRAME Annenberg Education Project. Support for the FRAME Annenberg Education Project is provided by the Annenberg Foundation through FRAME, the French Regional and American Museum Exchange.

The San Francisco presentation is supported by The Brown Foundation.

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Pissarro's People

October 22, 2011 – January 22, 2012

Camille Pissarro had a unique and lifelong interest in the human figure. From his earliest years in the Caribbean and Venezuela until his death in Paris in 1903, Pissarro drew, painted, and made prints featuring human subjects from every walk of life, which outnumber the figural works of his colleagues Monet and Sisley. Pissarro’s People celebrates the painter’s humanism in all its aspects and brings together nearly 100 works of art, including some 37 paintings and numerous works on paper made over the course of his entire career.

Location:

Legion

Ticket Information:

Admission prices: adults $15, seniors 65+ $12, students with current ID $11, youths 6–17 $10, members and children 5 and under free.

Groups of 10 or more have access to priority booking and discounted rates. For additional information please contact the group sales office at groupsales@famsf.org or by calling 415.750.3620.

Reserve your tickets now »

Press Release:

Pissarro’s People at the Legion of Honor this Fall

Sponsors

Pissarro’s People was organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. It is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. The Grand Patron is Jeannik Méquet Littlefield. Education Sponsors are Denise Littlefield Sobel, Wells Fargo, and the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation. Sponsors are Nan and Ransom Cook, Raj and Helen Desai, and Charles and Ann Johnson. The catalogue is published with the assistance of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Endowment for Publications.