Annual 2017 30, JUNE ENDING YEAR FISCAL THE FOR Report The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco had a significant year, the first under the new leadership of director and CEO Max Hollein. As the largest public arts institution in Northern California, the Museums pursue the mission of serving a broad and diverse constituency with exhibitions and programs that inform, educate, inspire, and entertain. This cannot be done without the support of members, donors, corporate and foundation partners, trustees, city leaders, and the community at large. The projects outlined in this report reflect the progress of the Museums’ staff in achieving key long-term aspirations of the institution as defined by its leadership. Among these goals is cementing the reputation of the de Young and Legion of Honor as internationally recognized museums and major cultural centers of the western United States. The two museums have rich histories and dedicated followers, yet there is still room to expand their reach and relevance. de Young Another aim is to strengthen the permanent collection and to draw from this rich resource to bring Golden Gate Park extraordinary exhibitions to the public. This was a year exuberant with presentations large and 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive small—from Rodin Centenary and The Summer of Love Experience to On the Grid and Frank Stella’s San Francisco, CA 94118-4502 Prints—that drew heavily from the treasures within the Museums’ own holdings. Going forward, the deyoungmuseum.org institution will hone its ability to utilize its own curatorial experts in building and deploying the collection in meaningful ways. Legion of Honor Lincoln Park Recent visitors may have noticed some changes within the buildings themselves. To make the museums 100 34th Avenue more welcoming and stimulating, spaces such as Wilsey Court at the de Young and the Court of Honor San Francisco, CA 94121-1677 at the Legion of Honor have been activated with new installations and artistic interventions that play off legionofhonor.org the museums’ sites, contents, and histories. This project will continue to grow and introduce surprises around every corner. Adding to opportunities for audience engagement is an array of bold educational and public programs that reflect the diverse interests of a broad audience. Lastly, the Museums wish to extend their role as an arbiter of culture beyond the buildings’ walls, a goal served by an enhanced digital strategy, among other initiatives. Cover: This newly acquired quilt was on view in Revelations: Art From the African American South (see page 5): Gearldine Westbrook, “Housetop” These goals are ambitious but achievable with continued support. The first important step has been to Variation (detail), 1982. Cotton corduroy and cotton plain weave; pieced, 94 x 78 in. FAMSF, Museum strengthen the Museums’ financial and foundational strength, an effort outlined on the following page. purchase, and gift of the Souls Grown Deep The sections that follow highlight noteworthy achievements and describe how staff and leadership Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection, 2017.1.54. © 2017 Estate of Gearldine will propel the progress of these aims forward in the months and years to come—with gratitude for the Westbrook / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. public’s continued confidence in the Fine Arts Museums and for the members’ and donors’ important Interior images: Photographs by Henrik Kam, © FAMSF; Drew Altizer Photography; and © FAMSF roles in helping to make it all possible. 2 ANNUAL REPORT 2016–2017 Building a Strong Foundation: FY17 Financials Museum Stores Other revenues 2% Gross Profit 5% Museum Stores 5% Endowment Support 7% Development 13% Contributions 32% Admissions 12% Program Services 53% Operations and Membership 18% Administration 29% City Appropriation 23% FAMSF Operating Fund Revenues FAMSF Operating Fund Expenses Total Operating Revenue and Support $60.4M Total Expenses $60M The Fine Arts Museums closed the fiscal year with a small budget surplus, securing the stability of the institution and creating a solid foundation for an ambitious plan of exhibitions, initiatives, and programs to come. A strong exhibition schedule— including two presentations that drew in excess of 200,000 visitors each—attracted generous donor support and brought in considerable revenue through ticket and museum-store sales. These exhibitions also helped drive a robust membership year, making this year the best in the Museums’ history for membership revenue. In addition to generating broad audience interest, the Museums achieved financial stability through a number of cost-cutting measures and institu- tional efficiencies that maintained or expanded services without exceeding the budget. ANNUAL REPORT 2016–2017 3 Generating “An impeccable selection Excitement: . attests to [Monet’s] faultless eye for tone Exhibitions and matchless ability to suggest light and atmosphere.” —The Wall Street Journal • Number of press features around the world for The Summer of Love: 1,800 • Schoolchildren attending Monet Mondays: 3,279 “The Summer of Love Experience pulses with the energy of a youth-fueled happening from the moment we walk into the first gallery.” —San Francisco Chronicle The Museums presented twenty-eight exhibitions in 2016–2017. Some drew record audiences and At the Legion of Honor, Monet: The Early Years cemented the international profile of the Museums; all contributed to establishing the world-class brought in 204,000 visitors who had the oppor- curatorial expertise of the Museums’ staff and showcasing the rich variety of the permanent collections. tunity to examine the career of this prominent The wide range of exhibitions reflects the encyclopedic nature of the Museums in presenting Western Impressionist before that movement had a name. art from the ancient (The Future of the Past: Mummies and Medicine) to the contemporary (Ed Ruscha Monet Mondays were reserved for schoolchildren, and the Great American West). Smaller installations of books, works on paper, and textiles allowed who came from 109 schools in 14 counties. the public to see parts of the collection that cannot be on permanent view. Catalogues produced by They learned about the artist’s compositional the Museums, including the definitive modern volume to accompany The Brothers Le Nain, fostered innovations and practiced those concepts in their scholarship while new initiatives in print and digital media made the narratives and themes of the own plein-air paintings. With this exhibition the exhibitions accessible to all. The following are two exhibition highlights of the year. Museums also developed two new initiatives: the first, Digital Stories, provides an interactive At the de Young, The Summer of Love Experience: Art, Fashion, and Rock & Roll was reconceived from online exploration of an exhibition’s themes and what was originally intended as a smaller-scale exhibition of rock posters and fashions into an expan- artworks for audiences anywhere in the world. sive presentation with light shows, photographs, films, and ephemera. Broadening the scope of this Visitors have a chance for reading and discovery exhibition allowed it to more fully celebrate the cultural achievements of the Bay Area while drawing ahead of their museum trip, so they can focus on the treasures within the Museums’ holdings, which constituted the majority of the works on view. on the objects themselves in the galleries. The More than 265,000 visitors came to Golden Gate Park, the birthplace of the 1967 Summer of Love, to second, the Pictorial book series, condenses witness its rebirth in the galleries—the largest attendance since the Mauritshuis lent Vermeer’s Girl with an exhibition’s essential information into a small a Pearl Earring in 2013, and more than twice the originally projected audience. New partnerships with publication. It provides a complement to the corporate and promotional partners such as Airbnb, Chariot, and the San Francisco Giants increased scholarly catalogue at a more accessible price. The Summer of Love’s visibility. Meanwhile, public programs enriched the visitor experience with drop-in These projects will continue to be created for art making every weekend. every major exhibition. 4 ANNUAL REPORT 2016–2017 Creating Dialogues: Contemporary Art and Programming This year the Museums launched a new program “The thinking behind the new installation [Urs Fischer: for contemporary art and programming, transforming the de Young and the Legion of The Public & the Private] . is clear: to reinvigorate the Honor with a series of installations and inter- museum's permanent collection with a shot of youthful ventions that create artistic dialogues with the spaces, histories, and collections of the museums. energy.” —San Francisco Magazine A performance series featuring artists such as Carsten Nicolai (who creates music under the name Alva Noto) further activates these spaces. From the transformation of the de Young’s Wilsey Court by Leonardo Drew to the visual conver- sation between French sculptor Auguste Rodin, who died a century ago, and the living Swiss sculptor Urs Fischer, these installations recon- figure how the museums are experienced. This program continues: at the Legion, established artists such as Sarah Lucas engage with the museum’s classical art-historical canon. At the de Young, emerging artists including DIS enhance the museum’s global perspective with a special focus on diversity and technology. Transforming the The Museums’ important acquisitions of art not only fill Museums: Acquisitions gaps in the collection but also allow for the display of key works that enhance the experience of special exhibitions. In rare circumstances, an acquisition completely trans- forms the institution and allows it to present aspects of art history that were not previously possible through the holdings alone. Such is the case with the sixty-two works by twenty-two artists acquired by purchase and gift from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, which were put on view in the exhibition Revelations: Art from the African American South. These works expand the representation of artists who reflect the historical diversity and complexity of American culture.