Latest news with #SanFranciscoMuseumofModernArt
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide wins Spain's Princess of Asturias Prize for the Arts
MADRID -- Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide was awarded Spain's 2025 Princess of Asturias Prize for the Arts for her images that for decades have captured "the social reality not only of Mexico, but also of many places,' prize organizers said Friday. Iturbide became famous internationally for her sparse, cinematic and mostly black-and-white photographs of Indigenous societies in Mexico, with a particular focus on the role of women in them. In 'Our Lady of the Iguanas,' one of Iturbide's best-known images published in 1979, an Indigenous Zapotec woman in southern Mexico carries live iguanas on her head that form the shape of a crown. The award's jury said that Iturbide's photographs have 'a documentary facet' that show 'a hypnotic world that seems to lie on the threshold between reality at its harshest and the grace of spontaneous magic.' Iturbide's work has been displayed in the world's leading art institutions, including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and many more. Her work has been published in numerous books. The photographer, born in Mexico City in 1942, traveled throughout Latin America during her career, but also to India, Madagascar, Hungary, Germany, France the United States and elsewhere. The 50,000-euro ($57,000) Princess of Asturias Award is one of several annual prizes covering areas, including arts, literature, science and sports. The awards ceremony, presided over by Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, and accompanied by Princess Leonor, takes place each fall in the northern Spanish city of Oviedo.
Tatler Asia
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Tatler Asia
The first Art Basel Awards recognise 5 Asian artists
Five Asians are recognised this year: Uzbek filmmaker Saodat Ismailova in the Emerging Artist category for reviving the spiritual memory of Central Asia through women's stories; Berlin-based Chinese artist Pan Daijing in the Emerging Artist category for blending sound, performance and installation to explore narrative and perception; Chinese film pioneer Cao Fei in the Established Artist category for capturing the surreal contradictions of modern life in China; Singaporean filmmaker Ho Tzu Nyen in the Established Artist category for his immersive multimedia installations; London-based Indian curator and Head of Visual Arts at the Barbican Shanay Jhaveri in the Curator category; and Korean American curator Eungie Joo, who has headed a number of major arts institutions including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and New Museum in New York, in the Curator category. The winners will have access to Art Basel's global network, tailored mentorship, partnership opportunities and bespoke support designed to amplify their work on an international scale. For the gold medallists, who will be awarded in Miami in December, the Art Basel Awards will offer further art showcases, commissions and mentorship opportunities.
San Francisco Chronicle
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Ruth Asawa inspired S.F. with her art, but can she help me understand myself?
Earlier this month, I stood in front of the redwood doors of Ruth Asawa 's house and realized I loved her — as much as I could love someone I'd never met. The doors led nowhere, standing off their hinges in a white-walled gallery at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's new retrospective of the late Bay Area artist's work. But examining the circular hollows she'd carved by hand into the doors, I realized I'd been looking for her my whole life so that I could ask her a question. Like the underground creeks that run through my Oakland neighborhood, Ruth has been my constant, unseen companion. Her art backdropped my most tender memories. Drinking tea with my grandmother at our favorite garden in Golden Gate Park while Ruth was there as a bronze plaque molded to a stone. Sketching taxidermied predators at a natural history exhibit in Oakland as Ruth took the form of a wire sculpture on the wall. Waiting for my high school best friend on the Embarcadero on the weekends with Ruth standing by as an origami-esque circle of folded steel. I told all of this to Ruth's youngest daughter, Addie Lanier, in the back corner of a San Francisco cafe, that Ruth had been like a shadow attached at my ankle since childhood. 'That's appropriate that she was a shadow in your life,' said Addie, 66. 'She said, 'The shadow reveals the form' of her work because the shadow shows you there's all these layers inside.' But it wasn't until last winter, when I saw a photo at the Oakland Museum, that I realized who cast that shadow. The image haunted me for months: A butt-naked baby sat in the foreground, two woven sculptures hanging above him like gourds, while three other children busied themselves with their own tasks. In the background, face and body partly obscured by the sculptures, was a woman. She leaned forward, elbows propped on her knees and a spool of wire by her sneakers. 'Ruth Asawa and Children,' read the description. It was the most beautiful photograph I'd ever seen. And it also made me feel a bit nauseous, which happens when I've forgotten something important like my passport or to call my dad on his birthday. Only the something I'd forgotten was Ruth — her name embedded deep in my conscience alongside memories of wandering around the library after school and listening to the local radio station from my car seat with acorns in my pockets. On the internet, I finally saw Ruth's face. In black and white, her dark hair and broad cheekbones reminded me of the photos of my great-grandparents after they, and other Japanese and Japanese American citizens, were shipped out of California and incarcerated in Arkansas during World War II. Her face reformed in my mind as I boarded a plane to our shared ancestral homeland of Japan. While reading her biography, 'Everything She Touched: The Life of Ruth Asawa,' during the 12-hour flight, I learned that we both shared a love for matzo ball soup, the children's book 'Make Way for Ducklings' and Zen Buddhism. We each cut our college classmates' hair and studied watercolor. Ruth was also incarcerated at a WWII prison camp in Arkansas and later moved to San Francisco in 1949. I sat in my favorite cafe in Kyoto with an egg yolk over a bowl of rice while the Ruth in the book made rhubarb cake for her Bay Area community, carved her own doors from redwood trunks, organized funding for public arts programming and voiced her solidarity with Muslims after 9/11. Critics exotified her as 'oriental' and domesticated her as a 'housewife and mother.' The public speculated on the deeper meaning of her work. But Ruth seemed to pay no attention to any of it, never offering an explanation. She kept weaving, and mothering. 'Ruth was no fan of any labels — female, Asian, modern — preferring to stand on her own, as an individual 'minority of one,' her biographer wrote. She was fiercely unbothered, titling most of her sculptural works 'Untitled.' I, meanwhile, on the verge of turning 26 while reading about her, was having an identity crisis. What kind of writer am I? An Asian American writer? A writer who sometimes writes about Asian America? Should I also be an artist? Should I be a parent? Should I move to Japan? I quietly panicked on the train to Osaka, where Ruth has a sculpture mounted to a wall at the National Museum of Art. The bundle of wires that fanned out at its edges like a cross-section of a dandelion was immediately familiar. There's one just like it at the entrance of the Oakland Museum that, as a kid, I'd imagined as the symbol of my home city for all its tree-like bifurcations. But this time I saw its shadow, too, which blurred its frayed edges beyond definition. Back at SFMOMA, I sat in a recreation of Ruth's Noe Valley living room that faced a photo of her real living room like a mirror. Woven sculptures hung from the museum ceiling in the same orientation she'd once arranged them in. A week later I told Addie about my identity crisis, that I didn't know who I should be. 'My mom didn't really talk about identity,' she said. 'To her, identity was what you do, how you live.' I imagined Ruth sitting there on the floor, surrounded by spools of wire but also her friends and family. I saw myself, too, writing on my green rug, surrounded by the people I love. When Ruth was granted permission to leave the Arkansas prison camp and attend college, Ruth's mother bowed to her, Addie said, and told Ruth who she should be. 'Be lucky,' she said. I didn't fully understand what she meant and neither did Addie, who shrugged. But I felt myself taking this to heart, like a cell accepting a much needed nutrient. I asked, and Ruth answered.
San Francisco Chronicle
08-05-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
SFMOMA employees say leadership is avoiding them after sudden layoffs
A scheduled in-person meeting between leadership at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and its staff to address recent layoffs was canceled, according to the museum workers' union. 'Here's a visual representation of the Museum's current accountability for their decisions to layoff union staff,' read a caption for a photo of an empty conference room posted to Instagram by the SFMOMA Union on Wednesday, April 7. It concluded with a message of protest: 'Cut from the Top. No Layoffs.' SFMOMA confirmed with the Chronicle that the meeting scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Thursday, May 8, was held online and concluded before 10 a.m. A museum spokesperson added that the executive team, including Director Christopher Bedford, would make themselves available for in-person office hours to meet directly with staff. The last-minute cancellation of the in-person staff meeting came a day after the museum's announcement that it laid off 29 employees, or about 7.5% of its total workforce, including more than two dozen union members. Thirteen additional positions, either vacant or soon-to-be, were also eliminated. According to the union, 26 members were dismissed 'with no notice.' In response, union leaders called on staff to wear black and protest during the originally scheduled in-person meeting. The museum said that 'enhanced' severance packages were provided to union employees. In a letter to the community, Bedford called the layoffs 'difficult' but necessary, citing persistent declines in attendance and broader financial challenges. 'We continue to grapple with some hard realities,' Bedford wrote, noting that the museum is adapting to a 'new normal' of approximately 600,000 annual visitors — a substantial decline from the 892,000 reported in 2019. The move follows a previous round of cuts in November 2023, when SFMOMA eliminated 20 positions in response to a 35% drop in attendance since before the pandemic.
San Francisco Chronicle
08-05-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
‘No notice': Union slams SFMOMA's surprise layoffs as museum cites financial strain
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art laid off 29 employees, sparking sharp backlash from workers and their representatives. The layoffs, announced Wednesday, May 7, constitute about 7.5% of SFMOMA's workforce and include more than two dozen union members. 'SFMOMA is laying off 26 union members today with no notice,' the union said. It called on staff to wear black and protest at a scheduled all-staff meeting scheduled for Thursday, May 8, urging the museum to 'CUT FROM THE TOP' instead of front-line workers. SFMOMA Director Christopher Bedford acknowledged the job cuts in a letter to the community, describing the decision as 'difficult' but necessary. 'We continue to grapple with some hard realities,' Bedford wrote, citing persistent declines in attendance and broader financial challenges. He said the museum is adapting to a 'new normal' of roughly 600,000 annual visitors, down from pre-pandemic levels (SFMOMA counted 892,000 visitors in 2019), and must scale back accordingly. The reduction in staff affected union and non-union employees, and included 20 full-time and nine part-time roles. Thirteen vacant or soon-to-be-vacant positions were also eliminated. The museum noted that 'enhanced' severance packages were offered to union employees. In November 2023, SFMOMA cut 20 positions, citing a 35% drop in attendance since 2019. Despite popular recent exhibitions, including shows by Yayoi Kusama and Ruth Asawa, and its annual Art Bash fundraiser generating more than $2 million in April, Bedford emphasized that tourism and foot traffic downtown remain sluggish. He said that museum leaders are exploring new revenue streams and hoping to grow philanthropic support. 'As these efforts take root, we must continue to be vigilant about our budget and make critical decisions to reduce costs and scale the institution in alignment with our current context,' Bedford said. 'Those reductions, unfortunately, include expenses both unrelated and related to our staff.' The union's bargaining team met Wednesday afternoon to demand answers, saying it will 'begin our fight back on these unjustified layoffs.'
