Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Golden Gate Park – Pool of Enchantment

Posted by Cindy on February 24, 2012

Feb 242012

Golden Gate Park * * * This is the Pool of Enchantment, it sat between the two circular stairway entries to the old de Young Museum. The pool is now on the east side of the entryway. The Pool of Enchantment actually preceded the Museum by a few years. Donor Marie Becker, widow of banker Bernard Adolph Becker, originally proposed using her $42,000 bequest to rebuild the Sweeny Observatory on Strawberry Hill. The park commission rejected this proposal but struck a compromise and applied the funds to create the Pool of Enchantment in 1917. M. Earl Cummings sculpted the Native American boy Continue Reading

Golden Gate Park – Roman Gladiator

Posted by Cindy on February 23, 2012

Feb 232012

Golden Gate Park * Roman Gladiator – 1881 by Geef In Commemoration of the Inauguration of the California Midwinter International Exposition On this spot the first shovelful of earth was turned with ceremonies on August 24th 1893. (That first spade of shovel was turned by President William Howard Taft) After the popular 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, many American cities planned similar expositions to highlight progressive business ideas. Golden Gate Park became the setting for a hastily assembled fair, the first such west of the Mississippi. With a theme of “California: Cornucopia of the World”, the Midwinter Fair, as it Continue Reading

Golden Gate Park – Sphinx

Posted by Cindy on February 22, 2012

Feb 222012

Golden Gate Park * Copies of Sphinx by Arthur Putnam – 1912 These sit to the right of the entry to the new de Young Museum. The plaque on them reads: This pair of concrete sphinxes replaces the original black granite sculptures commissioned from Arthur Putnam for the entrance to the Egyptian revival Fine Arts Building of the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894. At the fair’s end, this building served as the first incarnation of the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum. Sometime between 1905 and 1912, the granite sphinxes were removed. New concrete sphinxes based on Putnam’s initial plaster Continue Reading

Golden Gate Park – Poeme de la Vigne

Posted by Cindy on February 21, 2012

Feb 212012

Golden Gate Park Music Concourse * * * * * Poeme de la Vigne by Gustave Doré Cast in Bronze 1882 This piece sits outside the deYoung Museum and the plaque attached reads: Gustave Doré created this vase for French winemakers, who exhibited it at the 1878 Paris World’s Fair. It represents an allegory of the annual wine vintage, taking the shape of a colossal wine vessel decorated with figures associated with the rites of Bacchus (the Roman god of wine). The revelers include cupids, satyrs and bacchantes, who protect the grape vines from pests. The foundry shipped this bronze version Continue Reading

Golden Gate Park – General Henry Wager Halleck

Posted by Cindy on February 20, 2012

Feb 202012

Golden Gate Park - General Henry Wager Halleck

Golden Gate Park *This is Major General Henry Wager Halleck. His sculptor was Carl H. Conrads. Halleck was general-in chief of armies in the US from 1862- 1864. He then became Secretary of State and helped frame the California Constitution. The statue was a gift of Halleck’s chief-of-staff General George W. Cullum and is located on JFK Drive near the tennis courts. Halleck was responsible for erecting the Montgomery Block a financial district office building. The Montgomery block was touted as one of the first fireproof buildings, which proved true when it survived the ’06 quake and fire. However, it Continue Reading

Golden Gate Park – James Garfield

Posted by Cindy on February 19, 2012

Feb 192012

Golden Gate Park * * * The James Abram Garfield Monument sits on a prominent berm southeast of the Conservatory of Flowers. (For more information of the conservatory itself) According to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park by Chris Pollock and Erica Katz, this monument, the park’s oldest, memorializes the 20th president of the United States. Garfield was tragically shot with two bullets on July 2, 1881, in a Washington D.C. railroad station by disturbed federal office seeker Charles J. Guiteau. Garfield died on September 18, 1881, at a cottage on the New Jersey shore. The statue’s cornerstone laid on August 24, 1884, contains Continue Reading

Golden Gate Park – Francis Scott Key

Posted by Cindy on February 18, 2012

Feb 182012

Golden Gate Park Music Concourse Francis Scott Key by William Wetmore Story To Francis Scott Key Author of the National Song The Star-Spangled Banner This Monument is Erected by James Lick Of San Francisco California A.D. 1887 * * This monument to Francis Scott Key was commissioned by San Francisco businessman James Lick, who donated $60,000 for the sculpture. Francis Scott Key wrote the Star-Spangled Banner after witnessing the shelling of Fort McHenry on September 13, 1814. James Lick was also in Baltimore during the shelling, which is most likely the reason for the bequest. The travertine monument was executed Continue Reading

Golden Gate Park – Apple Cider Press

Posted by Cindy on February 17, 2012

Feb 172012

Golden Gate Park The Apple Cider Press by Thomas Shields Clark * *This 1892 Bronze sculpture was originally exhibited at the Midwinter International Exposition in 1894. The Apple Cider Bronze bears some resemblance to Douglas Tilden’s Mechanics Monument located on Market street in that it bears tribute to the value of hard work. However, this purchase and contribution by DeYoung was apparently inspired by art rather than memorial, since the only cider industry of note in the San Francisco Bay Area is Martinelli’s (1868) located in Watsonville, down the peninsula. This statue was originally a drinking fountain with a cup Continue Reading

Golden Gate Park – Our National Pastime

Posted by Cindy on February 16, 2012

Feb 162012

Golden Gate Park Our National Pastime by Douglas Tilden – 1889 Presented to the Golden Gate Park by a friend of the sculptor as a tribute to his energy, industry and ability Cruet Fondeur, Paris (John Cruet was a moldmaker in Paris, he also worked with Rodin. Fondeur means owner of the foundry) Tilden originally displayed the piece as part of the American Exhibit at the Paris International Exposition, where it was extremely well received. It is widely recognized as the single most famous and classic baseball figural art piece ever created. As a result of its popularity at the Continue Reading

Golden Gate Park, The Music Concourse and Goethe and Schiller

Posted by Cindy on February 15, 2012

Feb 152012

Golden Gate Park, The Music Concourse and Goethe and Schiller

Golden Gate Park This is the Music Concourse in Golden Gate Park. It is flanked by the new Academy of Sciences and the New DeYoung Museum. A view of the DeYoung Two important things you should know about Golden Gate Park. It is bigger than Central Park and it was NOT designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. Golden Gate Park is 1017 acres, Central Park is 843 acres. Golden Gate Park was designed primarily by Botanist John McClaren and Engineer William Hammond Hall, Central Park WAS designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. This is the first in a series of the statues Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – We are Humans

Posted by Cindy on February 14, 2012

Feb 142012

The Tenderloin Ellis and Jones * * This triptych is by The Luggage Store. According to their website: “…three new murals depicting humans and its relationship with the increasingly robotized culture. It is about living in a time when science is searching for ways to create human traits in robots but in the meantime with all the excess of technology we are losing some of our human senses. It is also touching the subject of human diversity and its rights to belong to a society or being alienated by it. It all intertwines and also questioning; who are aliens, who Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – Our Future!

Posted by Cindy on February 13, 2012

Feb 132012

The Tenderloin This was done by Laserpunch and RattleCan Blasters. They were joined by team co-captain – and avid artist -Vernon Davis who added his creative touch The mural is part of the San Francisco Arts Commission’s StreetSmARTs program. The StreetSmARTS program is a joint initiative of the San Francisco Arts Commission and the Department of Public Work that connects established urban artists with private property owners to create vibrant art in an effort to curb graffiti vandalism. “Laserpunch and the Rattlecan Blasters consists of 2 graffiti artists, Camer1 from San Francisco, CA and Fasm from Modesto, CA. The Duo teams up Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – Pieces of San Francisco

Posted by Cindy on February 12, 2012

Feb 122012

The Tenderloin - Pieces of San Francisco

The Tenderloin 569 Ellis Street Pieces of San Francisco Mural Project – 2008 -Created by youth from Glide Memorial, Youth With a Mission, Golden Gate YMCA and Hamilton Family Center in collaboration with Amnesty International. This mural is in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco, on the street side of the organization of “Youth with a Mission” on Ellis Street. This area in San Francisco is notorious for its problems with drugs sales and a as center for homelessness in the city. However the Tenderloin is also known for the intense community efforts to improve the area by providing opportunities Continue Reading

Financial District – Guardian by Bruce Beasley

Posted by Cindy on February 11, 2012

Feb 112012

Financial District - Guardian by Bruce Beasley

Financial District 600 California Street Guardian by Bruce Beasley – Bronze – 1992 Made possible by the 1% for Public Art Program This sits at the top of the stairs of a public space that you enter through Kent Roberts’ Bridges. Bruce Beasley (1939) is an American abstract expressionist sculptor born in Los Angeles and living and working in Oakland, He attended Dartmouth and UC Berkeley. He has a wonderful sense of humor that can be experienced by visiting his website. With an artist that had a 45 year retrospective in 2005 he has a large body of highly versatile Continue Reading

Financial District – Three Bridges by Kent Roberts

Posted by Cindy on February 10, 2012

Feb 102012

Financial District - Three Bridges by Kent Roberts

Financial District 600 California Street Three Bridges by Kent Roberts – 1992 Public Art made possible by the 1% for Public Art Program Kent Roberts has appeared in this site before. Roberts has a BFA and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. He also has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Mexico. He presently works at SFMOMA.

SOMA – Urban Grit

Posted by Cindy on February 8, 2012

Feb 082012

SOMA Financial District 215 Fremont Street * * * Urban Grit by Gordon Huether Glass Panels – Art made possible by the 1% for Public Arts Program From Gary Brady-Herndon’s August 28, 2002 article in SF Gate: Perched high above the banks of the Napa River, a stone’s throw from the Oxbow area of the city of Napa and the newly christened Copia, the American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts, stands the home of one of the Napa Valley’s more colorful — and successful — artists, Gordon Huether. While Huether’s home may overlook what some might call Continue Reading

SOMA – Poetry Sculpture Garden

Posted by Cindy on February 7, 2012

Feb 072012

SOMA Financial District 199 Fremont Street Poetry Sculpture Garden The plaque on the side of the wall explains the area like this: 199 Fremont poetry/sculpture garden is a unique collaborative piece that combines the talents of Robert Hass, a world famous poet, and Paul Kos, a world-class sculptor. The garden is composed of three major elements: A large installation of the plaza’s Sierra granite as a sculptural form. Sculptor Kos’s setting of Poet Hass’ words in the wall of the plaza. In the place of a fountain, a small, witty set of faucets, sited quietly in the back of the Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – 191 Golden Gate – Mural

Posted by Cindy on February 6, 2012

Feb 062012

The Tenderloin - 191 Golden Gate - Mural

The Tenderloin 191 Golden Gate Avenue The corner of the mural reads: “The Gifts you take are equal to the gifts you make.” 2009 Precita Eyes Muralists Funded by Community Challenge Grants Program and San Francisco Clean City Coaliton Special Thanks to Tenderloin Community Benefit District, Tenderloin Health, San Franciso Arts Commission. Precita Eyes Website had this to say about the mural – “The Gift You Take is Equal to the Gift You Make” celebrates the gifts that the community brings and receives in the Tenderloin neighborhood including diversity, varied backgrounds, and rich cultural heritages and experiences. The “SS New Continue Reading

SOMA – Linking Hand Veil

Posted by Cindy on February 5, 2012

Feb 052012

SOMA Teen Center 10th Street between Market and Mission This mural is called Linking Hand Veil – it is acrylic and by Ball-Nogues Studio. It is public art work created by the 1% for Public Art Program According to their website Benjamin Ball grew up in Colorado and Iowa where his mother’s involvement in theatre proved influential. While studying for his degree at the Southern California Institute of Architecture, Ball logged stints at Gehry Partners and Shirdel Zago Kipnis. Upon graduation, he sought work as a set and production designer for films (including the Matrix series) as well as music videos Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – Police Department

Posted by Cindy on February 3, 2012

Feb 032012

The Tenderloin San Francisco Police Department 301 Eddy Street First Person Plural by Anders Barth Fired Clay Glaze * * (Lenda) Anders Barth has another piece of ceramic work on the Richmond District fire department. First Person Plural is an 8 x 24 foot, hand-carved and glazed tile mural on the Jones Street wall of the Tenderloin Police Station. The entire mural is comprised of 188 large tiles and numerous, smaller brick forms. Silhouettes of thirty-five people of different ages and races are depicted at work and play. Interspersed between them are animals typically found in the Tenderloin neighborhood—cats, dogs, Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – Hemlock and Larkin Mural

Posted by Cindy on February 2, 2012

Feb 022012

The Tenderloin - Hemlock and Larkin Mural

The Tenderloin Hemlock and Larkin This was done in 2009 as part of Precita Eyes Urban Youth Arts Program. It was in conjunction with Larkin Street Youth Services.

The Tenderloin – Trolleys

Posted by Cindy on February 1, 2012

Feb 012012

The Tenderloin Bush and Polk 1399 Bush Street Trolleys by Bruce Hasson This artwork includes 56 cast aluminum balustrades and a balcony. Four designs based on the human form and images from transportation, interspersed on the top three floors of the garage. These pieces are part of the San Francisco Arts Commission Collection. Bruce Hasson lives and works in San Francisco. He draws inspiration from his studies around the world, and is especially influenced by the Etruscan art in Tuscany and Southern Italy, the Egyptian and Assyrian art collections of the British Museum, the Inca art of Peru and the Mayan Continue Reading

Lango in The Haight and The Tenderloin

Posted by Cindy on January 31, 2012

Jan 312012

Cedar Alley the Tenderloin Haight and Clayton – The Haight Lango is a tattoo artist in San Francisco.

SOMA – Labyrinth-Habitat

Posted by Cindy on January 30, 2012

Jan 302012

SOMA 8th and Natoma Streets Labyrinth – Habitat 1999 Johanna Poethig with Episcopal Community Services Ceramic and paint Commissioned by the San Francisco Art Commission – Arts in Community Program. Johanna Poethig has been in this site many, many times. This mural is on the side of one of the Training Centers for Episcopal Community Services – The Cannon Kip Community House. According to Johanna’s website this is what the mural is about: In every culture and on every continent the labyrinth is one of the oldest and most universal symbols. Some of these existing labyrinths, such as the ones Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – Louder, Harder,

Posted by Cindy on January 29, 2012

Jan 292012

The Tenderloin 259 Myrtle Street Louder Harder by Ben Eine Ben Flynn, a.k.a. EINE, shot to international fame when David Cameron presented one of his works to President Obama as a gift on his first official state visit, but is arguably more famous for ‘Alphabet Street’ – the shutters and murals he painted in his trademark colours and typography in Middlesex Street, London– described by The Times as “a street now internationally recognized as a living piece of art with direct links to The White House.” Ben Eine has been in this site before, a recent interesting interview with him that you Continue Reading

TheTenderloin – Fern Alley

Posted by Cindy on January 28, 2012

Jan 282012

100 Block of Fern Street The Tenderloin * * * * Dray has been in this site before, and is a really terrific guy. In researching this piece I found a lovely article about him from his days in Las Vegas. Dray did this mural pro bono in hopes that the alley would attract more muralists. Fern Alley is a part of a recently launched quarterly art walk called LoPo (Lower Polk) Art Walk. The alley is blocked off and artists display their art right there in the alley. All of the local galleries participate as well as some merchants. If Continue Reading

Civic Center – Pioneer Monument

Posted by Cindy on January 27, 2012

Jan 272012

Civic Center San Francisco’s Pioneer Monument, created by F.H. Happersberger was dedicated to The City by James Lick in 1894. Previously located at Marshall Square, near the intersection of Hyde and Grove, it marked the site of the Old City Hall, destroyed by fire in the earthquake of 1906. During the renovation of the new San Francisco Library there were plans to relocate it, preservationists opposed this relocation, wishing to retain the marker as the last tie to the vanished city hall. It now sits between the new Asian Art Museum and the new San Francisco Library. Native Americans opposed Continue Reading

Civic Center – Simon Bolivar

Posted by Cindy on January 26, 2012

Jan 262012

Civic Center Simon Bolivar a 1984 “Gift from Venezuela to the People of San Francisco.” Simón Bolívar, was a Venezuelan military and political leader. Together with José de San Martín, he played a key role in Hispanic-Spanish America’s successful struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire, and is today considered one of the most influential politicians in Latin American history. “With the passing of time your glory shall by exalted like the boundless shade of the setting sun” Choquehuanca Simon Bolivar, the liberator, was born in Caracas, Venezuela on July 24, 1783 and died in Santa Marta Columbia, on December Continue Reading

Civic Center – Double L Excentric Gyratory

Posted by Cindy on January 25, 2012

Jan 252012

Civic Center - Double L Excentric Gyratory

Civic Center San Francisco Public Library Double L Excentric Gyratory by George Rickey – 1982 The plaque reads – A gift from an immigrant Carl Djerassi to his adopted City. Dedicated by San Francisco Arts Commission May 1997. George Rickey was an American kinetic sculptor born on June 6, 1907 in South Bend, Indiana. When Rickey was a child, his father, an executive with Singer Sewing Machine Company, moved the family to Helensburgh, Scotland. Rickey was educated at Glenalmond College and received a degree in History from Balliol College, Oxford. He spent a short time traveling Europe and studied art in Paris. Continue Reading

Civic Center – Ashurbanipal

Posted by Cindy on January 24, 2012

Jan 242012

San Francisco City Hall Ashurbanipal by sculptor Fred Parhad sits on the sidewalk of the Asian Art Museum, facing the San Francisco Library. The sculpture shows Asurbanipal wearing a short tunic and holds a lion cub in his right arm. The figure stands on a concrete base, with bronze plaque and rosettes. The statue shows the king grasping a lion cub and holding a clay tablet which bears this dedication in cuneiform: Peace unto heaven and earth Peace unto countries and cities Peace unto the dwellers in all lands Ashurbanipal was an Assyrian king, the son of Esarhaddon and the last Continue Reading

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