The Complete Bay Area MUSEUM Super Guide
We got your hardcore, in your face, cultural bitch slapping right here. It’s time to get your culture on.
Jack Lyon
It’s a fact: The Bay Area has more culture than anywhere on earth. It’s the culture capital of the world. Hell, our culture even has culture. And once we’re done with our culture, we box it up and ship it off to a museum so we can study our cultural kick-assness later. Do a museum inventory. There are dozens in the Bay Area, from the traditional to the downright bizarre. From Matisse prints to old Marvel comics. Rodin to laser rays. Folk art to space exploration. You get the point. Along with all the exhibits and interactive installations, you’ll also find plenty of free days, lectures, classes, tours - even parties with free food (culture + food = happy). See, you’re getting more smarter already.
MAINSTREAM MUSEUMS
SAN FRANCISCO
California Academy of Sciences
55 Concourse Dr., Golden Gate Park, San Francisco | (415) 750-7145 | www.calacademy.org
Hours: Daily 10am - 5pm
Prices: General - $8.50, Youth (12-17) - $5.50, Youth (4-11) - $2, Senior - $5.50 (free first Wednesday of the month)
Traveling Exhibits: Skulls: study of the architecture and function of the skull
Powers of Ten: the power of mathematical scale. Math is cool! Stay in school!
Summary: The Academy of Sciences is a smorgasbord of scientific treats. There’s the Morrison Planetarium, the Steinhart Aquarium and the Natural History Museum, all in one building. The Natural History Museum features a T. Rex fossil, the African Hall, an earthquake exhibit and an insect room. The Steinhart Aquarium, which houses 165 individual fish tanks, offers the Fish Roundabout, where you can stand in the middle of a 100,000-gallon circular tank, and a tide pool filled with sea creatures you can touch. The planetarium has shows throughout the day. Lectures and workshops are scheduled throughout the year. Recent events included a lecture on radio astronomy, a forum on genetics and a Nigerian artist in residence.
 Legion of Honor
100 34th Ave., San Francisco | (415) 863-3330 | www.thinker.org/legion/
Hours: Tues. - Sun. 9:30am - 5pm
Prices: General - $8, Child - $5, Senior - $6 (free every Tuesday through Feb. 2003)
Exhibits: Eternal Egypt: Egyptian artifacts from personal troves of ancient pharaohs
Michael Sweerts 1618 – 1664: Flemish baroque painter
Summary: Tucked amongst the redwoods of the Presidio, the Legion of Honor is literally a hidden gem of a museum. Works by Monet, Rubens and Rembrandt are part of the permanent collection and Ancient Egyptian and Greek works dating as far back as 2500 B.C. are also available. Tours run Tuesday through Sunday, and a free tour and art class is available for children Saturdays from 2-3:30pm.
San Francisco Exploratorium
3601 Lyon St., San Francisco | (415) EXP-LORE | www.exploratorium.edu
Hours: Open Tues. – Sun. 10am - 6pm; until 9pm on Wed.
Prices: General - $10, Students (18+ with ID) - $7.50, Youth (5-17) - $6, Senior - $7.50 (free first Wednesday of the month)
Exhibits: Seeing: collection of exhibits on visual perception and optical illusion
Summary: More playground than museum, you’ll find over 600 “blinking, buzzing” interactive exhibits. Displays on speech and hearing, patterns, electricity, weather and light are always ready for exploration, and special programs rotate throughout the year. For $14 (which includes admission to the rest of the museum), enter the Tactile Dome, a room that’s completely black with only your sense of touch to guide you. Laser pointers are probably not welcome but occasionally funny.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
151 3rd St., San Francisco | (415) 357-4000 | www.sfmoma.org
Hours: Open every day except Wed. 11am - 5:45pm, Thurs. until 8:45pm
Prices: General - $10, Child - $7, Senior - $6 (free first Tues. of the month)
Exhibits: YES YOKO ONO: a survey of Ono’s avant-garde career (thru 9.8.02)
William de Kooning: Tracing the Figure: abstract expressionistic drawings of women (thru 9.8.02)
Ellsworth Kelly in San Francisco: 22 works from Kelly’s private collection (thru 1.5.03)
Dreaming in Pictures: The Photographs of Lewis Carroll (75 Victorian-era photos)
Summary: SFMOMA is the epicenter of art in the Bay Area, and for good reason. The open-aired multi-floored building teems with paintings, sculptures, photography and installations. Mondrian, Van Gogh, Adams and Man Ray are no strangers to the museum; neither are cutting-edge electronic artists thanks to e. space, SFMOMA’s virtual gallery. The museum runs video and film screenings at the Phyllis Wattis Theatre to enhance featured exhibits, and also presents The Seventh Art, a showcase of “films that inspire new trends in filmmaking” on the second Thursday of each month.
SOUTH BAY
 Children’s Discovery Museum
180 Woz Way, San Jose | (408) 298-5437 | www.cdm.org
Hours: Tues. – Sat. 10am - 5pm; Sun. noon - 5pm
Prices: General/Child – $7, Senior – $6
Exhibits: Alice’s Wonderland (thru 9.2.02)
Summary: Near downtown, this 52,000-square-foot lavender juggernaut is all about tricking kids into learning when they think they’re just having fun. Dozens of exhibits and installations are available to play with and explore. The museum’s current exhibit, Alice’s Wonderland, includes life-sized versions of the classic book, a rabbit hole to crawl through and the Hall of Doors, an area rife with optical illusions. Permanent exhibits include Bubbalonga (a bubble-making workshop), Rhythm (a bunch of noise and beat-making exhibits) and Current Connections (where children learn how electricity works).
San Jose Museum of Art
110 S. Market St., San Jose | (408) 271-6840 | www.sjmusart.org
Hours: Tue. – Sun. 11am - 5pm; Fri. 11am - 10pm
Prices: Free
Exhibits: Parallels and Intersections: Art/Women/California, 1950 – 2000 (thru 11.3.02)
Beaware: Teens Aware (thru 9.29.02)
Summary: The San Jose Museum of Art recently did away with admission fees, so just walk in and soak up the multi-floor complex’s large collection of art and sculpture. Some of the permanent collection items include photography from Arthur Goodwin and portraits from Hung Liu. The museum is also proudly displaying a collection of works by more than 90 California women reflecting their reactions to some of the most turbulent decades in history.
Tech Museum of Innovation
201 S. Market St., San Jose | (408) 294-TECH | www.thetech.org
Hours: Tues. - Sun. 10am – 5pm; closed Sept. 3 – Oct. 3 for maintenance
Prices: General - $9, Child - $7, Senior - $8; additional charge for IMAX
Exhibits: The Spirit of American Innovation: The National Medal of Technology winners
Imagination Playground: high tech experiences that require creativity
Summary: “The Tech” is a cross between a museum and a hi-tech playground. The sprawling center offers more than 240 interactive exhibits separated into five themed galleries. Communication covers the internet, TV and other communication technologies. Exploration looks at earth science. Innovation tackles the inventions that made the Bay Area the geek capital of the world. Life Tech looks at medicine and the ethics of biotechnology. Finally, Spirit of American Innovation celebrates people and companies that have made the world better through science. Take advantage of free tours on submarine construction, rocket science and missions to Mars. If you’re willing to spend a little extra, the IMAX theatre offers several shows, including Space Station and the Mysteries of Egypt.
EAST BAY
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley | (510) 642-0808 | www.bampfa.berkeley.edu
Hours: Open Wed. - Sun. 11am - 7pm
Prices: General - $6, Child/Senior - $4
Exhibits: MicroPainting: The Portrait Miniature (thru 12.22.02)
Alexander Rodchenko: Modern Photography (thru 10.13.02)
Friends and Rivals: Nanga Painters Baiitsu and Chikutô woodblock prints and paintings (thru 12.01.02)
Fast Forward II: Highlights acquisitions of the past five years (thru 2.09.03)
Summary: The East Bay’s premier shrine to high culture showcases the traditional (Edvard Munch, Rubens and Gaugin) and the cutting-edge (Mark Rothko, Mapplethorpe and Joan Brown). With more than 9,000 paintings, sculptures and works of art spread throughout fan-shaped galleries designed in overlapping terraces, expect to see everything from the Surrealists to African art. The Pacific Film Archives’ nightly events span the spectrum of world cinema and history, and the MATRIX show for new artists gives up-and-comers their big break.
 Chabot Space and Science Center
10000 Skyline Blvd., Oakland | (510) 336-7300 | www.chabotspace. org
Hours: Open Tues. - Thurs. 10am - 5pm; Fri. – Sat. 10am – 9 pm; Sun. noon – 5pm
Prices: General - $8, Child/Senior - $5.50
Exhibits: The Lost Spacecraft: Liberty Bell 7 Recovered (thru 09.15.02)
Summary: Nestled among a heavily wooded area of 13 acres in the Oakland Hills with breathtaking daytime views of the San Francisco Bay and the vast nighttime sky, Chabot offers something for people yearning to learn more about the universe. Besides ongoing exhibits about the solar system, meteorites, astronomy and spaceflight, Chabot features an amazing planetarium, the MegaDome Theater, with a 70-foot dome-screen showing science fiction films and an impressive observatory with powerful refractor telescopes. Chabot is definitely worth the drive up into the Oakland Hills.
Oakland Museum of California
1000 Oak St., Oakland | (510) 238-2200 | www.museumca.org
Hours: Wed. – Sat. 10am – 5pm; Sun. noon – 5pm; first Friday of each month open until 9pm
Prices: General - $6, Senior/Students with ID – $4 (children under 6 always free; general public free admission second Sunday each month)
Exhibits: Ansel Adams: Inspiration and Influence (thru 9.22.02)
Ruth Asawa: Completing the Circle: 75 sculptures in bronze, steel and copper (thru 9.22.02)
Summary: The three floors of the 37-year-old Oakland Museum present equal doses of art, California history and culture. Some of the art dates back to the Gold Rush; other pieces reflect more modern events like World War II and the Bay Area funk period. Other sections are dedicated to local history and natural science, with classes and workshops on a regular basis. And hey, for only $9,800, you can rent the entire museum for four hours!
PENINSULA
Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center For Visual Arts
328 Lomita Dr., Stanford | (650) 723-4177 | www.stanford.edu/dept/ccva
Hours: Wed. – Sun. 11am – 5pm; Thurs. 11am – 8pm
Prices: Free
Exhibits: Transgenic Light: color photographs of cell activity illuminated by green fluorescent protein
Hannelore Baron: Works from 1969 to 1987: Collages and boxes by this self-taught artist and Holocaust survivor Salviati at Standford: Venetian Glass of the 1890s: More than 120 19th-century Venetian glass vessels in different styles
Summary: Reopened in 1999 after renovation due to earthquake damage, the Center for Visual Arts is a cultural haven for both Stanford students and the general public. The sizeable museum features more than 2,000 objects to peruse. The collections are diverse, including pieces from ancient and contemporary America, Africa, Asia and Europe. You’ll find works from Georgia O’Keefe, Mark Tobey and Henry Moore, among others. Outside of the museum, be sure to check out the Rodin Sculpture Garden – a sprawling collection that includes 20 bronze statues by Auguste Rodin. If you want the lowdown on the sculptures, drop in for a free tour, available most Saturdays at 11:30am and Sundays at 3pm (call to confirm).
Triton Museum
1505 Warburton Ave., Santa Clara | (408) 247-3754 | www.tritonmuseum.org
Hours: Fri. – Tues. 10am – 5pm; Thurs.10am – 9pm
Prices: Free
Exhibits: New Works by California Artists: Ada Sadler: small, realistic paintings of bathtubs and chairs
Austen D. Warburton Native American Collection (permanent)
Summary: The Triton has a very focused mission: to show works of Bay Area artists, past and present. Besides the New Works by California Artists collection, Triton has a permanent collection of 19th and 20th century American and Native American art. American Indian Art and Artifacts spotlights Southwest tribe artifacts as well as contemporary paintings. The museum also harbors one of the largest collections of California landscape painter Theodore Wores.
SANTA CRUZ
Museum of Art and History
705 Front St., Santa Cruz | (831) 429-1964 | www.santacruzmah.org
Hours: Tues. – Sun. 11 – 5pm; Thurs. 11 – 7pm, closed Mon.
Prices: General - $4, Students (18+ with ID) - $2, Senior - $2 (free first Friday of the month, and always free to children under 18)
Exhibits: Refuse/Reuse/Redux: recycled trash turned into art (thru 11.10. 02)
William Morris: Myth, Object and the Animal: glass sculpture (thru 10.6.02)
Summary: The premier museum of Santa Cruz, the Museum of Art and History delivers a mix of contemporary art and regional exhibits that highlight the history of the Santa Cruz area. The constantly changing exhibitions include several paintings, sculptures, photography and installation pieces, as well as a large gallery of documents and photos that spotlight Santa Cruz county during WWII. The museum also leads tours of Evergreen Cemetery (established during the gold rush) on the first Saturday of the month at 10am and by appointment.
ALTERNATIVE MUSEUMS
SAN FRANCISCO
 Cartoon Art Museum Of San Francisco
655 Mission St., San Francisco |(415) CAR-TOON | www.cartoonart.org
Hours: Daily 11am – 5pm, closed Mondays
Prices: General - $5, Students (with ID) - $3, Children (8-17) - $2, Senior - $2, first Tuesday of the month is “pay what you wish day.”
Exhibits: Arnold Roth: Free Lance: 50-year retrospective of a cartoonist whose work has appeared just about everywhere (thru 9.29.02)
Summary: Mixing popular commercial comics and quirky graphic novel work, this museum covers cartoons top to bottom. Everything from fine art paintings depicting cartoon images, to plain newsprint pieces adorn the walls. The museum offers lectures from comic artists as well as monthly Creator’s Meetings for budding artists to network. They also have an amazing gift shop.
Museum of Craft and Folk Art
Fort Mason Center, Landmark Building A, San Francisco | (415) 775-0991 | www.mocfa.org
Hours: Tues. – Sun. 11am – 5pm; Sat. 10am – 5pm; open first Wed. of each month, 11am – 7pm
Prices: General - $3, Students (with ID)/Children (12-17)/Senior - $1, Families - $5 (free on first Wednesday of the month)
Exhibits: Sirens and Snakes: Spirits in Folk Art and Legend: mixed media (thru 9.1.02)
Unwearable Art: Clothing in New Media: fashion exhibition (thru 9.1.02)
Summary: With a rotating list of exhibits, you never know what you’re going to find here. The annual Craft Showcase each December spotlights Bay Area artists. Recent exhibitions included Japanese kimonos, jewelry creation and handcrafted wooden bowls. Lectures related to the exhibits also take place.
The Magnes Museum
121 Steuart St., San Francisco | (415) 591-8800 | www.jewishmuseumsf.org
Hours: Sun. – Wed. noon – 5pm; Thurs. 2 – 7pm
Prices: General - $4, Students (with ID)/Senior - $3
Exhibits: Works from Jewish artists, writers and historians well represented
Summary: When The Magnes Museum opened this year, it combined the collections of The Jewish Museum and the Judah L. Magnes Museum under one roof. The new gallery celebrates Jewish culture, past and present. Recent exhibits included Facets of Memory, a learning display of personal photo albums and memorabilia. The museum’s website has a large collection of online exhibitions.
Musée Mécanique
1090 Point Lobos Rd., San Francisco | (415) 386-1170 | museemecanique.citysearch.com
Hours: Mon. – Fri. 11am – 7pm; Sat.-Sun. 10am – 8pm
Prices: Free, but bring a bunch of quarters.
Exhibits: Fortune tellers, photo booths, mechanical boxing, old-school peepshows
Summary: At least for now, this gigantic collection of antique coin-operated machines and games is sitting at the bottom of the historic Cliff House. We’re not talking Centipede and Star Wars here (although they do have a handful of somewhat modern-day video games from the ‘80s and ‘90s in the back). We’re talking old, mechanical entertainment – the kind of stuff you’d find in penny arcades at the beginning of the century. Since the Cliff House is about to undergo a three-year renovation, the Musée Mécanique will be relocated to Fisherman’s Wharf until construction is completed at the end of September.
SOUTH BAY
 Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum
1342 Naglee Ave., San Jose | (408) 947-3600 | www.egyptianmuseum.org
Hours: Tues. – Fri. 10am – 5pm; Sat. – Sun. 11am – 6pm; closed Mon.
Prices: General - $9, Students (with ID) - $7, Senior - $7, Children (5-10) - $5
Exhibits: Jewelry, pottery, mummies and funerary artifacts from ancient Egypt and a bunch of other really old stuff
Summary: The museum is part of the North American headquarters of the Rosicrucian Order – an organization that studies metaphysics and philosophy. But you won’t be hit over the head with that if you just want to check out some mummies. Even hitting the grounds is an experience; the buildings are modeled after Egyptian temples. A lecture series is held occasionally on Saturday afternoons, covering topics like daily life of ancient Egyptians, creation myths and religions of the Egyptian culture. Workshops are also available on the weekends on interpreting hieroglyphics and creating ancient Egyptian cosmetics.
Historical Railroad Museum
1005 Railroad Ave., Santa Clara | (408) 243-3969 | www.sbhrs.org
Hours: Tues. 6 – 9pm; Sat. 10am – 3pm
Prices: Free
Exhibits: Historic buildings, railroad artifacts and operating scale model displays
Summary: Run by the South Bay Historical Railroad Society, this museum is sectioned off into three separate exhibits. First, the buildings are renovated rail depots, towers and railcar sheds. Inside the buildings, you’ll find the second section: a collection of old railroad artifacts including old push cars, railroad signs and railway documents. Finally, there are two large-scale model displays with nearly 20 scale miles of track adorned with classic railcar models and scenery. If you’re a model train fanatic, you might never leave. You may never have sex again either.
San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles
110 Paseo de San Antonio, San Jose | (408) 971-0323 | www.sjquiltmuseum.org
Hours: Fri. – Sun. and Tues. – Wed. 10am – 5pm; Thurs. 10am – 8pm
Prices: General - $4, Students (with ID) - $3, Senior - $3, free first Thursday of the month, and always free to children 13 and under
Exhibits: The Last Year and Surrounded by Family and Friends: Deirdre Scherer explores the final year of an 89-year-old woman, with depictions of family and friends grieving (thru 9.8.02)
Summary: It’s dwarfed by the nearby San Jose Museum of Art and the Tech, but the Quilt museum is a must-see for embroidery fans (Wooo!! Embroidery in the house!!!). Elaborate prints, stitchings and quilt themes grace the museum walls. Receptions and panel discussions also take place. If you want to take art home with you, the gift shop has quilts at reasonable prices. The museum closes for a few days each month for installation of new exhibits so you may want to call first.
The Lace Museum
552 S. Murphy Ave. , Sunnyvale | (408) 730-4695 | www.thelacemuseum.org
Hours: Tues. – Sat. 11am – 4pm
Prices: Free; donations welcome
Exhibits: Tools of the Trade: (thru 10.31.02)
Summary: Started in 1976 by a collection of lace-making artists, this small museum has bounced around the Bay Area before finding its current Sunnyvale home in 1994. As the name suggests, this is the place for all things lace – dresses, furniture, gloves, capes – you name it. Classes are just as important to the organization as the exhibits, and lessons on wire lace, hand weaving and needle lace are held a couple times a month. The gift shop also doubles as a supply store for the Bay Area’s lacers, selling bobbins, hooks and cloth along with other traditional museum paraphernalia like calendars and t-shirts.
EAST BAY
Lindsay Wildlife Museum
1931 First Ave., Walnut Creek | (925) 935-1978 | www.wildlife-museum.org
Hours: Tues. – Fri. noon – 5pm; Sat. – Sun. 10am – 5pm
Prices: General - $6, Youth (3-17) - $4, Senior – $5, children under three always free
Exhibits: 50 species of California wild animals like bobcats, eagles and reptiles; four gardens planted according to themes like ‘drought resistance’ and ‘deer resistance’
Summary: You can let a lot of animals run wild in 8,000-square feet of housing, as this place proves. Built in 1955, the museum also has a wildlife hospital that treats thousands of wild animals each year, and several gardens with plants drawn from local Contra Costa flora. Make faces at the owls, eagles, snakes and bobcats from a safe distance, then go hands-on in the petting area with species that won’t bite. Finally, classes on topics like “Wildlife Sketching Techniques” and “Gardening Without Pesticides” are taught regularly for low fees.
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology
Kroeber Hall, corner of Bancroft Way and College Ave., Berkeley | (510) 643-7648 | www.hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu
Hours: Wed. – Sat. 10am – 4:30pm
Prices: General - $2, Senior – $1, Children - $.50
Exhibits: A Century of Collecting; Approaching a Century of Anthropology: an introduction to the museum collections’ history and breadth
Native Californian Cultures
Summary: With more than 3.8 million objects, the museum is renown for its stock of native Californian, ancient Egyptian and pre-Columbian Peruvian artifacts. They also boast the largest North American archaeological collection in the West. Don’t miss the Native Californian Cultures permanent exhibit, which includes a display on Ishi – the Yahi Indian who made news in the early 20th century by taking up residence at the museum.
PENINSULA
 Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia
214 California Dr., Burlingame | (650) 347-2301 | www.burlingamepezmuseum.com
Hours: Tues. – Fri. 10am – 6pm; Sat. 10am – 5pm
Prices: Free
Exhibits: All things Pez
Summary: You won’t be shunned if you’re not a collector or don’t have an intimate knowledge of Pez. The curators of this small museum will be more than happy to show and tell you anything and everything about the candy treat. While some of the dispensers are for sale, the valuable ones are kept behind glass (the most expensive on display is the Make-A-Face, worth $4,500). If you’re hunting for pieces for your collection, chances are they’ll have the missing parts or know where to find them. Dispensers ranging from Star Wars characters, superheroes, cartoon characters and sports heroes are available for as low as $1.50 to infinity.
Museum of American Heritage
351 Homer Ave., Palo Alto | (650) 321-1004 | www.moah.org
Hours: Fri. – Sun. 11am – 4pm
Prices: Free
Exhibits: A Sense of Wonder: The 1915 San Francisco World’s Fair (thru 9.22.02)
Summary: Designed as a walking tour through the past, the American Heritage museum houses exhibits of early American life. Saunter through an early 20th-century kitchen, maid’s room, general store, doctor’s office, print shop and radio repair shop. A garden outside has turn-of-the-century landscaping, complete with rock walls, fountains and ponds. Several lectures also take place at the museum, usually pertaining to the traveling exhibits.
Hiller Aviation Museum
601 Skyway Rd., San Carlos |(650) 654-0200 | www.hiller.org
Hours: Daily 10am – 5pm
Prices: General - $8, Youths (8-17)- $5, Senior - $5
Exhibits: Vintage aircraft, futuristic prototypes, models and photographs
Summary: Right next to the San Carlos airport, Hiller exhibits the last 100 years of aviation. Along with a restoration shop that rehabilitates old planes while you watch, there’s everything from the Avitor (a plane built in 1869 that used a single-horsepower steam engine) to the Boeing Condor (a robotic spy plane created in the ‘80s). A tour of a Boeing 747 cockpit is also available.
SANTA CRUZ
Santa Cruz Surfing Museum
Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse, West Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz |(831) 420-6289 | gate.cruzio.com/~scva/surf.html
Hours: Thurs. – Mon., noon – 4pm
Prices: Free
Exhibits: Everything related to surfing
Summary: Found in the lighthouse right off Steamers Lane in Santa Cruz, this is one of the few surf museums in the U.S. Peruse tons of surfboards (from the old wooden canoe variety to present day models), photographs from the 1920s and some cool surf videos. Don’t forget to check out the board with the big shark bite.
FIVE MINUTE ART HISTORY LESSON
Don’t know Renaissance from Rembrandt? No sweat. In five minutes we’ll tell you how to survive a basic cocktail-party conversation on art. Caveat: We flunked art history, so we could be completely wrong.
Prehistoric Art (30,000 BC – 3000 BC)
Caveman makes pretty on cave wall.
Ancient Art (3000 BC – 330 AD)
Mostly Egyptian and Mesopotamian – lots of sculptures and ornaments, pots and pans.
Classic Art (800 BC – 330 AD)
Think Gladiator: Huge, ornate buildings; statues of mythological gods. This is when the Romans and Greeks ruled the art world (not to mention everything else).
Middle Ages (330 AD-1400 AD)
The Byzantine, Gothic, Ottoman and Medieval periods are crammed into this timeframe. The main thing to remember is that most of its art was religious – like cathedrals, intricate mosaics, ornate books and those two-dimensional paintings of Madonna and Child with the strange gold paint.
Renaissance (1400-1600)
This was the first modern movement that steered away from religious themes, centering on individual expression and societal responses. Donatello, Botticelli and Raphael were the heroes, and famous Renaissance works include Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Michelangelo’s David.
Baroque (1600-1700)
High-fiving the Catholic Church (the biggest patron of the arts at the time), this was a return to lifelike Biblical imagery (translation: anti-Reformation, pro-Catholic propaganda). Lots of bright colors, cherubs and fruit baskets. Rembrandt, Rubens and Bernini are from this era.
Pre-Modern (1800-1880)
The art world worked overtime during this time period; movements included Neo-classical, Romanticism, Realism and Impressionism. The Neo-classicists gave the Baroque movement the finger and revived the ideals of classic Roman and Greek art. The Romantics reacted by creating bright paintings intended to appeal to the senses. The Realists were basically photographers with paint. And the Impressionists delved into technique, painting everyday objects while focusing on color and light in works like Monet’s Impression Sunrise.
Modernism (1880-1945)
On the whole, think pictures of nature and society, but slightly twisted with abstract shapes galore. You’ll find Expressionism, Cubism, Dada, Bauhaus and Surrealism in this time frame. The difference between each movement is mostly in the technical painting (Cubists like intersecting planes, Expressionists preferred wild curves). Klimt’s The Kiss, Munch’s The Scream and Picasso’s Guernica were created during this time. Francis Bacon, Magritte and Salvador Dali were also involved in this period.
Postmodernism (1945 – Present)
Today’s art movement defies categorization. Starting in the ‘40s, abstract artists like Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock confused everyone. Pop Art started in the early ‘60s and spotlighted artists like Andy Warhol and Liechtenstein. Minimalism was born during the ‘70s, where anyone could paint a canvas with a single color and call it art.
HOW TO SEEM SMART IN A MUSEUM
We’re not sure what that green painting with orange dots symbolizes either. But there’s always a knucklehead in the gallery who pretends to know everything and is more than happy to let everyone know. Here are a few tricks to combat those smarmy socialites, just in case they get up in your face.
Sigh: Playing the “I know something you don’t know” game is always fun. Whenever anyone comments on a piece, quietly sigh. For added effect, shake your head and walk away.
Repeat Questions: Whenever anyone asks a question, ask it right back. If someone asks, “What do you think of Magritte’s use of composition?” You smugly say, “I don’t know. What do you think of Magritte’s use of composition?” They’ll likely cry and run away. This game is really fun if they ask you what time it is.
Look Concerned: While looking at any piece of art, make concerned facial expressions. For inspiration, think about what you’re going to have for dinner or what Mr. Whipple really meant when he told customers, “Don’t squeeze the Charmin.” As an added touch, prop your hand up near your mouth.
Use Vague Vocabulary: You can say tons about a painting without saying anything at all. Just play Mad Libs with this handy list. “I think the painting’s (noun) is/are very (adjective).” Nouns: symmetry, composition, lines, plane, weight, balance, technique, subject matter, fuzziness, insanity. Adjectives: Palpable, flagrant, overt, stark, revolutionary, witty, sharp, juxtaposed, benign, Gary Coleman-esque.
Carry a Notebook: Pretend to take notes while looking at a painting. If anyone comments, pretend like you’re writing down what they said as well. If you get bored, challenge yourself to a covert round of Tic Tac Toe or make out a shopping list.
Wear Black: Put on an all-black outfit, and everyone will assume you’re an artist and probably leave you alone. They’ll at least think you’re sophisticated. This works for The Wave Magazine staff. Expensive European glasses also help —just don’t introduce yourself as “Deiter.”
Remember, You’re Always Right: One fundamental of art is personal interpretation. Meaning, whatever you think about a particular piece is absolutely correct. There is no right answer. So don’t be afraid to go head-to-head with Mr. Smarty Pants. If you think the all-black canvas represents the death of Lady Di, then you’re damn right.
Always Funny Joke: Find a fire extinguisher or an exit sign and look pensively at it for a long time until someone approaches you. When asked what you’re doing, tell them, “This is my FAVORITE piece. Very important.” Then move on., Sunnyvale | (408) 730-4695 | www.thelacemuseum.org
|
