Local philanthropists and collectors Bernard A. and Barbro Osher have made a promised gift of 61 important works from their holdings of 19th- and 20th-century American art to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which includes the de Young and Legion of Honor. The de Young will host an exhibition of the gift, accompanied by a catalogue, in summer 2024.
Consisting of 50 paintings, nine works on paper, and two sculptures, the donation represents the art of 39 artists. Among those included are well-known American artists like Georgia O’Keeffe, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Charles Sheeler, and Alexander Calder. They figure alongside lesser-known ones like Boston School painter William McGregor Paxton, the influential artist-teacher Frank Vincent DuMond, and the American Impressionists Edward Henry Potthast, Frederick Carl Frieseke, and Richard Edward Miller. Those in the latter group will see their work enter into the Fine Arts Museums’ collection for the first time.
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“We are delighted that these works that we have relished collecting and displaying in our home will now be appreciated by visitors to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco,” the Oshers said in a joint statement. “As the largest public arts institution in our city, with the finest survey collection of American art, it is fitting that these artworks will join the collection here.”
The Oshers have been long-time supporters of the Fine Arts Museums, having donated funds to the construction of the de Young’s Herzog & de Meuron–building, which opened in 2005. This led to a wing and the museum’s sculpture garden being named in their honor. Bernard Osher is also a past board president of the Fine Arts Museums Foundation.
In a statement about the Osher’s gift, Thomas P. Campbell, the Fine Arts Museums’s director and CEO, said, “Their generous donation of more than 60 works of such expansive historic scope is one of the most transformative contributions in the Museums’ history. The Oshers have enriched the Museums’ representation of American art—long considered to be one of the greatest survey collections in the United States—with a gift reflective of a dynamic period when the United States ascended to global prominence both culturally and artistically.”
Below, a look at highlights from the gift, with comments from Lauren Palmor, associate curator of American art at the Fine Arts Museums, drawn from the forthcoming catalogue.
Source: artnews.com