A Saturday in San Francisco, Part One

At SFMoMA
Jasper Johns, American, born 1930
"Flag" 1958 Encaustic on canvas

Last Saturday, Brian had the day off from work, kinda sorta, so I had a big day planned. No rest for the weary, that’s my traveling motto. After all, I can get plenty of down time in Adrian.

We started with breakfast at Dottie’s True Blue Cafe. This teeny little place is only open for breakfast and lunch. There is always a line to get in, even before the doors open. But in was just a block from our hotel, and we wanted to relive our youth, Brian and I had gone there before we were “married”. Once we got in line, the guy in front of us asked us if it was worth it. “It’s good”, was all I would say, Later, he looked pretty happy.

The menu is straight forward diner food, but the ingredients take it up a notch or three. We got happy too.

Now that I had fed my victim, it was a walk to the Museum of Modern Art, where we had 10:00 tickets to the Frida Kahlo exhibition.

Though Frida may have gained her greatest fame of late by being portrayed so well by Salma Hayek, the real woman was just as fascinating. Her paintings are often symbolically autobiographical with an air of the surreal in a disturbingly graphic way. She was in fact embraced by the group, first by André Breton. "I never knew I was a Surrealist," Frida said, ". . . till Andre Breton came to Mexico and told me I was". But she later clarified that by saying, “They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn’t. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.”

Her work relates and contrasts with her husband Diego Rivera’s. Both have strong Mexican roots, but, unlike his, some of her works are very small, and painted on metal, in the tradition of traditional Mexican Ex-Voto paintings, which she and Rivera collected. (Like me!). Frida had a tumultuous life, and her art reflects that. Her spirit was unbreakable, unlike her body, and her paintings are filled with that energy. The show was inspiring, eye-opening, and very moving. Even Brian liked it!

Photography was NOT allowed, so you are spared a blogging art tour. But I want to add that the recorded tour, which cost a whopping $3.00, was great. For that money you carry a little MP3 type player that has information on a selection of the paintings, and biographical, cultural and historical info too.

If you want more Frida Facts, click here.

Much of the rest of the museum was closed for installations, but we did get to see some of the permanent collection, which was also highlighted on the recorded tour. Brian even had enough energy to visit the phenomenal MuseumStore and buy us a new Wegman video. He was still smiling when I mentioned we should head to the Ferry Building for lunch, or was that why he was smiling?

Stay tuned for more Saturday adventures, where we tour the Ferry Building, take a ride on BART, and visit the infamous Rockway Institure.

History of Art 101
pop quiz:

Identify these three paintings (right) from the SFMoMA collection

by artist, title, date and location.

How do they illustrate the artist’s experience and the era in which they were painted?

Please do not cheat by viewing the album that I added to our iWebsite yesterday, which contains over 250 photographs of our trip: San Francisco 2008.

You should only look at the album AFTER you have completed and handed in your quiz.

- - - David