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Attraction >Museum
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Description and Basic Information ::
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 The M.H. De Young Museum, named after the one-time publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle, is San Francisco's oldest public museum, dating back to the 1894 Midwinter Exposition. In 1972, the de Young Memorial Museum and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor merged to form The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
The de Young Museum houses an acclaimed American art collection of more than 200 paintings depicting a period from colonial times through the 20th century, including The Mason Children of 1670 through Bingham's 1846 Boatmen on the Missouri, Georgia O'Keefe's Petunias, and Grant Wood's Regionalist master work, Dinner for the Threshers, painted in 1934. Also featured are fascinating exhibitions of African art, Oceanic art, Near Eastern and Central Asian textile arts, and pre-Columbian art from the Americas.
Featured African art from many areas of sub-Saharan
Africa, including a power figure from Zaire and a Makonde helmet mask from Mozambique. The Museum's renowned textile collection, which includes the most important collection of Anatolian kilims outside Turkey, changes throughout the year. The Oceanic collections were charter collections of the de Young Museum, with the nucleus being formed in 1894. Highlights include a 10-foot housepost from the Iatmul culture of Papua New Guinea, a group of brightly painted carvings used in malanggan ceremonials of New Ireland, and a selection of powerful wood carvings from the Maori peoples of New Zealand.
School group tours are available Wednesday through
Friday and adult tours occur Wednesday through Sunday. Group tours for adults must be scheduled at least 3 weeks in advance; fee includes museum admission. College groups receive special rates. Group tours are also available in Spanish, French, Italian, and German. Audio Tours by Acoustiguide are available for special exhibitions. $3 rental fee. |
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