A New Show at the Oakland Museum Salutes an Artist Everyone Knows but Few Have Heard Of

San Francisco Magazine Erin Feher Maria Del Rio He’s the guy behind The Planet. The heart of the Oakland Museum of California is made of wood. It weighs two tons, measures 13 feet in diameter, and has been sitting in the same spot since before the museum had windows or doors. Kids climb on it. Weary museumgoers sit on it. And almost no visitor passes it without at least running a hand over its polished, knotty hull. The piece is called The Planet, and it was commissioned almost 50 years ago, b...