What’son in San Francisco’s Museums

Dorothea Lange Photos Showcased at San Francisco Public Library Through March 16
A new exhibition at the San Francisco Public Library, Jan. 19-March 16, 2008, captures intimate moments of Dorothea Lange and her family.

In a departure from her Depression-era images capturing the plight of migrant farm workers, photographer Dorothea Lange reveals intimate, everyday family scenes in this new exhibition of more than 50 photographs in the Skylight Gallery at the Main Library, 100 Larkin St. In A Life Surrounding a Cabin: Dorothea Lange at Steep Ravine, viewers will see how the environment at Steep Ravine (Marin County) shaped the identity of and relationships within Lange's family. This is only the second public viewing of these photos. She described them as documenting the "natural growth of the children" and the pleasure it gave her to see them "so happy and free there." For more information, visit www.sfpl.org or call 415-557-4277.

Three Institutions Collaborate on The Chinese of California: A Struggle for Community

In this rare collaborative effort between the Chinese Historical Society of America, the California Historical Society, and the Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley, The Chinese of California: A Struggle for Community looks at the unique challenges that Chinese Americans faced in maintaining full access to civil rights, and shows how these challenges influenced the formation of historic Chinese communities in California. Drawing from three diverse and complementary collections, the exhibition will feature original materials rarely seen by the public, including photographs, artwork, political cartoons, illustration, letters, business records, legal documents and other printed material and objects. On exhibit at the California Historical Society, 678 Mission St., from Feb. 7-Aug. 30, 2008. For more information, call 415-357-1848 or visit www.chsa.org or www.remembering1882.org

Sex and Sensibility: 10 Women Examine the Lunacy of Modern Love Feb. 9-June 8

The latest exhibition at San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum, 655 Mission St., showcases work by 10 of the funniest cartoonists in America, eight of whom regularly publish in The New Yorker, along with two Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial artists. On view from Feb. 9-June 8, 2008, Sex and Sensibility comments on the many humorous aspects of sex, love and everything else that’s amusing about relationships today. The exhibition features 50 cartoons from Liza Donnelly’s upcoming book Sex and Sensibility: Ten Women Examine the Lunacy of Love in 200 Cartoons. The exhibition also features cartoons by Roz Chast, Liza Donnelly, Carolita Johnson, Marisa Acocella Marchetto, Victoria Roberts, Barbara Smaller, Julia Suits, Ann Telnaes, Kim Warp, and Signe Wilkinson. For more information, call 415-CAR-TOON (227-8666) or visit www.cartoonart.org

January 26, 2008   Posted in: United States West