Avant-Gardes of Paris at San Francisco Modern Art Museum
The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde reunites the unparalleled modern art collections of author Gertrude Stein, her brothers Leo and Michael Stein, and Michael's wife, Sarah Stein.
Supplemented by a rich array of archival materials - including photographs, family albums, film clips, correspondence, and ephemera - the exhibition provides a new perspective on the artistic foresight of this innovative family, tracing their enduring impact on art-making and collecting practices and their inestimable role in creating a new international standard of taste for modern art.
The Steins Collect draws from prominent public and private collections worldwide and spans the family's entire collecting history. Among some 40 works by Picasso and approximately 60 by Matisse are such masterpieces as Matisse's Blue Nude (Baltimore Museum of Art), Woman with a Hat (SFMOMA), Self-Portrait (Statens Museum, Copenhagen), and Tea (LACMA); and Picasso's Lady with a Fan (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), Boy Leading a Horse (Museum of Modern Art, New York), Nude with Joined Hands (Museum of Modern Art, New York), and portrait of Gertrude Stein (Metropolitan Museum of Art), among many others.
Sarah and Michael Stein's return to San Francisco with a cache of important Matisse works in 1935, the same year SFMOMA was founded, was particularly instrumental in the advocacy of modern art on the West Coast as well as the making of the museum's early collection; SFMOMA's presentation will underscore the Steins' deep connections to the Bay Area.
May 21st - September 6th, 2011
