Cantor Arts Center & Anderson Collection Magazine | Fall - Winter 2023

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WHAT’S NEW AT THE ANDERSON Sam Francis Centennial Through MAR. 3, 2024 Born in San Mateo in 1923, Sam Francis began his painting career after a serious illness, contracted while training in the United States Army Air Corps, left him immobilized in a Northern California hospital. During his recuperation period, Francis studied with Anderson Collection artist David Park, who later became a key figure of the Bay Area Figurative Movement. Painting became, for Francis, a “way back to life.” In the late 1940s, he returned to the University of California, Berkeley, to study painting and art history before moving to Paris in 1950, where he remained for 12 years. He first traveled to Japan in 1957 and subsequently spent significant periods of his life there. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Francis was one of his generation’s most well-known American artists in Western Europe and Japan. The exhibition highlights Francis’ multifaceted connection to Palo Alto and the Anderson family. Though he was familiar with this area as it was his birthplace, it was not until the early 1970s that Francis began making frequent trips to Palo Alto from his home in Santa Monica to create prints at 3EP Ltd., a printing press founded by gallerist Paula Kirkeby, artist Joseph Goldyne, and collector Mary Margaret “Moo” Anderson. In 1986, Francis established a studio near Stanford University in a former spray shop for cars that he transformed into a work sanctuary. Francis’ artistic output energized Palo Alto for decades, and his work became widely represented in local collections, including the Anderson family’s. Two Francis paintings were part of the original 121 works gifted to Stanford by Moo and Harry W. “Hunk” Anderson and their daughter, Mary Patricia “Putter” Anderson Pence. This exhibition is organized by the Anderson Collection at Stanford University, with research and writing by Emily Chun, PhD candidate in art history. We gratefully acknowledge the lenders and support from the Sam Francis Foundation, museum members, and the Anderson family. We thank Mitchell Johnson, Stefan Kirkeby, Nancy Mozur, Putter Pence, and John Seed for their participation. IMAGES: Sam Francis, Red in Red, 1955, oil on canvas, 2014.1.011 • Sam Francis, The Beaubourg, 1977, acrylic on canvas, 2014.1.053. Both works: Anderson Collection at Stanford University, Gift of Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson, and Mary Patricia Anderson Pence. © Sam Francis Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY 8
Anderson Collection spotlight: Art-o-mat In 1997, 10 years out of school with a degree in graphic design, North Carolina conceptual artist Clark Whittington wanted to make owning original art more accessible to more people. Nostalgic for the satisfying simplicity of a vending machine transaction, he packaged his art in small uniform boxes wrapped with cellophane, refurbished and stocked a vintage cigarette machine with the boxed art, and temporarily installed his first Art-o-mat in a café in Winston- Salem. The cost to pull a knob and receive a one-of-a-kind treasure was a dollar. After a month in the café, the owner pleaded with Whittington to extend the installation indefinitely. She liked the swords-to-plowshares ethos of the repurposed cigarette machines, and customers enjoyed the thrill of acquiring a work of art for less than the price of their cup of coffee. Whittington knew he was on to something, so he started buying up retired cigarette machines and converting them into Art-o-mats featuring radically affordable works from a collective of participating artists from all over the country. There are now over 200 Art-o-mats installed around the globe featuring works by 400 artists, including one in the lobby of the Anderson Collection. The sleek early 1960s model with industrial reflective silver metal details and a galvanized steel cabinet in mid-century-modern blue is on loan from the artist by way of Stanford Residential Education and Lantana Hall, a freshman residence in the Gerhard Casper Quad where it has been since 2014. The temporary relocation to the Anderson Collection seems a natural fit, given that many of the works in the collection are from the same era as the machine. The price of a work of art is $5, and the machine accepts bills only and does not make change. Become a contemporary art owner with the pull of a single knob or the owner of an art collection with the pull of all nine. Clark Whittington, Art-o-mat, 2014. In the lobby of the Anderson Collection at Stanford University • The full collection of artwork currently stocked in the Art-o-mat. Photography by Aimee Shapiro 9
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Cantor Arts Center & Anderson Collection Magazine | Fall - Winter 2023

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