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M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco

The M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco describes itself as "a public museum with an evolving mission to behave like a resource and less like a repository." This explains why viewers are encouraged to "be the curator" and follow their individual interests through the collection. One compelling reason for returning to this website again and again is its ever-growing imagebase. As a result, the "curator" gradually becomes an "art history" expert. Amazingly, about half of the museum's collection of 70,000 images are now online, and the goal is to make all of them available to viewers (compared to about 5% of images available at most online museums). The site also offers information on its sister museum (California Palace of the Legion of Honor) and an opportunity to purchase books relating to exhibitions. The fundamental book on the museum itself is "The Art Lover's Cookbook: A Feast for the Eye" (with 67 illustrations), which sells for a very reasonable $24.95.

Tue, 16 Nov 1999 13:35:03 -0800