So, this was my very first time actually coming to the Legion of Honors, and besides seeing the exhibit I originally intended to see, I was also lucky enough to browse the whole museum itself. The factor that struck me the most was watching the painting styles themselves change from room to room, especially the changes from traditional painting styles to impressionist's styles. This was really notable in "The Russian Bride's Attire" by Makovsky. Though most of the painting itself still upheld the traditional, conservative styles of the time period, my mother pointed out the start of more abstract brush movement on the corners on said painting, and how the textures on it were becoming less structured and more free.
Now onto the main exhibit, which was a thing about Edo Period books. Now, I personally love Japanese culture and art, but have only really studied the Sengoku Period and the Meiji Restoration. The Edo Period was between these two periods, and was two and a half centuries of isolation for Japan. I found this really cool, since the art itself didn't have any influences from western culture, which was a new concept. The art itself was such a change from all other work at the time, and used much different tools and mediums than other cultures did. A lot of the art used haikus and looked like children's books, while others were more R-rated, which was a bit awkward.
All in all though, I loved the exhibit and thought the whole museum itself was super cool.
Link to exhibit:
http://legionofhonor.famsf.org/legion/exhibitions/reading-floating-world-japanese-ukiyo-e-books-collection-arthur-tress
