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Not Your Average Picture: Installation of a 17-foot Photograph

Posted by Debbie Evans on December 6, 2010

Shi Guorui photograph

The Chinese artist Shi Guorui produced this photograph of the Donner Pass by creating a pinhole camera obscura. The photographic method is just like the oatmeal container pinhole camera you might have made in grade school, but on a much larger scale. The artist put a single small hole in the side of an otherwise light-sealed semi-trailer truck.  The light rays passed through this small hole forming an inverted image on a long, curved sheet of sensitized photographic paper.  We were told that the artist meditated during the hours-long exposure time.

At 4 feet 2 inches x 17 feet 2 inches, Donner Pass is one of the largest photographs in the Museums’ collection. Due to its unique size, installation required much advanced planning to come up with a method of hanging that was not only safe for the photograph, but also met the visions of the artist and curators. As the artist preferred the immediacy of the uncovered photograph placed directly on the wall, a tailored system of hinging materials and frame installation methods was devised by the paper conservation laboratory to safely meet this vision.  

After much preparation, the day of installation had arrived.  

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In the Galleries: Robert, Calvin, Martha, and William Scott and Mila (ca. 1843–1845)

Posted by Andrew Fox on October 28, 2010

Robert, Calvin, Martha, and William Scott and Mila, ca. 1843–1845

Regulars to the permanent galleries at the de Young will notice a new addition to Gallery 23 on the upper gallery level—the anonymous painting titled Robert, Calvin, Martha, and William Scott and Mila, ca. 1843–1845. The painting depicts the children of Reverend William Anderson Scott (1813–1885), a Presbyterian minister in New Orleans from 1842 to 1854. The spire of the First Presbyterian Church where Dr. Scott was pastor is visible at the center of the city’s skyline.

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Another Wave

Posted by Robin Wander on October 20, 2010

The Wave, 2005, by Kay Sekimachi

In 2005, Bay Area artist Kay Sekimachi gifted the museum a seminal work, a miniature book—The Wave. The Wave comes from her series of accordion books that were inspired by the Japanese artist Hokusai prints from his own series Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji. Woven in natural linen, Sekimachi used a painted-warp technique to imprint the repetitive pattern of the wave on the book’s covers and pages and a double-weave technique to create the accordion folds. The meditative quality of Sekimachi’s work belies the complexity of her techniques. Her work reflects a combination of influences— from the Japanese aesthetic comes her purity of form and reverence of nature and from her early Bauhaus training the control of geometry and symmetry, as well as, the exploration of the double-weave technique. 

Jill D'Alessandro, Curator, Textile Arts

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An interview with Dan Taulapapa McMullin, October Artist-in-Residence

Posted by Cynthia Inaba on October 12, 2010

What is your background as an artist?

My father's family (in Leone Village, Tutuila Island, US Territory of American Samoa) were architects, shipbuilders, and tapa (barkcloth) painters, also my grandmother and great grandmother on my mother's side were tapa painters and I used to help them when I was a small boy in Samoa.  As a young man I studied conceptual art at Cal Arts for a couple years but was disenchanted and ended up working in television in Los Angeles for years.  About seven years ago I began painting again while living in Samoa and living on money from a script I wrote.  Since then I'm in love with painting and its my life long work now.

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John Buchanan and Guy Cogeval Discuss Post-Impressionism on KQED's Forum

Posted by Andrew Fox on September 29, 2010

Starry Night Over the Rhone by Van GoghThis past Monday, September 27, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco director John Buchanan and Musée d'Orsay president Guy Cogeval appeared once again on KQED's popular Forum radio program. This time they discussed Post-Impressionism and the exhibition Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d'Orsay, on view at the de Young through January 18, 2011.

If you missed their live appearance earlier this week, fret not. Although you can't phone in or email with our questions, you can listen to Monday's segment on KQED's Forum audio archive. In fact, the episode is embedded below in this blog post for your listening convenience (after the jump).

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Celebrate Mexico’s Bicentennial for Free

Posted by Cheryl McCain on September 14, 2010

On Friday, September 17, in celebration of Mexico's bicentennial, the de Young is offering free admission to the permanent collection galleries from 5–8:45 pm in conjunction with Friday Nights at the de Young. In honor of the bicentennial, the de Young proudly presents an evening of film, fashion, dance and music to celebrate Mexico's artistic achievements. This event is organized by the Consulate General of Mexico in San Francisco.

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