S.F. MOMA: Thinking outside the frame

Reporting from San Francisco — 

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is a museum of firsts. It was the first to exhibit Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” for free in the United States, and it was the first to give solo museum shows to newcomer Jackson Pollock and other soon-to-be-famous artists Mark Rothko, Jeff Koons and Robert Motherwell.

So it’s fitting that such a prescient museum marks its 75th anniversary this year with a series of exhibitions under the banner “75 Years of Looking Forward.” In keeping with its tradition of firsts, from June 25 through Sept. 19, the MOMA will host the first public presentation of the Fisher Collection, owned by Doris and the late Donald Fisher, founders of the Gap. It’s considered one of the world’s most prestigious private collections of contemporary art, and the introductory exhibit, which will be housed on the museum’s fourth and fifth floors, will feature 160 works from the collection, most of which have never been displayed publicly. It includes iconic pieces by Chuck Close, Sam Francis, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Brice Marden, Gerhard Richter and Andy Warhol, among others.

“The Fisher Collection is one of the truly outstanding collections of contemporary art — not just in the United States, but anywhere in the world,” says Neal Benezra, the museum’s director. “It was collected with a great pair of eyes, and the top artists were acquired in depth — the key characteristics of what makes a world-class collection.”

Those seeking a breath of fresh air can visit the recently completed Rooftop Garden, sit and sip espresso at the Coffee Bar and gaze at the Fisher collection’s large-scale sculpture, with works by Alexander Calder, Isamu Noguchi, Richard Deacon and more. The technologically inclined can Twitter about the exhibition by using content from the recently created Rooftop Garden App for the iPhone and iPad. The multimedia app, which offers commentary about the sculptures, is available free at the iTunes App Store.

Although the Fisher Collection is a significant part of the 75th anniversary show, it’s not the entire story. In preparation for the yearlong celebration, the museum’s second-floor galleries underwent a complete reinstallation and feature 400 works by artists, collectors and cultural leaders who have left their mark on the museum.

Three of the museum’s curators, Corey Keller, Janet Bishop and Sarah Roberts, worked for three years to choose the art and organize the exhibition. “We wanted to include some of our most iconic works, such as Frida Kahlo’s ‘Frida and Diego,’” says Keller, “but we also wanted to tell new stories about the museum.”

Benezra adds that the exhibit is really a history of contemporary art in the San Francisco Bay Area, as told by the museum. “We took things out of storage that had not been seen in years to show the personal histories of our various moments,” he says.

Visitors can revel in Jackson Pollock’s sexy squiggles in his oils-on-canvas “Male and Female” and “Stenographic Figure.” “We actually borrowed ‘Male and Female’ from the Philadelphia Museum of Art,” Keller says, “so that it could be placed next to other works by Pollock and evoke what that original solo show might have looked like.”

Those interested in the intersection of media and art will want to spend time in the gallery, where they can study clips from a television show about art that S.F. MOMA produced in 1950, when TV was still in its infancy.

Staying true to its focus on the future, the last room of the anniversary show is dedicated to works of art that are not yet complete. For example, the piece by Nicholas Nixon involves photos he has taken of his wife and her three sisters every year since 1975. “The first 25 years of photos were given to the museum as a gift. Now we acquire one of these photos every year,” Benezra says. “We watch what started out as four young women, as they have now moved into middle age. It’s a wonderful documentation of their changing through time.”

Visitors so taken with the art that they want to take home a piece — at least for a night or two — are in luck. MOMA’s neighbor, the tony St. Regis San Francisco hotel, has, in honor of the MOMA’s 75th and the hotel’s fifth anniversary, created two limited-edition suites for guest stays through the end of the year. The fifth-floor suites feature works from the museum collection and highlight Henri Matisse and Pollock in the living space, Richard Diebenkorn in the dining room and Wayne Thiebaud in the bedroom.

As for the future, the S.F. MOMA continues its passion for pushing the boundaries of art and exhibitions by presenting “How Wine Became Modern: Design + Wine 1976 to Now.” The exhibition, on display Nov. 20 to April 17, will focus on the global wine culture as a phenomenon, including the roles architecture and design have played in its creation.

It is, not surprisingly, the first show of its kind to be hosted by a museum.

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