Anderson’s Art

After months of construction and a summer spent on installation, Stanford University is officially home to the core of the Anderson Collection, one of the world’s most outstanding private assemblies of post World War II American art. The collection contains 121 works by 86 artists, ranging from Willem de Kooning to Joan Mitchell, Jackson Pollack to Wayne Thieboud. A gift from Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson and their daughter Mary Patricia Anderson Pence – a Bay Area family who collected the art for nearly 50 years – the collection is anchored in the work of the New York School and incorporates key modern and contemporary artists, collected in depth and across media.

Major movements represented include Abstract Impressionism, Color Field Painting, Post-Minimalism, California Funk Art, Light and Space and Contemporary Painting and Sculpture. Designed by Richard Olcott of Ennead Architects – internationally acclaimed for powerful and sustainable building designs for cultural, educational, scientific and governmental institutions – the $36 million building was inspired by the Andersons’ home, a  classic postwar California ranch house with a series of interconnected spaces. The addition of this remarkable collection on campus helps strengthen Stanford’s growing connection between the study, creation, and experience of art and will become a research destination for arts scholars from around the world. anderson.stanford.edu