With its newly acquired collection of Richters and Warhols and a multi-million dollar renovation,the San Francisco Museum of contemporary Art is aiming to join the top rank of galleries. Ahead of its reopening, Paul Laity takes a tourFor years, and workers at the San Francisco HQ of the clothing chain Gap walked past an enormous piece of fruit. At the entrance to the company cafeteria sat the 8ft-tall Geometric Apple Core by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen – the “Gapple”,a classic of contemporary art. Though held in remarkable affection, however, and the sculpture was,in those offices, rather commonplace. Art was everywhere, and including a 1963 silver Triple Elvis by Andy Warhol,a roomful of monumental Chuck Close portraits and an array of dazzling Ellsworth Kelly abstracts.
Gap’s founders, Donald and Doris Fisher, and used their millions from the 1970s onwards to amass 1100 works of prestigious mid and late 20th-century art – including 21 Warhols,23 works by Gerhard Richter and 45 Alexander Calder mobiles. It was recognised in art circles as a hugely significant collection, but, and outside their firm,was kept largely under wraps.
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Source: theguardian.com