1966 "The Current Moment in Art"

The Current Moment in Art Symposium, Roy Lichtenstein in foreground; in the Library

In 1966 SFAI sponsored a three-day symposium, The Current Moment in Art, which brought together artists, curators, critics and collectors, including Walter Hopps, Larry Rivers, Peter Selz, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, Wayne Thiebaud, and Mrs. Bagley Wright and many more. The symposium was accompanied by two exhibitions, Six from the West (which showcased the work of Joe Goode, Charles Mattox, David Simpson, Hassel Smith, Wayne Thiebaud, and Peter Voulkos) and Six from the East (featuring Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Ray Parker, Larry Poons, Larry Rivers, and Frank Stella).

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.

Jose Clemente Orozco, alumni, Studies at the School 1917-1919

Between 1917 and 1919, during WWI, Jose Clemente Orozco spent two “formative years” in San Francisco, enrolling at the School and being influenced by a faculty that included Mexican ex-pat, Xavier Martinez, as well as Spencer Macky, Gottardo Piazzoni, Ralph Stackpole, and Maynard Dixon.  His address, listed here as 628 Montgomery was in the Monkey Block Building at the foot of Columbus Street and which had studios of legions of fascinating artists including Stackpole and Bennie Bufano, as well as being close to the Bohemian culture of SF at the time including one of their main hangouts, Coppa’s restaurant. Painting faculty member Spencer Macky later recalled that Orozco “was in my classes for drawing for two years as a young man….he came up as a refugee. He’d been in a revolution down there and lost one of his arms; his right arm, I think, [looks like his right arm is intact in this photo attributed to Edward Weston] and he could work with his left. An amazing clever person. And I taught him drawing…” from John Crosse, “Southern California Architectural History.” https://socalarchhistory.blogspot.com/2017/03/orozco-in-san-francisco-1917.html

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.

1967 David McMillan & Surrealism

The 1967 Lecture Series, organized by David McMillan, included this Jan. 12th presentation by McMillan on “The Surrealist Movement:  The Hippies, Yippies and Quakers.” The second half of the lecture was on “Hallucinatory Drugs” with a person named just “Lomand….returning to discuss” the history of drugs “in ancient as well as present day religious or tribal ceremonies”  and finished with a “discussion of mind-expanding drugs.” David McMillan was a key ingredient to SFAI Public Programs and the McMillan Conference Room was named for him in the 1980s.

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.