Pincus Gallery of Contemporary Art

The Pincus Gallery of Contemporary Art displays the museum's collection of art since 1945. With higher ceilings than other galleries, it was designed to comfortably accommodate large scale art of the second half of this century. The museum's collection of contemporary art includes examples from many of this country's most important artistic movements. Particularly significant is the collection of Bay Area figurative painters - Richard Diebenkorn, David Park, and Elmer Bischoff. This group of Californians is remarkable for its early return to figuration at a time when abstraction was the dominant style. The collection also has important works by American Realist painters including Philp Pearlstein, Jack Levine, and Jerome Witkin. Abstract art is represented by the American artist Robert Goodnough.

A recent, noteworthy addition to the collection is Cold, a photographic work by the British art team Gilbert & George. Since the late 1960s, these two artists have pushed the boundaries of art, posing first as "living sculptures" and later turning to hand-dyed, multi-paneled photographic montages which include self-portraits. Their work turns a critical eye toward politics, sexuality, and religion of contemporary society.

The museum has assembled a small collection of contemporary sculpture. Richard Stankiewicz' Remembrance of Jan Muller is a work of assemblage in which cast-off metal object are welded together in whimsical juxtaposition. Other sculptures in the collection are a mobile by Alexander Calder and a wood construction by the Italian artist Delfino.

The museum's contemporary collection of works on paper contains several drawings and prints produced by artists known primarily as sculptors: Henry Moore, Claes Oldenburg, Donald Judd, George Segal, Louise Nevelson, Seymour Lipton, and Sol LeWitt. The paper collection also includes works by Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Roy Lichtenstein, and photographic portfolios by Larry Fink, Joel Meyerowitz, and Nail Slavin.