Jewel City: Art from San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific International Exposition

Panama Pacific International Exposition San Francisco 1915 Poster.

As we approach the end of the year we also approach the end of the special centennial exhibitions of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE), the San Francisco world’s fair that celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal. It also celebrated the cities recovery from an earthquake in 1906. The deYoung Museum’s current display, “Jewel City: Art from San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific International Exposition” has several works from the historic event and will be ending on January 10, 2016.

The exhibition originally included 11,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, and photographs. Over 200 can be currently experienced at the museum, American and French Impressionism; works by members of the Ashcan School; paintings from the emerging modernist styles in Italy, Hungary, Austria, Finland, and Norway; and more. Highlights include an impressive survey of American art, with works by Mary Cassatt, Thomas Eakins, John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, Winslow Homer, Frederic Remington, John Sloan, Robert Henri, and other masters. There is also mural work by Arthur Mathews and William de Leftwich Dodge included, they were specifically made for the fair and haven’t been seen in nearly a century.

If you’re not an art expert, the audio tour provided by the museum for an additional charge of $8 general and $7 members will not disappoint. Learn the stories behind most of the artworks by inputting the assigned number into the audio phone. You can go at your own pace and repeat if necessary. The museums curators delve into details that are not included on the placards.

For instance, local bay area resident E. Charlton Fortune made the decision to only use her initial for her first name or else her paintings might not sell. Yet, there was a  room dedicated to woman artists and some of those are on display as well. It’s an interesting tidbit because it would seem they were being celebrated but knowing they wouldn’t sell as well as the men’s paintings makes one speculate that the allocation to one location allowed others to skip over them?

James Earle Fraser once said his bronze sculpture; “The End of the Trail” represented a defeated Native American from the weaker race. At the fair, his piece was juxtaposed with a sculpture of a victorious cowboy displaying the belief of “white supremacy”. With so many eyes on San Francisco and the event, many participated to prove their “cultural superiority”; (at least they thought that of themselves). You don’t want to miss this opportunity, as you can see everyone knew it was the place to be at the time. They sent their best artists and work to this turning point event in San Francisco history.

Jewel City: Art from San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific Exposition: Saturday, Oct. 17, through Jan. 10. $15-$25 (free on Oct. 17, community day). De Young Museum, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Memberships are also available and provide access to the museum all year round. (415) 750-3600. www.famsf.org.