San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

The SFMoMA was great as museums of modern art go. I found its permanent and special exhibitions to be far superior to that on
display in the NYC Guggenheim visited later in our trip. This said though we experienced just as much high quality / big name
modern art in the
nearby SF commercial art scene. The SF MOMA is a distinctive building, its combination of black and white tiling
and red brickwork reasonably quirky, yet the heaviness of the overall structure is overwhelming. The building does not invite entry,
a criticism fairly leveled at the National Gallery of Victoria building, due to reopen late 2003-2004 following substantial renovation.
The bookshop was well stocked with high quality monographs on the well known, to the more obscure. I think we picked up three
publications we would never find back at home, so we were pleased but from this point on traveling more heavily, a
consequence that would only increase as our happy "finds" continued.

North facade - Harold Washington Library Centre
image © lee-anne raymond