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Dede Wilsey: Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Dede Wilsey. I'm President of the Board
of Trustees of the Fine Arts Museums. I always like to tell you that you are in one of them
now. This is the de Young Museum. We also have a Legion of Honor over in Lincoln Park.
Do not fail to go there also, please.
It gives me great pleasure to welcome all of you today. We are very happy to be able,
in a moment, to announce our new director, but I want to acknowledge all of you who are
here, particularly trustees who are here, who have been enormously supportive of this
effort to find a new director.
It has been quite a long procedure, although it was no longer than the search for John
Buchanan. I'd like to emphasize that fact. Both searches took about 13 months, and my
selection committee, which was 13 people, and I would like to acknowledge them and thank
them very much for their participation. In particular, the search committee voted to
appoint this particular individual in January, and they have been able to keep the secret
of this person until today.
I really commend them, because it's a very hard secret to keep, and I know that there
have been many rumors of names of people, six that I know of in particular, including
my dog, Twinkle, but I actually started that rumor myself.
[laughter]
Dede: They have been really outstanding in their ability to keep the secrets of the board
and this particular individual. I want to thank all of them for their loyalty and their
support to the museums and to me personally, which I very much appreciate.
We have an outstanding group of trustees and their love of this institution is astounding,
but rightfully deserved. Thank you, all the trustees who I see in this room today.
I want to also say how much we appreciate the support of staff. We have a really outstanding
staff at this museum. They are a happy lot, and they are a very competent group of people.
I have worked with them for years, I enjoy every moment that I'm with them, and I'd like
to say I think they enjoy working with me as well.
I want to thank them for their loyalty. I was speaking to a lot of them this morning,
and they're very excited at the announcement of a new director. But they have been functioning
very well with our deputy director, Richard Benefield, who has been here as a deputy director
since September. He's done an excellent job, and we look forward to having him with our
new director.
It gives me great pleasure to announce that our new director is Colin B. Bailey, who is
the deputy director of the Frick Museum and he's also the Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator
of the Frick Museum. I think that to have those two skills will be extremely important
for our museum, where we need to have strength in that department.
The selection committee spent a great deal of time trying to decide what direction we
should pursue in looking for a new director. We had spent months deciding, when we were
looking for John Buchanan, what the qualities we needed at that time. We wanted to become
the great exhibition museum because we had just built this space, and I think that John
did that for us admirably.
We did, in fact, become the great exhibition museum west of the Potomac river, which was
my goal since I've come from Washington, D.C.
Our next step, we believe, was to focus on our own collections, to elevate ourselves
intellectually, to have a leader who really was a scholar and known internationally as
a scholar, someone who would elevate this museum in that direction and focus on the
really excellent art which we have in this museum, mount exhibition based on the collections
we have, and further the name of the Fine Arts Museums in that area.
I think there's no one who would be better than Colin Bailey. He's a very personable
individual. He is certainly knowledgeable in every area of art, not just in European
art, which is his specialty. But he's also a very delightful person, and I know our staff
will love working with him. I know our trustees will love working with him.
I think he's watching this somewhere in the world, so Colin, wherever you are, can't wait
to have you here. He's really fun, and I did tell all the staff, after John died, who was
so beloved here, that we would look for somebody who was the great leader for this institution,
but also somebody who was fun, because John was really fun. I feel that we have fulfilled
every qualification that we were looking for.
We cannot wait until he comes. His start date is June first, but he will come out here in
that interim period. We're looking forward to having him very, very much. It now gives
me enormous pleasure to introduce our other leader, the Mayor of San Francisco, Ed Lee,
who is the person who guides us in every way.
This is a city institution, and we really value his input. The fact that he's here today
is a great honor for us. Mayor Lee.
[applause]
Ed Lee: Thank you, Dede. First of all, let me tell you how I'm excited about being here
at de Young. I always get excited when I come to de Young. I want to signal my appreciation
and praise to the board of trustees and to its wonderful president, Dede Wilsey.
You've just done a marvelous job, time and time again, with the board of trustees that
keep the strong confidence in investing not only in this museum, The Legion of Honor,
but in our cultural institutions in general.
I just came back from Paris. Last time I was in Paris I was a high-school student. This
time, I got to be received by Mayor Delano����. He is such an arts freak, if you will, as
the mayor, and he reminded that he love our city because of our cultural institutions.
We are world renowned because of your work, so kudos to the board of trustees, to the
staff, the people who run this organization, to all of the members and hopefully, would-be
members. Quickly get your admissions into this because it's going to continue being
great.
Many of you know I work hard for this city. I've always worked hard for this city, but
one of the reasons I do is because so many others work hard for the greatness of our
city. I can't see it more reflected than our cultural institution, the very fabric of why
we're one of the number one destinations in all of the world to come to.
Whether it's people from Paris, Cork, or China, the de Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, what
it means to them, the Legion of Honor, this very exhibit that we're doing now, with the
"Girl with a Pearl Earrings," is just drawing wonderful crowds. In fact, last year, the
de Young drew 1.6 million visitors. That's an incredible number.
Then, to add to that, both museums combined together service over 250,000 children and
families. This is an incredible part of what our city is. I know that you know I've been
working hard to attract different businesses, create more jobs in this city, provide more
housing, all in an effort to make this city more successful.
But I will always, always say, Dede, that it's people like you and the board of trustees
that provide us with a reason why to work hard to keep this city great as an international
city, to make sure that we do all the things, because oftentimes, when you talk to the employees
of all the technology companies that I've been talking with every week, and ask them
what draws their talent to a city, the first three things they know, whether it's public
transportation, it's also the arts, because that's what keeps their creative mind functioning.
It's these institutions, with their wonderful service, their continuing exhibitions, world-renowned
exhibitions that introduced and keep their minds active and it keeps the tremendous amounts
of visitors coming to our city. I know how difficult it has been for the board and for
the president to make the quick search. It is to match up the right person with such
an incredible institutions as these are.
I, for one, know how difficult it is when you're trying to do that, when you're running
government. I want to also say to the staff that I enjoyed Mr. Buchanan's leadership as
much as you did. He was a colleague. He was the department head with me. And so, to fill
those shoes with Mr. Bailey, now, I'm excited because I trust this board of trustees.
The time that you've spent in your selection process, the care that you've given, I'm going
to put every trust in and welcome in Mr. Colin Bailey to be yet another colleague of ours
in the official city family. I look forward. I'm excited to it, because we have a lot of
great work to do.
This city is on such a great recovery, economically, for everybody, that there's going to be even
that many more families who are going to enjoy the institutions that we have here. On that
background and with that effort, I just want to congratulate the board again. Thank you
to the staff, I know that the attendance is going to continue increasing.
I know that the contributions to not only art, but to just the way we live in our city
is going to continue because of this institution and the institutions that you are in charge
of. I'm here to just be a part of this experience to welcome in Mr. Bailey, but also know that
your mayor is looking out and being a part of this institution.
I want you to know that I am very happy to be a part of the board's effort and the staff's
effort to continue this great institution and all the wonderful work that you do. It's
my pleasure to be here. I'm enthusiastic about our museums, Dede, and I will continue making
them all the success that they have been for many, many decades. Thank you very much.
[applause]
Dede: Thank you very much. I'm also very happy to say that, on March 12th, we had our millionth
visitor of our fiscal year, which doesn't end until June 30th. I think we'll have another
record-breaking year. All of our wonderful shows, this year's exhibitions, are doing
very, very, very well.
A week ago, Wednesday, we had over 13,000 visitors in this museum, so we're really on
a roll, as the mayor said. We look forward to many, many more successes. With Colin as
our new leader, I know he's going to come up with some other wonderful exhibitions.
We now are going to have a videotape which someone is going to create. Is that correct?
[videotape starts playing]
Dede: I always say the only kind of art I'm interested in acquiring is the finest that
there is. I feel that our search was the same. We all agree that the next level for us would
be to raise our persona intellectually and also to look into our curatorial strength.
I said that to my selection committee, "What we have to do is find the finest person there
is."
I think that we've been able to do that, and I can't wait to show you all.
Female Narrator: After an exhaustive international search, the board of trustees has selected
Dr. Colin Bailey as the new director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
Colin B. Bailey: When I was chairing the National Endowment's indemnity panel, I was amazed
every meeting. San Francisco had the most ambitious projects. I was always wondering,
"How is it they've got Picasso? How is it they're doing the Mus����e d'Orsay
show? How is it they have these shows?"
I was very impressed with this energy, and really didn't quite understand how this had
happened, but could see that it had happened.
Dede: After the tragic death of our director, John Buchanan, we really had to decide how
to reinvent ourselves and how to go to the next level. I'm absolutely thrilled, because
we finally found the right person. To be able to say that we have a scholar of that stature
who is now running our museum is really a great coup for us.
They know your name, and of course what they'll do is google you, because they google.
Colin: [laughs]
Dede: I can't wait until they do.
Female Narrator: You'll find that Dr. Colin Bailey studied at Oxford, he held posts at
the Getty in Malibu, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Kimbell in Fort Worth, and the
National Gallery of Canada. He's been awarded the Mitchell Prize for best art history book.
Colin: I don't want to get bound up with one approach. I want to go back to a very fundamental
obligation of the museum, which is to conserve, to show, to communicate, to educate. Museums
are places of enlightenment and enjoyment, and both of those are important.
Female Narrator: Since 2000, Dr. Bailey has been Deputy Director and Chief Curator at
the Frick Collection in New York City. Now, he's in San Francisco.
Colin: For me, it's something of a dream come true. I've long wanted to be the director
of a museum, and a museum whose collections, whose displays, whose program in the educational,
the lots of things I can feel comfortable with and admire. To be honest, the fact that
the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco in a way wrap up the Met, the MoMA, the Frick,
the Morgan all in one and serve as that folder for this vibrant community.
I'm really excited. I know there's thorough support for the types of projects and directions
that I hope to introduce.
What so excited me on the visits I made to San Francisco is how welcome you feel when
you step into the de Young or the Legion. That sense of a home, of a place, irregardless
of size, is very important, and it was thrilling to me to see that there's already such enthusiasm
for the audience.
Female Narrator: What Dr. Bailey loves the most is talking about the art itself.
Colin: I'm making them accessible and allowing people to enter them.
Female Narrator: Just listen to the way he enters these works from Tiepolo.
Colin: The goddess Flora, who was the goddess of fertility, of flowers, of spring, became
a somewhat licentious goddess for the Floralia, these games that happened every spring to
bring in the regeneration, if you like. This is a fantastic painting by one of the greatest
18th century artists in any country, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, painting at the top of his
game.
This is the most flamboyant, the most exciting, the most sensuous picture by this artist,
one of the most. The colors are fantastic. It's in impeccable state of conservation and
preservation, and we do feel that everything is possible. Life is fully burgeoning.
Female Narrator: To Georgia O'Keeffe...
Colin: We can't, when we look at it, but think of fertility and of femininity, of some sense
of regeneration. We can almost smell the perfume.
Female Narrator: ...to Rembrandt...
Colin: By the end of his life, a bankrupt, his mistress incarcerated, he's really lost
his primacy, but he won't change the way he paints.
Female Narrator: Some of Dr. Bailey's observations about artist parallel his own experience with
art museums.
Colin: You have to have real commitment of belief in your vision, in what you're doing,
in what you believe is right. Yes, of course you have to be flexible and you have to be
malleable to a degree, but at a certain point you keep going.. I think that is the case
with these great artists.
Female Narrator: We are finally led to another of the museum's great treasures, "Three Machines,"
by Wayne Thiebaud.
Colin: I think one's first reaction is just how joyful and how bright and how luminous
and how happy one feels looking at these quotidian, banal objects. A painting perhaps about wanting
more than we can have, about consumerism, but also about childhood pleasures. I love
this artist. I've seen quite a lot of his work. When I look at this, I just feel happy.
[music]
Dede: Thank you all very much. I hope we'll see you many, many times in our press conferences
and our dealings with our new director, and the great success that I'm sure that he will
bring, further success, to us here at the Fine Arts Museums. Thank you.
[applause]