Research & Describe the Asian art Museum of San Francisco (Essay Sample)

Name
Tutor
Course
Date
Asian Art museum of San Francisco
Introduction
The Asian Art museum of San Francisco is considered to be one of the oldest museums that houses one of the most all-inclusive art collection in the whole world. The museum is believed to house more than 18000 different pieces of artwork within its permanent collection, with over a third of these pieces of art being more than 6000 years old (Wade Haddon, 109). The museum that hosts the Asian heritage and that has a spectacular view stands out as a historic landmark of very high significance in history and to the contemporary historical study. This paper therefore looks at the background and the historical account of the Asian Art museum of San Francisco.
The history and the Background
Asian Art museum of San Francisco owes its origin to the city of San Francisco and to Avery Brundage, who was one of the millionaires from Chicago of the 1950s, and who a lover of art collection. The Asian society of art collection that was incorporated in 1958 with the primary goal of collecting and gaining Avery Brundage’s art collection is considered as the founding forces that greatly contributed to the emergence of this spectacular art gallery. In 1966 the Brundage Collection of Asian Art was opened as two-winged art collection of the De Young art museum, opened in Golden Gate Park with the Frenchman, Rene-Yvon Lefebvre being appointed as the first director. The museum was opened as a branch of the M. H. De Young Memorial Museum located in the Golden Gate Pak (Wade Haddon, 334). After its formation, the society for the Asian Art fully sponsored a remarkable symposium on behalf of the Brundage collection, a function that was attended by over 200 different scholars from all over the region. Avery Brundage continually demonstrated his love for arts through continued support to the museum. In 1969, he signed a contract with the Francisco city that allowed him disburse the second bunch of his donation of art collection to the art gallery.
Just one year after the official opening of the museum, Fred Cline was appointed to be the staff librarian within the museum. With the massive expansion that was underway, the management of the museum tried to put the most appropriate management structure that would be able to move the museum towards the vision that led to its formation. In this effect, Mayor Joseph Alioto working together with the San Francisco Board of Supervisors deliberately appointed a 27-member commission to act as the primary governing body of the museum. The foundation of the Asian Art Museum was created with the main purpose of raising fund that would support the staff as well as the daily programming within the museum. Under this establishment, the museum was set to run under the private-public partnership and it has continually existed under this structures. This partnership is well organized and managed by the Asian Art Commission alongside the board of trustees.
In 1973, the museum was officially renamed as the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco-The Avery Brundage Collection. The museum was accredited by the American Association of Museums within the same year of its renaming.
The museum being his brainchild initiative, Brundage continually made donations to the museum, including the historic bequest of his remaining collections of the Asian art upon his death in the year 1975. Collectively, Brundage is considered to have donated over 7700 Asian art-works to the San Francisco museum.
Right from the time of its formation, the exhibitions of this museum has always attracted thousands of art lovers all over the globe. The 1975 exhibition is considered to be one of the remarkable in the history of the museum, after recording a total attendance of up to 830,000 which is still considered as the highest attendance ever experienced. The exhibition that was tagged as the “the Exhibition of Archeological Finds” of the People’s Republic of China and that was well organized by the Chinese as an outcome of the China-US diplomatic relations is remarkably historic. The museum has been one of the most preferred convergence points for the world leaders ever since it was created and strategically positioned at the heart of Francisco. In 1983, president Regan and Queen Elizabeth II of England converged for a dinner that was hosted at the de Young Museum and that was preceded by a warm reception at the Asian Art Museum’s Gruhn Court. The two leaders were received by the Asian Art Commission chairperson Judith Wilbur.
Appreciation and the understanding of art that has been passed from one generation to the other has been the strong pillar of continued support to the museum. Every leadership has always endeavored to support the art gallery and work out structures that would work towards its continuity. In 1985, the Connoisseurs’ Council was established. His initiative was well organized under the leadership of Emma Bunker, the Asian Art Commissioner of that time (Wade Haddon, 321). This establishment was primarily kept in place with the main aim of purchasing objects for th...