Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Great Seal of California

Posted by Cindy on June 14, 2013

Jun 142013

505 Van Ness at McAllister Civic Center This is the Edmund G. Brown State Office Building. Built in 1986 and designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merril, it is one of the anchors of the San Francisco Civic Center. The seal was created by sculptor Rosa Estebanez. Estebanez’s life has been described as a remarkable story of courage, tragedy and the triumph of the human spirit. Born in Cuba, Estebanez graduated from the National School of Art in Havana with a master’s degree in art and became the official sculptor for Cuban president Fulgencio Batista. In 1960, Estebanez left Cuba following Continue Reading

Five Questions

Posted by Cindy on June 13, 2013

Jun 132013

Mint Plaza SOMA/Market Street Area/Union Square WHAT is on the Side of the San Francisco Chronicle Building at 5th and Minna These two sculptures are part of a large project, within an even larger project. The larger project is called the 5M project. The 5M Project is a creative development in downtown San Francisco designed to catalyze the innovative ideas that build our economy and strengthen our communities. It is a place that utilizes a collective need for innovation to encourage shared resources and ideas across traditional boundaries. Where artists, makers, students, changemakers, entrepreneurs, local food, and technology are coming Continue Reading

Jaques Schnier on Treasure Island

Posted by Cindy on June 11, 2013

Jun 112013

Treasure Island Building #1 These two cast stone sculpture represents India and were done by Jacques Schnier for the Golden Gate International Exposition. They have been known by several names, including “The Tree of Life,” but the preferred name is “Spirit of India.” These are just two of twenty that were part of the Unity sculptures placed in the Court of the Pacifica. Jacques Schnier designed at least seven pieces of sculpture displayed at the fair. * Jacques Schnier was born in Romania and came to the United States with his family in 1903. He grew up in San Francisco. Continue Reading

Adaline Kent sculptures on Treasure Island

Posted by Cindy on June 10, 2013

Jun 102013

Adaline Kent sculptures on Treasure Island

Treasure Island Building #1 These cast stone statues are part of Adaline Kent’s group of three Pacific Islander statues that were among the twenty Pacific Unity sculptures produced for the Court of the Pacifica at the 1939-1940 Golden Gate International Exposition. The two shown here are listening to a stringed instrument (most likely a ukelele) played by a young boy, the third statue, that is unfortunately lost. Adaline Kent was born in Kentfield, California in 1900. She attended Vassar College and upon graduation she returned to the Bay Area, where she studied for a year (1923-24) with Ralph Stackpole at Continue Reading

Helen Phillips and the Golden Gate Exposition

Posted by Cindy on June 8, 2013

Jun 082013

Helen Phillips and the Golden Gate Exposition

Treasure Island Building #1 This cast stone sculpture is by Helen Phillips. Titled Flutist, it is from the Chinese Musicians Group produced for the Golden Gate International Exposition. This was one of a group of 20 sculptures titled Unity that were produced for the Court of the Pacific. This is from Helen Phillips obituary: Phillips was born in 1913 in Fresno, California, and studied at the School of Fine Art in San Francisco. Ralph Stackpole taught her direct carving there, and introduced her to Diego Rivera, who was pointing [sic] murals in the city. She remembered with affection how the Continue Reading

San Francisco’s First Airport

Posted by Cindy on June 7, 2013

Jun 072013

Treasure Island 1 Avenue of the Palms Administration Building Treasure Island was built with imported fill on the north side of Yerba Buena Island The connected Yerba Buena Island sits in the middle of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge. Built by the federal government, Treasure Island was planned for and used as an airport for Pan American World Airways flying boats, of which the China Clipper is an example. The flying boats landed on the Port of Trade Winds Harbor / Clipper Cove which lies between Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island. This relief, by Jacques Schnier, is found at the both ends Continue Reading

Bliss Dance

Posted by Cindy on June 6, 2013

Jun 062013

9th and Avenue of the Palms Treasure Island This piece, by Marco Cochrane , was featured at Burning Man in 2010. According to the supporting art group Black Rock : The sculpture, of a dancing woman, stands 40 feet tall, weighs 7000 pounds and is ingeniously constructed of triangulated geodesic struts. By day, the dancer’s ‘skin’, made of stainless steal mesh, shimmers in the sun. By night, it alights brilliantly with a complex array of 1000 slowly changing l.e.d. colored lights. Viewers may interact with and manipulate the lighting effects with an iphone application. The dancer’s delicate, graceful form precariously Continue Reading

Thomas Garriue Masaryk

Posted by Cindy on June 5, 2013

Jun 052013

Rose Garden Golden Gate Park Located at the entrance to the Rose Garden just off of JFK Boulevard is this bust of Thomas Garrigue Masaryk. Masaryk was the first president of Czechoslovakia, a statesman, philosopher, liberator and humanitarian. The bust was sculpted by Josef Mařatka in 1926 and was exhibited at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exhibition on Treasure Island. It was given to the park in 1962 as a gift of the San Francisco Chapter of Sokol, a Czechoslovakian gymnastics association. Josef Mařatka was a Czech visual artist who was born in 1874. Mařatka studied Applied arts at Celda Klouček and then under Josef Continue Reading

Florence Nightingale

Posted by Cindy on June 4, 2013

Jun 042013

Laguna Honda Hospital Forest Hill / Twin Peaks This graceful painted cast stone statue of Florence Nightingale titled Lady of the Lamp is by David Edstrom and was done in 1937. The project was part of the WPA (Works Progress Administration) Federal Artists Program. The statue sat in the Court of the Seven Seas during the Golden Gate International Exhibition. The Lady of the Lamp refers to a Longfellow poem. (Peter) David Edstrom (1873-1938) was an immigrant from Vetlanda, Jönköping County, Sweden. In 1880, he immigrated to the United States with his parents, John Peter Edstrom and Charlotte Gustavson Edstrom. Edstrom lived in Ottumwa, Iowa from 1882 Continue Reading

Owls and Spiders

Posted by Cindy on June 3, 2013

Jun 032013

624 Taylor Nob Hill The Bohemian Club * As this post is about the art not the club, (a controversial group at best) I will simply copy what Wikipedia says about the Bohemian Club: “The Bohemian Club is a private gentlemen’s club located at 624 Taylor Street, San Francisco, California. Founded in 1872 from a regular meeting of journalists, artists and musicians, it soon began to accept businessmen and entrepreneurs as permanent members, as well as offering temporary membership to university presidents and military commanders who were serving in the San Francisco Bay Area. A number of past membership lists are in public domain, but modern club membership Continue Reading

Trader Vic the Sculptor

Posted by Cindy on June 1, 2013

Jun 012013

California Academy of Sciences Golden Gate Park These two seals once resided outside the California Academy of Sciences. They are now inside near the restaurant. This view is through the fence. Entry to the Academy is $30 for adults. These two seals were sculpted by Victor Jules Bergeron. Known locally as Trader Vic, Bergeron is far better known for his chain of Polynesian Restaurants name Trader Vic’s, and his claim of having invented the Mai Tai. In 1940 the first franchised Trader Vic’s opened in Seattle, Washington. In 1950, Bergeron opened a Trader Vic’s location in Hawaii and in 1951 at 20 Cosmo Place Continue Reading

What is Missing?

Posted by Cindy on May 31, 2013

May 312013

California Academy of Sciences Golden Gate Park **** This piece, titled What’s Missing is by Maya Lin. The photo above was taken from outside the fence that rings the Academy of Sciences. Entry to the Academy is $30 for adults. The permanent site-specific sculpture is the first component of an international multi-sited, multimedia art work dedicated to raising awareness about the current crisis surrounding biodiversity and habitat loss. The dedication of the sculpture, which was commissioned by the SFAC, coincided with the Academy’s one-year anniversary in its new location. The Academy is the only institution in the world to house Continue Reading

Where the Land Meets the Sea

Posted by Cindy on May 30, 2013

May 302013

California Academy of Sciences Golden Gate Park This Marine Grade Stainless Steel wire sculpture (difficult to photograph) is titled Where the Land Meets the Sea, and is by Maya Lin. This is the first permanent artwork by Maya Lin in San Francisco. The artist was selected through the Arts Commission’s competitive application process in 2005. Although Lin does not usually participate in competitions, she responded to the Arts Commission’s invitation to apply because of her keen interest in the California Academy of Sciences and the opportunity the project would provide to engage with the institution’s scientists. As an ardent environmentalist, Continue Reading

GGP’s Sea Serpent

Posted by Cindy on May 29, 2013

May 292013

Koret Childrens Quarters Golden Gate Park This divine sea creature is by Phoebe Palmer. On an architectural scale, Phoebe is building densely textured, sculptural ferro-cement walls and working in mosaics and metal sculpture as well as her “normal” mediums of paint and pastels. Phoebe has taken the characters formerly inhabiting her paintings and pastels and cast them in the round as she breaks into the classical realm of ceramic sculpture. This is Palmer’s first piece of public art. The ferro-cement-and-tile creature weighs nearly a ton and cost about $10,000. According to San Luis Obispo.com: From the start, the sea creature was Continue Reading

Puttin on the Ritz

Posted by Cindy on May 28, 2013

May 282013

Ritz Carlton 600 Stockton Street Chinatown Heralded as a “Temple of Commerce” when it opened in September 1909, the massive, 17-columned building spanning Stockton Street between California and Pine Streets, has been expanded five times and is now one of San Francisco’s best examples of neo-classical architecture. The original structure, an 80′ x 80′ white cube with four giant engaged Ionic columns and rich filigree, revived the neo-classical architectural style popular with early 20th-Century financial institutions. It was designed by Napoleon Le Brun and Sons of New York to be Metropolitan Life Insurance Company’s Pacific Coast headquarters. Metropolitan Life commissioned Continue Reading

Mona Caron in Noe Valley

Posted by Cindy on May 27, 2013

May 272013

3871 24th Street Noe Valley These two murals sit on the two sides of a parking lot on 24th Street They are by Mona Caron who has been in this website many, many times. According to Caron’s website: The mural comprises two paintings that face each other over a small park and parking lot in the Noe Valley neighborhood. As a tie-in to the weekly farmer’s market that is held there, both murals feature giant botanical illustrations of vegetables and their leaves and blossoms. A scroll-like ribbon weaves around the vegetables. Wherever the ribbon is larger and appears closer, there Continue Reading

Spreckles Temple of Music

Posted by Cindy on May 25, 2013

May 252013

Music Concourse Golden Gate Park Spreckels Temple of Music This is the third bandstand to grace Golden Gate Park. Claus Spreckels (The Sugar King) gave $75,000 towards the $78,810 cost of the building. The shell is an Italian Renaissance style with an acoustically reflective coffered shell standing 70 feet high and covered in Colusa Sandstone. The Temple, dedicated on September 9, 1900, suffered damage in the 1906 earthquake (much of its Colusa sandstone cornices, balustrades and corners collapsed). It was further rattled by the region’s 1989 earthquake. This time the restoration was over seen by restoration architects Cary and Company. Performers Continue Reading

Lions and Bears in the Park

Posted by Cindy on May 23, 2013

May 232013

The Brown Gate 8th and Fulton Street This bear and lion that grace the pillars when you enter the park at 8th and Fulton are by M. Earl Cummings. Cummings has been in this website many, many times, he also has quite a few sculptures within Golden Gate Park. These sculptures were a gift of Susanna Brown, a one time resident of San Francisco. Ms. Brown gave $5000 to create the animals which were installed in 1908 to honor her late husband. Gustave Albert Lansburgh of Lansburgh and Joseph, a firm noted for its movie theater design, is responsible for Continue Reading

The Bard and The Park

Posted by Cindy on May 22, 2013

May 222013

Shakespeare Garden Golden Gate Park This is the Shakespeare Garden in Golden Gate Park, a favorite spot for weddings. Behind that iron door is a bronze bust of Shakespeare. On either sides are plaques engraved with excerpts from some of the Bard’s works that mention plants. The purpose of the garden was to showcase plants and trees mentioned in William Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets. Some of the original plantings in the garden were from seeds from Shakespeare’s garden in Stratford-upon-Avon, supplied by plant purveyor Sutton and Sons. The garden was established by the California Blossom and Wild Flower Association in July Continue Reading

Horseshoe Courts of Golden Gate Park

Posted by Cindy on May 21, 2013

May 212013

Horseshoe Pits Golden Gate Park There are sixteen courts in a very out of the way spot of the park, not far from McClaren Lodge. The site was developed out of a rock quarry during 1934 as a WPA project. There are two concrete bas-reliefs created on the face of the rocks. The artist was Jesse S. “Vet” Anderson (born 1875) who was a cartoonist and caricaturist for the Detroit Free Press and later for the New York Herald Tribune. Anderson was a member of the horseshoe club, he died in 1966. The sculptures, overgrown and forgotten were revealed in Continue Reading

A Peacock Awes the Tenderloin

Posted by Cindy on May 20, 2013

May 202013

Geary and Leavenworth The Tenderloin This phenomenal peacock is by Satyr-1, who has been in this website many times. Satyr-1 is a professional artist who has long since left the ideas of “tagging” behind for commissioned projects in defined spaces with the support of building owners. His work made a difficult transition, but it mirrors the challenges faced by many other artists in todays street art culture. *

Sarah B. Cooper Brings the West its First Kindergarten

Posted by Cindy on May 18, 2013

May 182013

Sarah B. Cooper Brings the West its First Kindergarten

Golden Gate Park Near the Sharon Art Center This memorial to Sarah B. Cooper was placed in the park by the Golden Gate Kindergarten Association in 1923. This area sits on the other side of the carousel from the Koret Childrens Playground. Sarah Cooper was instrumental in the Kindergarten Movement of San Francisco. Here, from John Sweet in Public Education In California, Its Origin and Development, With Personal Reminiscences of Half a Century. American Book Company: 1911. Excerpts, Chapter XIII, pages 224-226. Mrs. Cooper entered on the free kindergarten work with her whole soul. She was a woman of marked literary Continue Reading

Animals in the Park

Posted by Cindy on May 17, 2013

May 172013

Koret Playground Golden Gate Park There are five of these cast stone creatures in the new Koret Childrens Area of Golden Gate Park. They are the second public art project that Vicki Saulls did in San Francisco. The first you can view here. The playground underwent a major renovation with generous funding from the Koret Foundation and reopened in 2007 as the Koret Children’s Quarter. New features include a climbing wall shaped like waves and a rope climbing structure; the historic concrete slide was retained. The landscape Architect on the project was MIG. * * * These pieces were commissioned Continue Reading

Henri Crenier’s Telamones

Posted by Cindy on May 16, 2013

May 162013

Civic Center San Francisco City Hall These telamones by Henri Crenier have always taken my breath away. They sit on the Van Ness side of City Hall. Telamones (plural) or Telamon are sculptured male human figures used in place of columns to support an entablature. They are also called Atlantes (plural) or Atlas. They are called Caryatids if they are female figures. * Henri Crenier was responsible for much of the art work on City Hall.

Henri Crenier adds Beauty to San Francisco City Hall

Posted by Cindy on May 15, 2013

May 152013

Henri Crenier adds Beauty to San Francisco City Hall

City Hall San Francisco Civic Center San Francisco’s City Hall has an art collection of its own within its walls. This is about the art work that graces the building. City Hall was the cornerstone to the City Beautiful Movement in San Francisco. On City Hall there are two tympanums each holding a sculpture by Henri Crenier. A tympanum is the triangular space enclosed by a pediment or arch. The tympanum that faces the War Memorial Building on Van Ness features a figure representing Wisdom. Wisdom stands between the figures of Arts, Learning and Truth on the left and Industry Continue Reading

A San Francisco Jewel

Posted by Cindy on May 14, 2013

May 142013

2266 California Pacific Heights Sherith Israel Synagogue “Loyal Remnant of Israel” On a whim, a photographer friend of mine, Lisa, suggested we stop in and take a look at the Sherith Israel Synagogue. She has been documenting its amazing details for posterity, and I had never been inside. What an incredible adventure and I am truly grateful to have been introduced to this architectural and artistic gem that holds so much San Francisco history. Sherith Israel was designed by Albert Pissis. Pissis (1842-1914) was the son of a French physician who immigrated first to Mexico and then to San Francisco Continue Reading

Live Life Love

Posted by Cindy on May 13, 2013

May 132013

6th and Natoma SOMA Live Life Love is by Laser Punch and the Rattlecan Blasters, who have been on this website before. Laserpunch and the Rattlecan Blasters consists of 2 graffiti artists, Camer1 from San Francisco, CA and Fasm from Modesto, CA. The Duo teams up frequently to paint church youth rooms and do art shows. The mural is covered in sayings such as: Love is Kind Love is Patient It does not Boast Love does not Envy Love rejoices in the truth, it always protects Love always perseveres

The King of Beasts in Golden Gate Park

Posted by Cindy on May 11, 2013

May 112013

Golden Gate Park Music Concourse This lion sits outside of the new DeYoung Museum near the Pool of Enchantment. It is by Roland Hinton Perry. Created in 1898 it was given to the City of San Francisco in 1906 by San Francisco jeweler Shreve and Company. The sculpture survived a fire in Shreve’s showroom caused by the ’06 earthquake. The red stone the sculpture sits on was donated by John D. McGilvray. John D. McGilvray Jr. and Sr. worked in the stone and masonry contracting business in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Palo Alto, California. ( McGilvray-Raymond Granite Company) Together they Continue Reading

350 Bush Street

Posted by Cindy on May 10, 2013

May 102013

San Francisco Mining Exchange 350 Bush Street Financial District The San Francisco Mining Exchange, the second oldest exchange in the United States after the New York Stock Exchange, was formed in 1862 to trade mining stocks. It is San Francisco Landmark #113. When trading in mining stocks surged in the early 1920s, the Mining Exchange hired the firm Miller & Pflueger, whose work can be found all over San Francisco, to design this Beaux Arts building. 350 Bush is an adaptation of the classical temple form much favored by financial institutions in the period, the building’s pediment and four pairs of fluted columns recall the Continue Reading

Tut-mania

Posted by Cindy on May 9, 2013

May 092013

Originally the Title Insurance Company Building 130 Montgomery Financial District This lovely Art Deco building was built in 1930 by the O’Brien Brothers along with Wilbur D. Peugh. O’Brien Brothers consisted of Walter J., Albert L. and Arthur T. O’Brien, and practiced in San Francisco from 1907 through 1935. They were architects with the Pickwick Corporation. In 1925, after the deaths of his brothers, Walter J. O’Brien began working with Wilbur D. Peugh; the firm ultimately became known as “O’Brien Brothers and Wilbur D. Peugh.” Wilbur D. Peugh was born January 9, 1897 in Kelseyville, California. He attended High School Continue Reading

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