Before the year is out, the Bay Area has a few more potential showstoppers on the visual arts calendar. 

There’s an unprecedented showing of a Renaissance master, a San Francisco first for an acclaimed photographer and two rarely seen 13th century works from Japan. It’s a season of riches you won’t want to miss. 

‘Wolfgang Tillmans: To Look Without Fear’

This first exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art of the German art photographer is also one of his most extensive to date. The survey show spans the early days of Tillmans’ practice from the 1980s through the present, and includes early technical experiments using photocopiers, subjects including nightlife images and social movements, and portraits and cameraless abstractions. 

Tillmans, 55, worked closely with SFMOMA curator Erin O’Toole on the design of the exhibition. Installations include framed and unframed photographs arranged in constellations that extend from floor to ceiling, magazine pages taped to the wall, video work, and his ongoing project titled the “Truth Study Center,” where images of different “truths” are shown on tables.

1-8 p.m. Thursday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Monday. Nov. 11-March 3. $19-$25. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 151 Third St., S.F. 415-357-4000. www.sfmoma.org

‘The Heart of Zen’

Two masterpieces of the Zen aesthetic leave Japan for the first time in centuries and will be on view in San Francisco. 

The 13th century ink paintings “Persimmons” (widely known as “Six Persimmons”) and “Chestnuts” are attributed to the Chinese artist Muqi and are rarely put on public display. They were painted during the rule of the Song dynasty in China and eventually donated to the Daitokuji Ryokoin Zen temple in Kyoto during the 16th century. 

This rare exhibition was conceived when Ryokoin temple abbot Kobori Geppo visited the Asian Art Museum in 2017 and is meant as a gesture of kindness to the city’s underserved communities.

Due to their delicacy, the pieces will be shown separately during two different periods and be on view together for only three days (Dec. 8-10).

1-8 p.m. Thursday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Monday. “Persimmons” will be on view Nov. 17-Dec. 10. “Chestnuts” will be on view Dec. 8-31. $20 general (includes “Heart of Zen”). Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin St., S.F. www.asianart.org

‘Botticelli Drawings’ 

Dedicated to the drawings of Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli, the exhibition is among the most buzzed-about shows in the museum world. 

Curated by Furio Rinaldi after extensive new research, it investigates the role drawing had in Botticelli’s artistic practice and unveils five newly attributed drawings by the artist. Among them are preparatory drawings for the paintings “The Cestello Annunciation,” “Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist” and “Adoration of the Magi,” both of which will be reunited with their studies. 

Botticelli lived in 15th century Florence when drawing was undergoing major advancements. Even so, he was far ahead of the culture in his experimental drawing techniques. Seeing such a large collection of Botticelli’s drawings together in this first-of-its-kind exhibition promises to take viewers inside his vision, and show the life of his paintings from inspiration to final execution. 

The exhibition will include 60 other paintings and works on paper lent by 39 institutions, which the museum boasts is a once-in-a-lifetime assembly.

9:30 a.m.-5:15 p.m. Tuesdays-Sunday. Nov. 19-Feb. 11. $15-$30. Legion of Honor, Lincoln Park, 100 34th Ave., S.F. 415-750-3600. www.famsf.org

‘Sofía Gallisá Muriente: Celaje (Cloudscape)’

Puerto Rican artist Sofía Gallisá Muriente’s 41-minute video “Celaje (Cloudscape)” uses home movies, sound recordings and footage filmed in post-Hurricane Maria and post-COVID-19 era Puerto Rico to explore the relationship between a confluence of natural disasters to hit the island and its colonial histories and present. 

To emphasize the theme of impermanence and the ravages of tropical climates on the landmarks and documents of history, Muriente degrades some of the installation’s film stock as a visual reminder of that loss. 

11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday. Dec. 6-May 19. Free. Cantor Arts Center, 328 Lomita Drive, Palo Alto. 650-723-4177. www.museum.stanford.edu

‘First Light: Rituals of Glass and Neon Art’

Curated by neon art organization She Bends, the exhibition features artworks in glass, plasma and neon taking the forms of large-scale sculptures and installations that are meant to inspire questions about the scientific processes demonstrated in the work. 

The show is also intended to evoke spiritual questions as viewers ponder the artistry of light at play.

11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday. Dec. 7-April 28. $14-16. Contemporary Jewish Museum, 736 Mission St., S.F. 415-655-7800. www.thecjm.org

Encode/Store/Retrieve

Drawn primarily from materials in the San Jose Museum of Art’s permanent collection, this show engages with ideas of memory and how since the dawn of the Digital Age, humans have been able to create new formats for memory with video, photos and sound recordings.

“Encode/Store/Retrieve” features sculptures, paintings, photographs, installations and works on paper organized into thematic groupings that reference the key processes of cognitive and computer memory. 

Featured artists include Jim Campbell, Enrique Chagoya, Rose B. Simpson and Stephanie Syjuco.

4-9 p.m. Thursday; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Dec. 8-April 21. $12-15. San Jose Museum of Art, 110 S. Market St., San Jose. 408-271-6840. www.sjmusart.org

‘Lishan Az: Eugene’s Cove’

Multidisciplinary artist and educator Lishan Az, who was named one of the Museum of African Diaspora’s emerging artists of 2023-24, plans to create an immersive installation inspired by historic events. 

In 1919 on the South Side of Chicago, 17-year old Eugene Williams was killed by a white gang after he accidentally floated across the color line at a segregated beach. “Eugene’s Cove” uses photography, sound and video to create a response to those events drawing on both mythology and the relationships the artist sees between Black individuals and the water.

11 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Dec. 13-March 3. $6-12. Museum of the African Diaspora, 685 Mission St., S.F. 415-358-7200. www.moadsf.org

‘Matrix 283 / Gabriel Chaile: No hay nada que destruya el corazón como la pobreza’

South American artist Gabriel Chaile is known for creating anthropomorphic clay sculptures that engage with forms, rituals and traditions of precolonial cultures in his native northwestern Argentina. 

Raised in the cultural melting pot of San Miguel de Tucuman, known for its meld of Spanish, Afro-Arab and Indigenous traditions, he intertwines mythologies from his upbringing with contemporary social references, creating a commentary that combines modern and ancient aesthetics. 

Chaile’s larger-than-life forms are meant to invoke history, and some also serve practical functions as massive earthen ovens he has cooked with to feed communities. 

11 a.m.-7 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday. Dec. 13-April 14. $10-14. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2155 Center St., Berkeley. 510-642-0808. https://bampfa.org

Reach Tony Bravo: [email protected]