Rain is predicted for the next three days along with high sustained winds and wind gusts. Doesn’t that sound like a museum day to you? It sure did to us and we’ve been saving a list of museums just for this type of weather occasion. We had planned to visit the DeYoung, an art museum, and the California Academy of Sciences which are directly across the street from each other in the Golden Gate Park. However, with a paid entry to the De Young came free admission to the Legion of Honor, another art museum about 4 miles away. Thus, it was an artsy day and we will visit the Academy later.
The De Young Museum has had the distinct misfortune to be extensively damaged by an earthquake not just once but twice, almost a century apart. The first time was in 1906 when the earthquake so badly damaged the building that it was demolished and replaced in 1926 with another. Then in 1989, it was severely damaged again and a new building just reopened in 2005. Some think it looks like a carrier at sea but it is a neat light, airy museum with all sorts of places to display its collections.
The first piece we saw was a piece by Grant Wood picturing farmers sitting around a lunch table with the farm wives serving them before they return to the fields to finish their jobs. We noticed their white foreheads - only an Iowan would know that little detail. Well, maybe a Nebraskan, too.
It has an extensive collection of Oceanic and African Art and a collection of American Art up to the 20th Century.
We were especially intrigued by the Kilim textile collection which has textiles from the 1400’s. I’ve always liked kilim designs but to see this many from the 14th and 15th centutries was amazing. Many of them had raveled edges and were very extremely delicate. It must have taken months to get some of these hung since they were so old and ravelled.
We really enjoyed this museum. Here are some of the other pieces we saw. This piece is about 1/2 as tall a human and the colors are so vibrant they are almost translucent.
Now, this one is one I could use when I get stressed - it is called ‘ice bag’.
Here is a painting by Rembrant Peale from the 1854 titled ‘George Washington’ and here is a ‘copy’ by Ray Beldner titled: ‘E Pluribus Unum, After Rembrant Peale’ with small little dollar bill heads of George from the current century.
We left, walked back to our car, noticed that one of our tires had been marked to mark our 3 hours of parking so we moved on down the line, found another place to park, making sure the tire mark was hidden and ate lunch. Then off to the Legion which we heard had the largest collection of Rodin sculptures outside of France and, since he’s always been my favorite sculptor, we were excited to visit there.
As we walked into the large courtyard, there was The Thinker.
WOW. I’ve seen pictures of this all my life and here I was actually looking at the original sculpture. Oh, but I must have forgotten that I had seen the original in Kansas City at the Nelson-Atkins Museum there back in 2004. Wait a minute, how could I have ever seen 2 originals? How can that be? Well, it seems that there are 20 of these original bronze casts in museums around the world. There are also sculptures of different sizes and plaster models made in preparation for the bronze. There are even some newer castings. Huh? What do I not understand about the word ‘original’?
So, not only had I forgotten that I had already seen an original in Kansas but I learned that both are ‘originals.’ But, did that diminish the thrill of seeing it? Nope, it’s still monumental and still an amazing piece of art. There were also several rooms filled with other Rodin sculptures. We also got to see an original of ’The Kiss’.
These pieces were stunning and, after we had looked around at the other rooms, we returned for a final look.
There were several pieces with exceptional marquetry. Look at the table and then at the detail of one of the corners.
This is all done is wood and how the artist got the shading is amazing. These pieces of wood were cut so finely and precisely that they fit perfectly next to each other.
Here was a whole room which was designed for one hotel, then moved to another hotel then moved to a mansion in New York then to an art dealer in New York. Piece by piece.
We had a great day - and, I got to see another original of ‘The Thinker’ and ‘The Kiss’. The art pieces were stunning.
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