Friday, January 20, 2012

Cantor Arts Center


Sequence, Richard Serra, 01.18.2012 Sequence (2008) by Richard Serra at the Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University.Looking for something to keep me off the Internet on Wednesday, I took a field trip to the Cantor Arts Center on the Stanford campus. After a calming 20 minute walk from Caltrain, I ate at the museum's tiny cafe & then wandered the 2 floors of galleries at random. The collection's variety surprised me. I came across such diverse objects as Rodin drawings, a finely carved Egyptian stela, a Henry Fuseli painting, Japanese netsukes & photos by Edward Weston. There are some really fun pieces currently on display, such as Duane Hanson's slovenly realistic Slab Man & William Kentridge's anamorphic Medusa drawing, which needs to be viewed in a cylindrical mirror. A massive walk-through Richard Serra is behind the museum.

The Accident, Willem Geets, 01.18.2012 Detail of The Accident (1899), by Willem Geets, at the Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University.There are also some real howlers. In the 1890s, Mrs. Stanford put her jewelry up for sale to raise funds for the University, & she had Astley David Middleton Cooper paint a wall-sized portrait of them, complete with lot numbers. As it turned out, she was unable to find buyers. Truly reprehensible is The Accident (1899) by Willem Geets, which depicts a Medieval Belgian crowd watching a man strip down before he jumps into a canal to rescue a drowning child.

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