The Anderson Collection at Stanford University is adding major works by midcentury masters Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, officials announced Monday, Oct. 28.
“Totem Lesson 1,” painted in 1944 by Pollock, and “Gansevoort Street” (1949) by de Kooning will both be on public display starting Wednesday, Oct. 30, at the free campus museum. The paintings were last shown in the Bay Area during the survey “Celebrating Modern Art: The Anderson Collection” from 2000 to 2001 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
“These are two of the most coveted works by these influential artists still in private hands,” said Jason Linetzky, director of the Anderson Collection. “They were really the leaders of the Abstract Expressionists in New York.”
The announcement comes less than a week after the death ofMary Margaret “Moo” Anderson, who has been the main benefactor of the collection since the death of her husband,Harry W. “Hunk” Anderson,in February 2018. Moo Anderson had committed the gifts months ago, in honor of the fifth anniversary of the Anderson Collection. She had been scheduled to attend the unveiling on Monday, Oct. 28, along with her daughter Mary “Putter” Anderson Pence and granddaughter Devin Pence. Instead, it has now become an impromptu memorial to her.
“Moo and Hunk believed these two works would provide more insight into the artists’ creative journeys,” said Putter Pence, “and given Moo’s love of learning, we can’t imagine a better way to honor her legacy.”
The Pollock painting is 6 by 4 feet and was shown at his first New York exhibition in 1945, Linetzky said. It predates the drip painting “Lucifer,” which is also displayed in the Anderson Collection.
“We now have two of the most significant Pollock paintings,” says Linetzky. “They show the artist at the height of his creativity and innovation.”
The smaller “Gansevoort Street” joins two other de Koonings in the Anderson Collection. Its name is derived from the downtown Manhattan slaughterhouses and depicts “the postwar years in New York and the brutal aspects of the meatpacking district at that time,” Linetzky explained.
The donation was the first from the Anderson family since they gave 121 works to open the museum in 2014. The new additions kick off a $10 million fundraising effort to enhance the exhibition schedule at the museum.
五周年c的一部分elebration, the Anderson exhibition space — 16,000 feet on two floors — has been reinstalled for the first time since its opening. This includes a curated exhibition by Jim Campbell, the San Francisco lighting artist known for his six-story installation“Day for Night” at Salesforce Tower.
安德森表示,坎贝尔t建了一个新工作itled “Rhythm Studies” composed of nine LED panels. It hangs in the first-floor window and can be seen day and night from Lomita Drive, the main approach to the Stanford museums. The temporary installation runs through August.
Anderson Collection at Stanford University:11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday-Sunday; 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursday. Free. 314 Lomita Drive, Stanford University. 650-721-6055.anderson.stanford.edu