SFMOMA Enriches Collection with Modern and Contemporary Masterpieces
Unveiling a Curatorial Vision: Expanding the Horizons of Art
Significant Purchases Bolster Museum's Holdings
Between January and June 2026, SFMOMA made over 90 purchases of modern and contemporary artworks. These acquisitions span various mediums, including innovative video installations by artists like Stephanie Comilang, Simon Speiser, Ana Mendieta, and Agniezka Polska. The museum also secured compelling works on paper by Arakawa + Gins and Orlando Smith. Sculpture and mixed-media pieces by celebrated artists such as Betye Saar, Kishio Suga, Rose B. Simpson, and Elaine Cameron-Weir were added, alongside intricate basketry by Jeremy Frey and distinctive objects from architects Frida Escobedo, Bijoy Jain, and Architensions (Alessandro Orsini and Nick Roseboro).
Enhancing the Photography Collection and Bay Area Art
SFMOMA's photography collection saw notable additions with works by Lynn Hershman Leeson, Justine Kurland, Danny Lyon, Joseph Rodriguez, and Malick Sidibé. Furthermore, the museum strengthened its representation of Bay Area art, acquiring pieces by painters Bernice Bing, Joan Brown, and David Huffman, photographer Jim Goldberg, and sculptor and painter Adaline Kent.
Generous Gifts Broaden Artistic Scope
Beyond its purchases, SFMOMA was the recipient of more than 250 art gifts. This impressive collection of donations included paintings and works on paper by esteemed artists such as Jennifer Bartlett, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Richard Diebenkorn, Nicole Eisenman, Peter Hujar, Ellsworth Kelly, Maria Lassnig, An-My Lê, Charles Moore, Yasumasa Morimura, Yoshitomo Nara, Martin Puryear, and Kunié Sugiura, among many others.
Director's Vision: Celebrating Diversity and Strategic Collecting
Christopher Bedford, SFMOMA's director, emphasized the museum's commitment to diversity and strategic collecting. He stated that the new acquisitions feature a mix of renowned and underrepresented artists, visionaries connected to the local community, and those from across the globe. He highlighted the broad spectrum of experiences, visions, and perspectives reflected in these additions, affirming the institution's dedication to collecting deeply and broadly to illuminate the full range of artistic narratives and breakthroughs.
Featured Acquisitions: A Closer Look at Five Masterpieces
The museum spotlighted five significant works among its recent acquisitions, offering a glimpse into the depth and breadth of its expanded collection. These pieces exemplify the museum's dedication to showcasing pivotal moments and diverse voices in art history.
Bernice Bing's "Velasquez Family No. II": A Fusion of Influences
Bernice Bing (1936–1998), an Asian American artist, is represented by her 1961 painting, Velasquez Family No. II. This piece is part of a series reinterpreting Diego Velázquez's Las Meninas and was created for Bing's first solo exhibition. Bing's work, influenced by her studies with Saburo Hasegawa in Zen Buddhism and traditional calligraphy, emerged from San Francisco's beatnik subculture, primarily in an Abstract Expressionist style. Her early life, spent in an orphanage and with foster families in Oakland, informed her unique artistic perspective.
Betye Saar's "House of Fortune": A Mystical Assemblage
California-based artist Betye Saar (1926–2026), renowned for addressing themes of racism and survival, transitioned from printmaking to assemblages after being inspired by a Joseph Cornell exhibition. Her 1988 installation, House of Fortune, evokes a séance with four chairs arranged around a card table adorned with interconnected handprints, Nordic runes, and Haitian Voudou symbols. Scattered tarot cards and local flora complete this mystical tableau, reflecting Saar's deep engagement with spiritual and magical practices, particularly those of the African diaspora.
Jim Goldberg's "Destiny's Shiny Bracelet": Documenting Marginalized Youth
Photographer Jim Goldberg (b. 1953) contributed Destiny's Shiny Bracelet, a photograph from his seminal project "Raised by Wolves" (1985–1995). This ten-year endeavor, which was exhibited at SFMOMA in 1997, documented the lives of homeless runaway youth in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Goldberg's project empowered its subjects to narrate their own experiences through a combination of photographs, interviews, handwritten notes, drawings, and found objects. Destiny's Shiny Bracelet is one of 24 photographs from this series now part of SFMOMA's collection.
Rose B. Simpson's "Behold": Bridging Tradition and Modernity
Indigenous artist Rose B. Simpson (b. 1983), hailing from Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico, comes from a matriarchal lineage of ceramicists. Her work, which delves into identity, resilience, and ancestral knowledge, creatively blends red clay pottery with modern technology, pushing the boundaries of Pueblo art. SFMOMA acquired her nearly 25-foot-tall cast-bronze sculpture, Behold, along with its original ceramic maquette, preserving the handcrafted essence integral to her artistic practice.
Adaline Kent's "Days of Our Youth": Midcentury Modernism Evolved
Adaline Kent (1900–1957), a pioneer of midcentury modernism, spent most of her life in the Bay Area. Contemporaneous with artists like Ruth Asawa and Isamu Noguchi, Kent was among the few women artists to be represented by New York gallerist Betty Parsons. Born into a family of environmentalists (her parents donated land for Muir Woods National Monument), Kent drew inspiration for her drawings and sculptures from California's High Sierras. By the 1940s, Surrealism began to influence her increasingly abstract work, as evident in the newly acquired Days of Our Youth from 1947.