MILL VALLERY, CALIF.- Anthony Meier, president of the Art Dealers Association of America, is pleased to announce the relocation of his namesake gallery from San Francisco to Mill Valley in California’s scenic Marin County. The new flagship will open its doors with In the Shadow of Mt. Tam––a historical exhibition that explores the rich artistic history of Marin County from the 1940s through the 1970s.
Founder, Anthony Meier, comments: “The move to Mill Valley comes at a time when the gallery is rethinking how we can best serve our artists and our communities. Having operated out of a residential building in San Francisco for the past four decades, it has always been part of our ethos to go against the grain and have dedicated art-lovers seek us out. The move to Mill Valley is the next logical progression of this model, and gives us the opportunity to stage more ambitious exhibitions and programs in a highly visible public space that is surrounded by the elements. Just a stone’s throw across the bridge, we’re recommitting to the region that inspires us and our artists.”
A fixture in the San Francisco Bay Area art community since 1984, Anthony Meier has nurtured the careers of renowned artists such as Janine Antoni, Larry Bell, Sarah Cain, Leonardo Drew, and Teresita Fernández. Having resided in residential spaces for the past four decades––most recently on the ground floor of a 1911 mansion designed by the famous San Francisco architect Willis Jefferson Polk that the gallery has operated out of since 2004––Anthony Meier’s relocation to a historic 1925 Studebaker dealership in Mill Valley marks its first public-facing, traditional brick-and-mortar venue.
Located across the Golden Gate Bridge and a mere 7 miles from San Francisco, Marin County has remained a haven for artistic production for some of the most influential artists of the twentieth century––from Etel Adnan and Luchita Hurtado to Lawrence Weiner and Bruce Nauman. In addition to its counterculture history, Marin County is best known for the view from Mount Tamalpais, known locally as Mt. Tam, with its unobstructed vistas of the bay and surrounded by redwood valleys. Etel Adnan—who resided in Marin County from 1958 to 1972 and then again from 1977 until her death in 2021—was deeply inspired by Mt. Tam, and wrote: “Standing on Mount Tamalpais I am in the rhythms of the world. Everything seems right as it is. I am in harmony with the stars, for the better or the worst.”
On view from January 31 through March 17, In the Shadow of Mt. Tam will feature historic works by artists such as Adnan, who spent a finite but critically important time in this place––and who eventually went on to establish themselves within the cannons of art history. Artists include Etel Adnan, JB Blunk, Jess Collins, Jay DeFeo, Robert Duncan, Gordon Onslow Ford, Luchita Hurtado, David Ireland, Lee Mullican, Bruce Nauman, Wolfgang Paalen, Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, Lawrence Weiner, William T. Wiley, and Rick Yoshimoto. The exhibition will thread together the allure of Marin’s distinctive natural environment and Mt. Tam itself, as well as the impact of community and place on these artist’s burgeoning practices. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalog featuring an essay by art historian Michael Auping.
The renovation of the storefront by T.W. Ryan Architecture––a San Francisco and New York based firm known for such projects as the award-winning Three Chimney House in Charlottesville, Virginia and Christie’s San Francisco headquarters––doubles the size of the gallery’s exhibition space from 2,400 square-feet to 5,200 square-feet, providing ample room to stage more ambitious exhibitions. A 400 square-foot research library, open to the public by appointment, will provide a unique opportunity to engage with art historical materials, and will display a rotating selection of artworks including a new hanging sculpture by artist Erica Deeman. Titled [murmur] (2022), the work is a constellation of hundreds of okra pods modeled from the one that grew in her garden, now glowing and changing as the viewer circulates around it, proposing a limitless space for Black diasporic identity. Square wood-frame glass doors that rotate on an axis connect the galleries to the library and offices, creating more flexible, mixed-use spaces for programming. Wood accents and paneling in the library echo the surrounding Redwood forest for which the region is known.
Partner, Lauren Ryan, comments: “As a longtime resident of Marin County, I am thrilled to open our doors with an exhibition that taps into the rich artistic history of the region. It is where Etel Adnan painted the lush mountainscape of Mt. Tam every day; where Jay DeFeo found new inspiration after taking a hiatus from painting; and where JB Blunk reanimated fallen trees from the Redwood forest. As Auping writes in his essay, the landscape tends to ‘envelop the senses,’ and we hope our audiences in return will be inspired by the beauty and creative spirit found here.”
Anthony Meier was established in 1984 as a private dealer in the secondary market. Working with both public and private collections, Anthony Meier built a highly regarded international reputation specializing in post- World War II contemporary masters. In 1996 Anthony Meier opened a public gallery space in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. In 2023 the gallery will open a new location in Mill Valley, California in a historic building downtown.
As a public forum, Anthony Meier mounts five or more exhibitions per year dedicated to emerging, mid-career and established artists. The work shown in the gallery is consistent with the quality and visual aesthetic on which the business was founded.
Anthony Meier is active both locally and globally, with membership in the Art Dealers Association of America and the San Francisco Art Dealers Association. Past and present participation in the major art fairs of the world has helped to merge our primary and secondary programs and present the gallery program as a cohesive progression, from post-war masterworks to contemporary artists working today. With our range and quality of work, the gallery inventory maintains a current and well-articulated profile in the art world at large.
