San Francisco Art Association

The San Francisco Art Association (1871–1961) was an organization that promoted California artists, held art exhibitions, published a periodical, and established an art school. Over its lifetime, the association helped establish a Northern California regional flavor of California Tonalism as differentiated from Southern California American Impressionism. The San Francisco Art Association (SFAA) merged with the California School of Fine Arts (CSFA) in 1961 to create the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI).

Early history

SFAA was founded on March 28, 1871 by a group of some 23–30 artists, primarily landscape artists led by Virgil Macey Williams, with two goals: the promotion of art exhibitions and the forming of an educational institution which taught fine art. The artist J.G. Denny was selected as the first director, and members such as Albert Bierstadt, Andrew P. Hill, Ernest Narjot, William Keith, and Charles Christian Nahl and Arthur Nahl came together to establish the focus of the organization. The presence of painter-photographer George Henry Burgess among the founders connected the association with the nascent field of fine art photography.

Within a few months, SFAA had elected its first honorary member: Albert Bierstadt, landscape painter and a devotee of the stereograph. By 1874, SFAA had 700 regular members and 100 life members, the latter paying $100 for the privilege. The quarterly receptions were attracting some 1000 people and the semi-annual exhibitions, running for two months each, brought over 7000 viewers. In 1874, there were similar public art institutions in only three other United States cities: New York, Boston, and Washington, D.C.

School of art

In February 1874, SFAA founded the San Francisco School of Design, installing Virgil Macey Williams as director. In 1893, the institution's name changed to California School of Design—the change included an affiliation with the University of California. In 1906, the devastating fire following the earthquake destroyed the school, but SFAA rebuilt it in one year, calling the new formation the San Francisco Institute of Art.

In 1916, Pedro Lemos was let go as the school's director and France-trained Lee Randolph took the lead. The school's name was changed to the California School of Fine Arts (CSFA), and its philosophy shifted to one of conservative European training, with an emphasis on meticulous preparatory work and craftsmanship, on Beaux-Arts sensibilities, and on traditional skills such as mural painting, and life and figure drawing.

Bohemian Club patronage

From the beginning of the Bohemian Club in 1872, a web of interconnections between it and SFAA was apparent. Many artists were members of both organizations, and art patronage from well-to-do Bohemians helped provide a living for artists who joined the Bohemian Club. SFAA exhibits in the late 19th century were very successful—many of the participating artists sold a year's worth of production to wealthy Bohemian and society patrons. By 1915, SFAA prosperity was intimately tied to Bohemian purchasing habits.

In 1880 at SFAA, Eadweard Muybridge demonstrated his Zoopraxiscope.

Following the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, the exposition organizers decided to give the Palace of Fine Arts to SFAA. In writing up the contract, the negotiating teams were each led by a Bohemian Club member: Charles Templeton Crocker represented SFAA, and his uncle William H. Crocker stood for the Panama-Pacific group. The building, intended only for temporary use, was deeded to SFAA. Its large exhibit space was used to show locally-owned fine art, and SFAA printed up a letterhead bearing the title "San Francisco Museum of Art." By November 1916, SFAA was confident enough to begin publishing the San Francisco Art Association Bulletin, intended as an annual journal. The Crockers formed committees within SFAA and filled the positions with successful businessmen. A shift in focus occurred in which traditional patronage practices came to the fore—the aesthetic wishes of the corporate class began to affect the artists' choices in subject matter and style.

Against best intentions, attendance at the Palace of Fine Arts was too light to prevent heavy operating losses of $10,000–14,000 each year from 1915 to 1922, and the collection of public art remained small, overwhelmed by the vast space. Landscape painting, once the strength of SFAA fell off in volume. By the mid-1920s, only one modest landscape by reliably compliant Arthur Frank Mathews was being shown at the Palace.

Murals

SFAA promoted a series of civic bond issues in the mid-1920s, written to fund new museums. Work began on the Palace of the Legion of Honor, a favorite project of SFAA member Herbert Fleishhacker. Large murals began to appear in public spaces, painted by SFAA artists, and were favorably reviewed by art critics and the public alike. A combination of corporate class patronage, CSFA mural training and years of private experience came together to allow the mural artists to succeed. In 1924, the de Young Museum was voted a civic maintenance program, the Legion of Honor museum was finished, and in 1926, a bond was passed to reinforce the weakening Palace of Fine Arts structure. Three public museums were available to San Franciscans.

Merger

In 1961, SFAA merged with CSFA, and the art school took its modern name, the San Francisco Art Institute.

References

• Jones, Harvey L.; Oakland Museum. Twilight and Reverie: California tonalist painting 1890–1930, 1995.</ref>

External links

• San Francisco Art Association, Smithsonian Archives of American Art
• Sunshine Muse, by Peter Plagins
• Lights and shades in San Francisco, by Benjamin E. Lloyd
• The San Francisco Art Association, 1899, list of members from Our Society Blue Book
• The San Francisco Art Association, by Betty Hoag McGlynn