One of the pieces of art I have always looked forward to seeing at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco is a sculpture I dubbed “The Giant Diaper Pin” the first time I saw it. I encountered it first at the Legion of Honor, right outside the cafe, while the new de Young Museum was still under construction. Since Kelly was a diaper-wearing baby at the time, it gained considerable significance for Peter and me. We loved the way the giant pin contrasted against the Monterey Pines, and once, tried to pose Kelly against it, but she objected.
Then, as the de Young was nearing completion, the Giant Diaper Pin disappeared. We’d go out to the end of the cafe, and look sorrowfully upon the now-empty pedestal/stair landing wall where it used to be.
As we discovered, to our delight, when I visited the new de Young museum, the Giant Diaper Pin had been moved into the de Young’s sculpture garden:
The de Young’s sculpture garden features all sorts of whimsical statuary, from gigantic apples and sack people, to a Robert Arneson bust and a hidden pathway to a hut rimmed with cameras. So the Giant Diaper Pin fit right in against the palm trees and hedges of Golden Gate Park. (If you’re there, you can visit the de Young’s sculpture garden for free, since it’s considered part of the publically-accessible museum cafe.)
The Giant Diaper Pin does have a real name: I think it’s Corridor Pin, 1999. But to me, and everyone else I know, it’s the Giant Diaper Pin because that’s exactly what it looks like.