(Private) Collections Collections 2015 - Private Collections

Collections 2015

Private Collections tours begin at 5:30pm. Following your tour, you are invited to a reception at Ascent Private Capital Management of U.S. Bank from 6:30 to 8:30pm.

The Dauber Collection

Contemporary

“I like to find stuff that’s a kick in the teeth,” says Jeff Dauber of his avant-garde and contemporary art collection. He hits that mark with challenging and confrontational pieces like Hank Willis Thomas’s Absolute Reality and Al Farrow’s artillery-walled Synagogue. Dominated by large-scale works, Dauber’s collection includes sculpture, drawings, paintings, photographs and new media. In his largely representative and figurative collection are pieces by Travis Somerville, Hank Willis Thomas, Hung Liu, Carrie Mae Weems, Nick Cave, Kara Walker and many others. Dauber’s “Deform” house, on which he collaborated with experimental architect Thom Faulders, features a private gallery dedicated to his rapidly growing collection.


The Dolby Chadwick Collection

Contemporary

Lisa Dolby Chadwick has curated over 170 exhibitions at her San Francisco gallery since its founding in 1997. Her personal collection is comprised of largely figurative works that she has acquired gradually over the years; while much of the art is by artists she represents, she also collects from fine art galleries and presses based in San Francisco and beyond. Chadwick lives in a historic home atop Russian Hill with stunning bridge-to-bridge views - a perfect perch to witness Leo Villareal's "The Bay Lights" art installation. The open, light-filled space is a fun backdrop for her collection, which includes work by Christopher Brown, Theophilus Brown, Jim Campbell, Stephen DeStaebler, Richard Diebenkorn, John DiPaolo, Edwige Fouvry, Sherie Franssen, Ann Gale, Alex Kanevsky, Nina Katchadourian, Frank Lobdell, Jaume Plensa & Terry St. John.


The Fraze/Loeb Collection

Contemporary

The collection of David Fraze and Gary Loeb consists primarily of contemporary art. Located in a Pacific Heights home originally built by James Irvine II, the collection is predominately works on paper, but also includes painting as well as some photography and sculpture. Among the artists represented in the print collection are John Baldessari, Christo, Jim Dine, David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, Donald Sultan, Wayne Thiebaud, and Andy Warhol. The paintings in the collection include works by Richard Baker, Ross Bleckner, Richmond Burton, Ian Davenport, David Dupuis, Aaron Parazette and John Zinser.


The Gruen Collection

Contemporary Russian

Claude and Nina Gruen were able to design the interior walls of their SoMa penthouse to showcase approximately ninety works. The Gruens' collection of contemporary Russian art focuses on work from the 1950s onward, and features important artists Ilya Kabakov, Eric Bulatov, Vitaly Komar & Alexander Melamid, Oleg Vassiliev and many others. The Gruen collection has been gifted to the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, where sixty pieces are currently on exhibit. A comprehensive 100+ page catalogue of the Gruen collection has also been published by the museum. "It is hard to pinpoint the date when our array of artifacts became a 'collection,'" says Mrs. Gruen. "Collecting, for us, was never a means of investment... but rather a way of pursuing a passionate interest." From both an artistic and historic perspective, it's a must-see.


The Guggenhime Collection

Contemporary

Rich and Judy Guggenhime had an American contemporary print collection with prints by Helen Frankenthaler, David Hockney, Frank Stella, James Rosenquist, Richard Diebenkorn, Ed Baynard and Robert Motherwell and small sculptures by Nathan Olivera and Lichtenstein. As a result of three trips to Cuba, they have replaced most of their American collection with works by Cuban artists Rene Francisco (twice named Cuban artist of the year), Esterio Segura, Kelvin Lopez Nieto, Kadir Lopez Nieto, Fuster, Esteban Leyva and Copperi. The Cuban collection consists of drawings,oil paintings and sculptures. Notable highlights include a Cuban painting by Nelson Dominguez and If a Tree by Lester Campa.


The Joyner Collection

African American Abstract

The Collection of Pamela Joyner and Fred Giuffrida consists mainly of Post WWII African American artists with a focus on abstraction. A group of African American artists called “Spiral” was formed in 1961 and met once a week in SOHO to discuss being African American and an artist in that time. The founders began their careers in the 20’s and 30’s, many in the 6th Arrondissement in Paris among artists such as Picasso as well as the writers and jazz musicians of that time. This collection includes pieces from 13 of the 15 Spiral artists, including the largest collection of local artist Richard Mayhew, whom Mr. Giuffrida commissioned a piece for Pamela as a gift. In addition to Spiral painters, the collection includes several Color Field painters heavily influenced by the Spiral group - Sam Gilliam, Frank Bowling, Jack Whitman, Al Loving, and Ed Clark. “This collection is very personal to me because I knew all these painters. When I look around my living room, I see ‘the guys.’” says Pamela Joyner.


The Mill Collection

MID-20TH CENTURY ABSTRACT

Francis Mill's art collection is housed in a 1937 historic landmark warehouse building. Known as the concrete art bunker, Francis's home is not just a safe haven to protect works of art and ideas but is a private sanctuary to experience, look and feel these works of art. The original space has been extensively modified to accommodate a unique collection of paintings, sculptures, drawings, photography and artists' books. The collection's core is mid-20th Century abstraction with some provocative departures. Artists include Howard Hodgkin, David Hockney, Joan Mitchell, Conrad Marca-Relli, Richard Diebenkorn, David Park, Frank Lobdell, Manuel Neri, Louise Nevelson and Brian Wall. The collection continues to focus on the artistic innovations made in the Post-War era in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as in New York and abroad. Artists who stood their ground and bucked the accepted trends of the time. The works are selected through the critical eye of Francis, reflecting his identity as architect, artist, art dealer and collector. Experiencing this collection in its considered space will inspire the soul.


The Reilly Collection

California Contemporary

The Reilly art collection comprises one of the most extensive Bay Area abstract expressionist and figurative collections from the 1950s through the 1970s. The collection at their Sea Cliff home overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge includes Joan Brown, James Kelly, Jay de Feo, Roy De Forest, James Budd Dixon, Wally Hedrick, Frank Lobdell, Manuel Neri, Nathan Oliveria, and Hassel Smith. A number of pieces from the collection have been featured in Susan Landauer’s book, The San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism.


The Sack Collection

Photography

Located in his downtown office, Paul Sack’s extensive photography collection of more than 2,800 images seeks to cover the history of photography from 1870 to the present. Every major photographer is represented, including William Henry Fox Talbot, Ansel Adams, Man Ray, Alexander Rodchenko, Alfred Steiglitz, Diane Arbus, Eugene Atget, Dorothea Lange, Eugene smith and Thomas Struth.