S.F. SHOWS THE LOVE FOR MUSEUM EXHIBITS
As the nation’s museums and art scenes anxiously await federal word on the fate of the National Endowment for the Arts, local art lovers better beeline to two major exhibitions currently wowing appreciative crowds: “Matisse/Diebenkorn” at SFMOMA and “Monet: The Early Years” at the Legion of Honor.
The works hanging at these vaunted cultural institutions is jaw-dropping. Yet despite Trump’s proposed defunding of the NEA, both museums remain buoyed by support from their donors, lenders and collectors.
“In SFMOMA’s 82-year history, I don’t think we’ve ever had an exhibition that boasts 32 sponsors,” said SFMOMA Director Neal Benezra ata Director’s Circle conversation in Wattis Hall with curator Janet Bishop.
Both Henri Matisse and Richard Diebenkorn, two of the 20th century’s greatest colorists, share a history in San Francisco: Diebenkorn was an S.F. native, Stanford grad and S.F. Art Institute professor who developed a great admiration for the French master. SFMOMA holds 43 Diebenkorns in its permanent collection.
Just one year after SFMOMA’s 1935 founding, the late Grace McCann Morley organized the first Matisse exhibition on the West Coast. And thanks to the beneficence of patrons, such as the late
Elise Haas, SFMOMA’s collection holds 47 Matisses, including its most important work, “Femme au chapeau (1905),” which forms the foundation of the museum’s modern collection.
Benezra prefaced that good fortune with a brief editorial comment:
“The value of great works of art has gone up in an extraordinary way, and that increase makes insurance valuations extraordinarily high. All great museums in this country have become dependent on the NEA’s indemnification of insurance costs,” he said. “And we can’t make great exhibitions like ‘Matisse/Diebenkorn’ without that support.”
Artful impression: Supporters were also out in force at the Legion of Honor, where Fine Arts Museums Director Max Hollein and board Chair
Dede Wilsey hosted a black-tie dinner celebrating “Monet: The Early Years.”
“This exhibition is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see something that very rarely comes together,” said Hollein, during the dinner held in a clear tent set on the museum’s Thinker’s Courtyard. “In fact, this is the very first early Monet show ever.”
The Francaise-flavored fete featured authentic Parisian sounds by musician Michel Michelis and the chanteuse-inspired Sono Musette band, as well as a Gallic-influenced McCalls meal. Among revelers: John and Cynthia Fry Gunn,
Carole McNeil, Lisa and Douglas Goldman, Lucinda Watson, George and Marie Hecksher, Anne Giannini McWilliams, David Wollenberg,
Yurie and Carl Pascarella, Lucy Hamilton, Mary Beth and David Shimmon, and French Consul General Emmanuel Lebrun-Damiens.
The show focuses on pre-Impressionist Monet — and there isn’t a water lily to be found among 53 dazzling works (47 of which were loaned by collectors and institutions from around the world) in the exhibition, organized by FAM curator Esther Bell with the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.
“Nothing is more beautiful than early Monet until you get to late Monet,” toasted Wilsey. “I don’t know why we’re not doing a middle Monet, but I’m sure someone will think of it.”
Hot seat: During the inaugural Art of Fire fundraiser at Terra Gallery, the sold-out crowd, which consisted mostly of firefighters, raised $250K for the San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation. Established 10 years ago by retired SFFD Capt.
Tony Stefani, a 28-year veteran and cancer survivor, the foundation promotes early detection of and research on elevated cancer rates among firefighters exposed to a toxic soup of flameretardant furnishings.
So began Stefani’s crusade, assisted by the efforts of researchers, public health officials and politicians, including former state senator Mark
Leno, who drafted numerous bills to curb the use of these toxic chemicals.
“Flame retardants are a $5 billion industry that doesn’t even prevent fires,” explained Leno. “Those chemicals just cause cancer.”
The gala featured keynote speeches by actor and cancer survivor Evan Handler and awardwinning actor BD Wong, a San Francisco native whose brother, Barry Wong, serves at SFFD Station 37. There was also an auction of firefighterthemed art, a Taste Catering dinner, and a moving “White Hat” ceremony led by the S.F. Pipers Band and SFFD members who presented local heroes with its highest honor, a white firefighter helmet. On the podium: filmmakers Kirby Walker and
Jamie Redford for their award-winning HBO documentary “Toxic Hot Seat”; Dr. Marshall
Stoller, assistant chairman of the urology department at UCSF Medical Center; former SFFD Capt.
Rich Elb and S.F. Workers’ Compensation Director
Peggy Sugarman.
Dr. Jennifer Brokaw, a former emergencyroom physician turned patient advocate, kicked off the program recalling the serious cancer diagnosis delivered to her father, broadcast journalist
Tom Brokaw.
“When it comes to cancer, the words ‘battle’ and ‘fight’ are all wrong. So here’s a firefighter analogy: A person with cancer is in a burning building and we, here in this room, are the ones with the hoses,” she said. “By joining with cancer researchers, oncologists, surgeons, nurses, geneticists, public health officials, regulatory agencies and filmmakers, we are the ones with the power to extinguish cancer.”