The blockbuster California art show this summer is the Birth of Impressionism at the de Young Museum. The exhibit is a selection of paintings that portray the art of the early 1860s and the growth of Impressionism (click here for a review of the catalogue). A much quieter and subtler companion show, Impressionist Paris: City of Light, is at the sister museum, the Legion of Honor. I was able to see both exhibits a few weeks ago.
The Impressionism show is cultural hand-to-hand combat. There are so many people that it takes over half an hour to progress from the timed ticket line to the entrance of the exhibit. Once inside, a good dose of patience and ability to negotiate crowds is necessary to see many of the paintings unobstructed. There was even a woman with her dog at one point. It reminded me of Ross King’s description of the Salons in The Judgment of Paris where on some Sundays over 50,000 people would throng to the halls. Despite the masses, it’s worth the effort to see, the art is beautiful and rarely seen outside the Musee d’Orsay (which can also be very crowded).
The bookstore at the de Young bore the brunt of so many people, in some places it looked like Target at noon the day after Thanksgiving. I’m guessing that the de Young customer is more interested in art objects than books though. The store is two floors, approximately half of the lower section is devoted to books. It was uninspiring, only a handful of books were associated with the exhibits. There was a decent selection of monographs and a table for selling catalogues of past exhibits at a nice discount. Upstairs the store is a museum gift store akin to the Metropolitan of Art mall stores of a few years ago. There is a lovely selection of jewelry, scarves, and knick knacks. Every store stocks what sells and it looks like the gift section of the store is far more popular than the books.
After a few hours of battling the crowds and enjoying the truly splendid art, I was ready for the quiet exhibit at the Legion of Honor where I found maybe a dozen people. The point of Impressionist Paris: City of Light is to provide a sense of the Paris that the Impressionists were working in, from the new boulevards, to the building of the Eiffel Tower, to the advertising posters that lined public walls. It felt more like a historical exhibit than a traditional art exhibit.
Why the de Young did not have a significant book section was answered at the Legion of Honor. Just as the two museums are partners and the exhibits reflect one another, the store at the Legion of Honor complements the de Young store. About one-third the size of the sister store, at the Legion of Honor store the focus is on books (there are several gift items also). For me, this store was a treasure. There were multiple large bookshelves devoted to ‘layman art history,’ books accessible to people interested in art history but not professionals in the field (i.e., Ross King’s books or Art Instinct by Denis Dutton). I could have bought the entire contents. There were also several books that delved deeper into the Impressionism art exhibited at the de Young. This is a compact bookstore worth visiting even without entering the exhibit halls.
Just a side note, the two museums while administered together are miles apart.
50 Hagiwara Tea Garden, Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA 94118
Tel: 415.750.3642
Lincoln Park
100 34th Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94121
Tags: California, California bookstore, museum bookstore San Francisco, San Francisco, San Francisco bookstore
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