A Visit to the San Francisco Show
The museum’s current show hangs its hat on contrast and clarity, and it hits both with a mix of old-school craft and sharp, modern ideas. Galleries are arranged so you move from intimate objects to room-sized statements, and the pacing keeps you engaged without feeling rushed. Lighting and sightlines do much of the curatorial work, letting pieces speak for themselves.
Your critic wanted to see this lovely show so much that he put his contempt for the museum’s trustees in abeyance for a day. That sentence sets the tone for an outing where politics and personality linger in the background, but the art takes center stage. Visitors who know the museum’s recent controversies will understand the small act of grace required to look past institutional frustration.
The show’s strongest works are restrained without being timid, making formal choices that reward close looking. A few canvases demand you step right up and stare, revealing layers and corrections that feel like honest conversation between artist and surface. Nearby, sculptural pieces use modest materials to make surprisingly bold claims about space and weight.
Curatorial notes are helpful without being bossy, offering context but not dictating how you should feel. Short wall texts point to influences and materials, which is useful when a piece feels familiar but you can’t place why. The result is an exhibition that trusts its audience to bring curiosity and a couple of informed questions.
There are clear crowd-pleasers and quieter works that grow on you if you give them time, and both kinds are important here. A brightly colored installation draws people in immediately and becomes the social hub of the room. Meanwhile, a set of small studies at the back rewards patient viewers with a slow bloom of detail.
The museum’s architecture helps and hinders in equal measure, offering high-ceilinged drama in some rooms and awkward nooks in others. Where ceilings soar, installations breathe and feel theatrical; where corridors squeeze, two- or three-person conversations are more likely to happen than lingering contemplation. That unevenness becomes part of the visit and affects how certain pieces read in relation to others.
Conservation and condition are generally solid, which is reassuring for anyone thinking about the long view. A few older pieces show expected wear but are presented honestly, with clear notes when restorations have taken place. Seeing these works in person gives you a sense of the hands and years behind them, which a reproduction can never fully deliver.
Admission crowds fluctuate through the day, with mornings offering calmer viewing and late afternoons turning parts of the gallery into a social scene. Staff are alert and helpful without hovering, and the layout allows for both solo looking and small group visits without constant interruptions. Audio guides are available, but the printed notes and label writing do the heavy lifting for most visitors.
The museum’s trustees remain a subplot you can’t ignore, but the show consistently redirects attention back to the work on the walls. For anyone willing to set aside institutional grievances for a couple of hours, this exhibition offers enough surprises, craftsmanship, and thoughtful arrangements to make the effort worthwhile. Walking out, you’ll have seen pieces that stick with you and noticed the institutional frictions that follow the building around.