A Family Affair

MOLLY S. HUTTON
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appropriate for a campus in which both intellectual pursuits are
highly valued.
STANFORD HOSPITAL
The Andersons’ desire to share their love of art with the community,
evinced through exhibition loans and an active schedule of public
collection tours, is also demonstrated through their involvement
with the Stanford Hospital and Clinics Art Commission. Moo was
one of the original members of the commission, which was established
in 1986 with the goal of bringing contemporary art into the
hospital setting as a way to enrich and humanize the physical
environment for patients, staff, and visitors. “Moo’s presence
brings joy, excitement, and laughter because her love for the arts
is contagious,” says Linda Meier, chair of the art commission,
noting that the hospital’s “reputation for having museum-quality
art” was realized, in no small part, through the dedication and
generosity of Moo. 46
The Andersons had long understood the positive effects of
living with art and of rotating art installations in the workplace;
indeed, this is what Hunk had been doing at Saga for many years—
a practice that continues to this day at the Quadrus complex
offices. To this end, in 1990 they put on long-term loan to the hospital
a group of seventy works of art from their private collection.
In 2001 seventeen of the original group were officially donated to
the hospital. These gifts, says Meier, “strengthen our collection as
well as bring life and awareness to the community.” 47 The hospital
now boasts a diverse collection of contemporary works that hang
throughout its spaces, including on the walls of patient rooms.
Says Moo, who prefers to focus on the affirmative notion of hospitals
as places of healing rather than as places of sickness, “It is
my hope that the artworks installed in the hospital serve as positive
distractions from the anxieties often experienced by those whose
lives necessitate a visit to a medical facility.” 48
“THE PLANTING OF A FRUIT TREE”
“We think of this as only the beginning,” says Hunk of the gift of
the core of the Anderson Collection to Stanford. Liken ing the act
to “the planting of a fruit tree” on campus, the collectors expect
the gift to continue to reward the university community, the Bay
Area, and the public at large for generations to come (fig. 18).
Although “the tree hasn’t started to flower yet,” says Hunk, it is
clear that the positive relationships established over the years
between the Anderson family and its Stanford neighbors ensure
that the tree will soon bear fruit. “My parents constantly instilled
in me the belief that we are only the temporary custodians of the
art in the Anderson Collection,” notes Putter. “I always knew that
Figure 18
The Anderson Collection at Stanford University
(back left) with its neighbor, the Iris & B. Gerald
Cantor Center for Visual Arts (right), April 2014
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