We want to wish a HUGE happy birthday to Henri Matisse, pillar of the Parisian avant-garde :) 

Along with Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse was one of the pillars of the Parisian avant-garde, whose formal innovations in painting would dominate much of modern art. Matisse initially worked in law, but discovered a passion for art when he began painting as an amateur. He went on to study traditional academic painting. In the early years of the twentieth century, however, he rejected the idea that painting had to imitate the appearance of nature. His characteristic innovations were the use of vibrant, arbitrary colors; bold, autonomous brushstrokes; and a flattening of spatial depth. This anti-naturalistic style inspired the critical name “fauves,” or “wild beasts,” for the group of painters around Matisse.
Ironically, Matisse often applied his thoroughly modern style to traditional subjects such as still lifes, landscapes, and portraits. Such works express a sense of timeless joy and stillness that runs counter to the frenetic, technologically inspired compositions of many of his contemporaries. Although primarily dedicated to painting, Matisse was also active as a sculptor and printmaker. In the 1940s, in failing health, he embarked on a well-known group of cut-paper collages.

Today would have marked the 100th birthday of the amazing artist Louise Bourgeois. Do you have a favorite work by Bourgeois? If so, post it here as a photo reply.

SFMOMA here, wishing you an artful holiday! We hope you’re refining the art of resting, relaxing, spending time with family + friends, and feeling merry :) Cheers!

Emmet Gowin, Ralph, Christmas, Danville, Virginia, 1970

Happy Birthday to the amazing American artist Joseph Cornell!

Cornell was a self-taught artist with almost no formal training. He lived somewhat reclusively in Queens, New York, working a variety of day jobs and making his boxes at night in a basement studio. He roamed the beaches of Long Island and the thrift stores of Manhattan in search of cast-off materials, which he painstakingly assembled in glass-fronted wooden boxes. The resulting works have a strong sense of nostalgia. They often draw on fairy tales and mythology, though they also make reference to astronomy and the natural sciences, ballet, opera, and Hollywood films.

razorbladesandaspirin:

2010 on Flickr.

3rdofmay:

Today on Modern Art Notes: I review “Richard Diebenkorn: The Ocean Park Series” at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. The exhibition was co-organized by the Orange County Museum of Art.

I rave about the show and find that it confirms that Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park paintings are the apex of 20th-century abstract painting. 

Image: Richard Diebenkorn, Ocean Park #54, 1972. Collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. SFMOMA has three Ocean Park paintings, the most of any art museum.

…and this one was submitted by Erica of SFMOMA’s IET Department. We’re Gosling + Museum crazy!

This one was submitted by Megan of SFMOMA’s Education Department :)