TEOTIHUACAN: City of Water, City of Fire at the de Young Museum, San Francisco

At the entrance to the de Young Museum in San Francisco with an image from the Teotihuacan Exhibit

Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, California, is an amazing display of recent discoveries from the ancient city of Teotihuacan, whose ruins lie just outside the modern metropolis of Mexico City. One of the earliest, largest, and most important cities in the ancient Americas, Teotihuacan is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the most visited archaeological site in Mexico.

Detail of fresco mural with animal motifs; colors were made from natural dyes applied directly to the wet plaster.

I first visited Teotihuacan in 1991 on a day trip from Mexico City. (See my post of 11/11/13.) I climbed the steep steps of the Pyramid of the Sun and Pyramid of the Moon and toured some of the buildings that once had been workshops and living quarters. I was amazed at the complexity of the sculptures, murals, and other decorative motifs as well as the sheer size of the city. Two years later I returned to research my book, City of the Gods: Mexico’s Ancient City of Teotihuacan. Since my visits in the 1990s many new discoveries have been made. When I heard they were being exhibited at the de Young Museum in San Francisco I made a special point of visiting when I was in the Bay Area in December. (The exhibit goes from September 30, 2017 to February 11, 2018.)

Mosaic figure from Pyramid of the Moon excavations

The exhibition, organized in collaboration with Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), features recent, never-before-seen archaeological discoveries and other major loans from Mexican and US cultural institutions. Monumental and ritual objects from Teotihuacan’s three pyramids are shown alongside mural paintings, ceramics, and stone sculptures from the city’s apartment compounds.

Shell necklace beads

From jewelry, masks, small carved figures to large sections of murals and depictions of various deities, the exhibit is a fascinating look at this ancient city and its thriving culture. Here are just a few of some of my favorite items in the exhibit.

Avian effigy vessel, ceramic, shell, greenstone and stucco 

Section of much longer wall fresco decorated with footprints along the bottom

Thousands of tiny clay figures just a few inches high have been found at Teotihuacan. It is believed that they were used as part of daily household rituals.

Brazier supported by the hunched figure of the Old God; it is believed the brazier was used to burn incense and that the eyes carved on the side are symbols of fire.

Quetzal sculpture; the quetzal, a bird native to Central America, was valued for its bright green feathers.

Fresco fragment of bird with shield and spear; the curved lines from the bird's mouth indicate speaking or singing

Teotihuacan was the largest and most important city in Mexico and Central America for more than 800 years. But around 750 C.E., the civilization at Teotihuacan disintegrated and the city fell to ruins. During centuries of disuse, what was left of the buildings gradually fell down and became overgrown with weeds. Only a small portion of what once was the great city of Teotihuacan has been excavated. Continuing research will reveal more about this first great city in the Americas.

De Young Art Museum, San Francisco: RICHARD DIEBENKORN, the Berkeley Years

Richard Diebenkorn photographed in his studio, at de Young Museum, San Francisco

Richard Diebenkorn, whose painterly landscapes vibrate with the rich colors of California, was a pivotal figure in American art of the mid-twentieth century and one of my favorite painters of all time.  From 1952 to 1966 he painted in his studio in Berkeley, California. The de Young Museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park has mounted an exhibit of the paintings and drawings of that period in a stunning show which I went to see a few weeks ago.  (The show will be up until September 29, 2013.)

Figure on a Porch, 1959

The exhibit, which includes 131 paintings and drawings, is arranged chronologically from his earlier abstract period to his later use of figures, interiors and landscape themes. On the day we visited (a weekday during the first week of school) there were relatively few people in the exhibit which allowed both close-up and distant views.  When close-up the richness of color and three-dimensionality of the application of the paint can be appreciated.  Most of the paintings are large and when seen from across the room the overall composition becomes dominant.  Photography inside the exhibit is not allowed, but you can preview a number of the paintings here.  Among my favorites is Berkeley #44--I bought a poster so I can continue to enjoy it at home.

Photography of Rose Mandel, book by Susan Ehrens

We also went to see the exhibit of Rose Mandel photographs while we were at the museum.  She was a friend of Diebenkorn and photographed him in his studio.  Her photographs, mostly 4 x 5 inch black and white silver gelatin prints, include a series called The Errand of the Eye (from a poem by Emily Dickinson), in which she depicts close-ups of nature. In another series she went around San Francisco photographing reflections and graffiti.  The remarkable thing about her photographs is her ability to keep a sharp focus the part that she wants you to look at and let the rest of the picture be out of focus, or blurry.

A trip to the de Young would not be complete without a visit to the Tower to take in the view of San Francisco from nine stories above the ground.  Even with the fog, it is impressive.  We ate lunch in the museum café and afterward took a stroll around the outdoor sculpture garden which includes a giant safety pin, ceramic apples strewn across the lawn like over-size bowling balls, and pieces by Louise Nevelson, Barbara Hepworth and others.

Safety Pin Sculpture by Claes Oldenburg

For information about planning your visit to the museum, click here.
For more about another recent exhibit at the De Young Museum, see my post on the Girl With a Pearl Earring exhibit, June 17, 2013.

Ceramic Apples by Gustav Kraitz

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING at the de Young Museum of Art, San Francisco

Poster for the Girl with a Pearl Earring Exhibit at the de Young Museum, San Francisco

I read the book. I saw the movie.  And now I have seen the painting!  The Girl With the Pearl Earring by Vermeer is the focus of a wonderful exhibit of Dutch paintings from the Mauritshaus Museum in Amsterdam which I saw recently at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. Billed as the Dutch Mona Lisa, the girl (who has never been identified) looks over her shoulder out of the painting, seeming to invite the viewer into her world.  The exhibit includes dozens of remarkable paintings by Vermeer, Rembrandt and other Dutch masters, organized by theme–a room each for portraits (formal and informal), landscapes (featuring huge skies over the flat water and land), still lifes (with flowers in brilliant detail), scenes of everyday life, and more. The paintings document the richness of Dutch life in the 17th Century.  The exhibit ended at the de Young on June 2nd but travels to the High Museum in Atlanta for the summer and will be at the Frick Museum in New York October 22, 2013–January 19, 2014.  See http://www.frick.org/exhibitions/mauritshuis for more information about this exhibit.

Tower Viewing Area

After viewing the painting exhibit and an accompanying exhibit of prints from the same period–exquisite etchings, drypoints, engravings and mezzotints by Rembrandt and others–we went to the museum cafeteria for a delicious lunch, which we ate on the enclosed outdoor patio facing the sculpture garden.  I had cream of parsnip soup, which was very tasty.  Everything on the menu had a Dutch theme–to coordinate with the Mauritshaus exhibit.

Pond in front of the de Young Museum (viewed from Tower)

One of the special features of the de Young Museum is the Tower and its 360 degree view of San Francisco from its 9th floor viewing area.  It was a beautiful sunny day, so after lunch, we took the elevator up to the top of the tower and got a spectacular view of the city.  Immediately across the plaza in front of the museum we could look down the living roof garden of the science museum.  These two museums, which share a parking garage under the plaza, are among the jewels of Golden Gate Park.

Sculpture and Shadows at de Young Museum

The de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park are the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.  To find out more about these museums and their many exhibits both permanent and temporary, go to www.famsf.org.