Image series 02 / 2020: San Francisco around 1900
From Gold Rush to Earthquake
5 January 2020
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By: Bettina Pfleging
Officially, the place Yerba Buena in California has had the name San Francisco since 1847, a reference to Francis of Assisi. In 1848 San Francisco and California became part of the United States after the end of the Mexican-American War. The Californian gold rush, which began in the same year, caused an explosive growth in the city’s population. A particularly large number of immigrants came from China, who were only allowed to settle in San Francisco within narrowly defined borders. In April 1906 a heavy earthquake shook the city.
A varied portrait of San Francisco over four centuries draws the exhibition. In three sections it is dedicated to the dreams and realities of the people of the San Francisco Bay Area, past and present.
„California Dreams. San Francisco – a Portrait“
12 September 2019 to 12 January 2020, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn
Eadweard James Muybridge. Blick auf die Insel Yerba Buena in San Francisco, Ausschnitt, 1864; Diathek online, Technische Universität Dresden, Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Technische Universität Dresden
Eadweard James Muybridge. Panorama of San Francisco from California Street Hill; No. 5, Ausschnitt, 1878; ConedaKOR Frankfurt, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Kunstgeschichtliches Institut, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
anonymous. Winkel van Chinezen in San Francisco, Ausschnitt, 1883 – 1893, papercollotype, 14 × 18,5 cm, Amsterdam; Rijksmuseum Collection, Amsterdam
Isaiah West Taber. Straat in Chinatown San Francisco, Ausschnitt, 1890, cardboardpaperphotographic paperalbumen print, 20,2 × 12,5 cm, Amsterdam; Rijksmuseum Collection, Amsterdam
N.N. Chinatown, San Francisco, Ausschnitt, Februar 1896, London; Diathek online, Universität Trier, Fach Kunstgeschichte
Arnold Genthe. San Francisco, Chinatown, Ausschnitt, vers 1905, épreuve sur papier au gélatino-bromure d’argent, 23 × 33 cm, Chicago; Iconothèque, Université de Genève, Bibliothèque d’art et d’archéologie
Arnold Genthe. Erdbeben in San Francisco, Ausschnitt, 1906; ConedaKOR Frankfurt, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Kunstgeschichtliches Institut, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
Geldolph Adriaan Kessler. De verwoeste City Hall in San Francisco na de aardbeving van 1906, Ausschnitt, 1908, cardboardphotographic papergelatin silver print, 10 × 7,4 cm, Amsterdam; Rijksmuseum Collection, Amsterdam
