Friday, March 20, 2009

Contemporary Jewish Museum



This afternoon I visited the Contemporary Jewish Museum on Mission near 3rd Street in San Francisco. It opened last year in a converted power station with a brick facade dating back to 1907. That date is in fact visible in the top picture where the Baroque putti with their swags and cornucopias were clearly thought proper and useful in 1907 for gracing the over-door of a power station.



Daniel Libeskind conceived the renovation of the power station, adding the blue asymmetrical cube at the western end. The workers (in orange) are installing that new big green sign on the side of the building, patriotically encouraging the public to SHOP (a message to be seen everywhere these days, though not much heeded from what I can observe).


Two pieces of surprisingly tame sculpture (above) mark the eastern end of the building. To my eyes they are less successful than the sleek minimalist water garden, seen below.