1952 Aperture Magazine Minor White SFAI

Minor White, one of the founders of SFAI’s Photography Department was also the first editor of Aperture magazine which started at the School in 1952.  The early photo essays in Aperture included class projects as well as individual work by students like Benjamen Chinn and Charles Wong, plus faculty. In 1956 Minor wrote of his “Unique Experience in Teaching Photography” at SFAI for  Aperture where he described the School’s program as being a “fabulous experiment” because of the nature of San Francisco: “cosmopolitan, dramatic, western, and full of verve,” BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY the “quality of the students. Minor thought it essentially a program “in photography at the graduate level” where he learned along with the students, how “to see with the eyes of a poet.”

With permission, SFAA is re-posting the emails Jeff Gunderson Librarian/Archivist Anne Bremer Memorial Library has been sending out since March 2020. Please enjoy this magnificent archive.

1982 Commencement, Jay DeFeo, Jack Fulton

Jay DeFeo (photo by Jack Fulton) relaxes at the pond after receiving a 1982 Honorary Doctorate from SFAI,  while long time Photo Department Faculty member, Jack Fulton, addresses the crowd and makes a toast to Jay at the post-Commencement champagne reception.

With permission, SFAA is re-posting the emails Jeff Gunderson Librarian/Archivist Anne Bremer Memorial Library has been sending out since March 2020. Please enjoy this magnificent archive.

2017 Geoffrey Farmer, the Courtyard, Library, "Howl," and Venice

Geoffrey Farmer, (studied 1991), replicated the SFAI courtyard fountain as part of his installation  The Way Out of the Mirror for the Canadian Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale: “I was holding a copy of Howl, the epic poem by Allen Ginsberg….I was in my studio reading about the San Francisco Art Institute students who had organized Ginsberg’s first reading of Howl on 7 October 1955. I had been an SFAI student myself in 1991. I was 24 years old and I heard Ginsberg sing Father Death Blues, which rattled me. It was also when I first learned about the Venice Biennale. I discovered a copy of a 1970 artscanada magazine about Michael Snow in the School’s library. I somehow thought that if I went back to that moment of discovery I might find something. I found Allen Ginsberg and the memory of a poem he recited.” [thank you Tanya Zimbardo for this!]

With permission, SFAA is re-posting the emails Jeff Gunderson Librarian/Archivist Anne Bremer Memorial Library has been sending out since March 2020. Please enjoy this magnificent archive.