News
- SFMOMA Selects Snøhetta to Work with Museum on Expansion (July 22, 2010)
- SFMOMA Announces Finalists for Design of Expansion (May 11, 2010)
- Fire Station Relocation Project (May 11, 2010)
- SFMOMA Raises $250 Million for Expansion and Endowment (February 4, 2010)
- A Tribute to Donald Fisher (September 28, 2009)
- Fisher Collection Comes to SFMOMA (September 25, 2009)
SFMOMA Selects Snøhetta to Work with Museum on Design of Expansion
Architecture Firm Joins Team to Expand and Enhance Museum Facilities and Visitor Experience
July 22, 2010
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| Snøhetta principals Craig Dykers (left) and Kjetil Thorsen; photos: Trond Fjørtoft; © Snøhetta |
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| Snøhetta, National Opera and Ballet, Oslo, 2007; photo: Jens Passoth; © Snøhetta |
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| Snøhetta, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt, 2001; photo: James Willis; © Snøhetta |
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| Snøhetta, National September 11 Memorial Museum Pavilion at the World Trade Center site, New York (rendering), due to be completed in 2011; image: Squared Design Lab, courtesy Snøhetta; © Snøhetta |
SFMOMA has selected the architecture firm Snøhetta to be its partner in developing an expansion that enhances the museum's services to the community and its educational, social, and economic role in the city. The decision follows a comprehensive international search and two-year planning process to address the enormous growth of SFMOMA's collections and of audience demand for programming since the museum's move to its current building in 1995. Initial design concepts for the project — Snøhetta's first building on the West Coast of the United States — will be unveiled in the spring of 2011. The current project budget of $480 million includes $250 million for the expansion and $230 million for SFMOMA's endowment to ensure the museum's long-term success.
In a special meeting yesterday, SFMOMA's Board of Trustees enthusiastically welcomed the architect selection committee's recommendation of Snøhetta from among the four short-listed firms announced in May. In addition to Snøhetta, the finalists were Adjaye Associates, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Foster + Partners. Snøhetta will partner with a local architectural firm to execute the expansion and will join SFMOMA's project team after a contract is completed, pending the Board of Trustees' official ratification of the selection at its September board meeting.
"The distinction and preeminence of all four candidates made this an exceptionally tough decision," said SFMOMA Director Neal Benezra. "Yet Snøhetta's dynamic and imaginative body of work demonstrates an outstanding commitment to innovation combined with a solid track record of unique, timely, and fiscally responsible approaches to complex civic and cultural projects. The selection committee was particularly thrilled by the stunning spaces, sophisticated use of materials, and quality of light in Snøhetta's Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo, which we feel is one of the great buildings worldwide to be designed and built in the last decade."
The decision was based on the firm's design philosophy and inspired response to the needs and goals of SFMOMA and the Bay Area community. Snøhetta's sensibility is rooted in a collaborative working style, visionary concept, and environmental sustainability. The firm is committed to designing an expansion and renovations to the existing facility that are both progressive and complementary to the current building.
"Snøhetta's ability to create original cultural buildings that deliver great art experiences makes them a perfect partner for SFMOMA as we work toward our goals for the new space," said Charles Schwab, chairman of the museum's Board of Trustees. "This project will be an economic stimulus for the city and region, bringing new jobs, fueling the creative economy, and boosting tourism. I am confident that Snøhetta's fresh approach and global mindset will help SFMOMA realize a facility that represents the museum's enduring commitment to the future, to bringing the creative ethos of the Bay Area to the world, and to attracting the most exciting art from around the world to the Bay Area."
Formed in 1989 and led by principals Craig Dykers and Kjetil Thorsen, Snøhetta is an award-winning international architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design firm based in Oslo, Norway, and New York City. As of 2010, the firm, which is named after one of Norway's highest mountain peaks, has approximately 100 staff members working on projects in Europe, Asia, and the United States. The practice is centered on a transdisciplinary approach where multiple professions work together to explore differing perspectives on the conditions for each project. A respect for diverse backgrounds and cultures is a key feature of the practice; reflecting this value, Snøhetta is composed of designers and professionals from around the world.
The firm has completed a number of critically acclaimed cultural projects, including the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt, which includes several museums; the new National Opera and Ballet in Oslo, Norway; and the Lillehammer Art Museum, built for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway. Current projects include the National September 11 Memorial Museum Pavilion at the World Trade Center site, New York; the Wolfe Center for the Arts at Bowling Green State University, Ohio; the Hunt Library and Institute for Emerging Issues, Raleigh, North Carolina; the Mutrah Fish Market in Muscat, Oman; the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; and the new Student Learning Center at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. Snøhetta was also recently commissioned to reconstruct the public spaces in and around New York City's Times Square. In 2004 the company received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, and in 2009 it was honored with the Mies van der Rohe Award. Snøhetta is the only company to have twice won the World Architecture Award for best cultural building, in 2002 for the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and in 2008 for the National Opera and Ballet in Oslo. (See more images of Snøhetta's recent work on our blog.)
"SFMOMA's extension is the natural next step in its evolution, from the museum's origins in a shared building in San Francisco's Civic Center, to its distinctive Mario Botta-designed structure on Third Street," states Mr. Dykers. "Today, after 15 years of institutional and programmatic growth, SFMOMA is poised to grow organically and in an entirely different environment and context than when the current building opened in 1995. The new extension will unite the Botta design with its dynamic urban surroundings. It will become the tissue that merges building and community, supports the museum's role as an educational and civic catalyst, and opens up the museum to the diverse audiences it serves."
Snøhetta's practice has been described as an "architecture of engagement" that imagines buildings as social and environmental gestures or events rather than static structures. They have worked closely with acclaimed contemporary artists on a range of site-specific projects, collaborating with Olafur Eliasson on the 2007 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion and with Pae White on interior aspects of Oslo's National Opera and Ballet.
Snøhetta will work as part of a collaborative team to create additional gallery space and interior enhancements in the museum's Third Street building and an extension on Howard Street to the south, which will connect to the back of the existing museum along the southern facade. SFMOMA owns the site at 670 Howard Street and, thanks to an innovative partnership with the city of San Francisco that will boost both public safety and the arts, SFMOMA's development will also include a neighboring site currently occupied by a fire station. SFMOMA will finance the construction of a new, replacement fire station on nearby Folsom Street, representing a gift to the city of more than $10 million.
About the Selection Process
SFMOMA formed an architect selection committee last fall and engaged David Meckel, FAIA, director of research and planning at California College of the Arts, to serve as a resource in the process. In addition to Mr. Benezra and Mr. Schwab, the selection committee is composed of civic leaders and museum trustees with expertise in the realms of community service, art collecting, philanthropy, and real estate development: Gerson Bakar, Robert Fisher, Mimi Haas, Helen Schwab, Bill Wilson, and Robin Wright. The committee was also assisted by SFMOMA Deputy Director Ruth Berson.
The architect selection committee began by examining the work of some 35 firms last winter, and in May 2010 the museum announced a short list of four firms who were invited to present ideas on how they would approach the project and meet SFMOMA's goals. During the months of June and July, the search committee traveled to the four firms' offices and visited relevant buildings to better understand how each practice might contribute to SFMOMA's vision of creating an inspiring place for visitors to engage with modern and contemporary art. After thorough consideration, the search committee presented its history-making recommendation to the SFMOMA Board of Trustees in a special conference call on Wednesday, July 21.
About the Expansion
SFMOMA first announced plans to expand in April 2009. In September, the museum announced that the Fisher family would share its renowned collection of contemporary art with the public at SFMOMA. This past February, the museum announced challenge pledges totaling more than $250 million toward its projected $480 million campaign goal. This early challenge grant from museum leadership includes $100 million for the endowment—increasing it by 100 percent.
As part of the expansion planning process, SFMOMA worked with the management consulting firm Bain & Company late last year to complete a comprehensive business plan determining the operating expenses and related revenue and endowment requirements necessary to sustain an expanded program and facility.
SFMOMA's current building is 225,000 square feet with nearly 65,000 square feet of galleries, including the 14,400-square-foot Rooftop Garden. The expansion will provide approximately 100,000 square feet of additional gallery and public space, greatly enhancing and expanding both the presentation of art in all areas of its collections and its educational programs.
The expansion will also include approximately 60,000 square feet of support space, including larger and more advanced conservation facilities and an expanded library. SFMOMA plans to relocate administrative support space into the new facility, providing new gallery and public space in its original building, while consolidating all staff offices in one on-site location. In addition, the expansion may include a new entry on Minna Street (which runs along the museum's northern facade) to improve access for school groups and for visitors to public programs in the museum's Phyllis Wattis Theater.
SFMOMA last completed a major expansion in 1995, when it moved from the small rented space in the War Memorial Building across from San Francisco's City Hall into the celebrated brick-front building on Third Street. The move catalyzed incredible growth in the museum's audiences, educational programs, exhibitions, and collections. During the past 15 years, SFMOMA's annual average attendance has more than tripled to 700,000, membership has grown to 40,000, and the collection has more than doubled to 27,000 works. SFMOMA has also developed one of strongest exhibition programs in the world, organizing groundbreaking shows that travel to leading museums internationally, including recent surveys of the work of Diane Arbus, Olafur Eliasson, Eva Hesse, Frida Kahlo, William Kentridge, Sol LeWitt, Richard Tuttle, and Jeff Wall.
Today, SFMOMA is expanding to accommodate the growth of the past 15 years and to enhance its offerings for growing local audience and visitors from around the world. The expansion also provides great potential for continued future growth of the museum's permanent collection. The Fisher Collection will be on display in the expansion alongside works from SFMOMA's collection. The Fisher Collection will also become an integral part of SFMOMA's exhibitions, educational and public programs, and ongoing scholarship.
SFMOMA Announces Finalists for Design of Expansion
May 11, 2010
SFMOMA has selected Adjaye Associates, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Foster + Partners, and Snøhetta as finalists following a comprehensive international search for an architectural firm to partner with the museum to expand and improve its current facilities.
Firm Profiles
To see photos of past projects by each of the finalists, visit our blog.
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| David Adjaye, Adjaye Associates; photo: Ed Reeves |
Adjaye Associates, London
David Adjaye is recognized as one of the leading architects of his generation in the U.K. Adjaye formed a partnership in 1994 and quickly developed a reputation as an architect with an artist's sensibility and vision. His use of materials, bespoke design, and ability to sculpt and showcase light have engendered high regard from both the architectural community and the wider public. His projects have been diverse in scale, audience, and geography, and have ranged from collaborations with artists including Chris Ofili and Olafur Eliasson to exhibition design and temporary pavilions, as well as private homes. More recently, he has completed major arts centers and important public buildings that demonstrate his considered approach to understanding the needs of the constituency served by each building and a respect for integration with their existing locale.
His current projects include the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC; a cultural center for the city of Lisbon; and the rebuilding of the old city of Doha, Qatar. Recently completed projects include The Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, his first public building in the U.S.; Idea Store Whitechapel, London; the Nobel Peace Center, Oslo; and the Bernie Grant Arts Center, London. The first Louis Khan visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Adjaye has also served as the Kenzo Tange Professor in Architecture at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. Adjaye is currently visiting professor at Princeton University and the Barcelona Institute of Architecture.
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| Left to right, Charles Renfro, Ricardo Scofidio, Elizabeth Diller, Diller Scofidio + Renfro |
Diller Scofidio + Renfro, New York
http://www.dillerscofidio.com/
Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) integrates architecture, the visual arts, and the performing arts. The interdisciplinary design studio was founded in New York City by Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio; Charles Renfro was made a partner in 2004. Diller and Scofidio are recipients of the MacArthur Foundation "genius" award, which recognized their commitment to integrating architecture with issues of contemporary culture. They were recently made fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects and were inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008. For their contribution to art and design, Diller and Scofidio were named among TIME magazine's hundred most influential people of 2009.
DS+R recently completed the redesign of Alice Tully Hall and the renovation and expansion of The Juilliard School, both part of the firm's ongoing work for Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Phase 1 construction of the High Line, an urban park situated on an obsolete elevated railway stretching 1.5 miles long through New York City, was completed in 2009; phase 2 is currently underway. In 2006 DS+R completed the Institute of Contemporary Art, the first new museum to be built in Boston in a hundred years. Blur Building, a pavilion of fog and mist commissioned by the Swiss Expo, was completed in 2002. The Guardian named Blur as one of the top 10 buildings of the decade, while The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The New Yorker named Alice Tully Hall and the High Line among the most culturally significant projects of last year. In 2003 the Whitney Museum of American Art held a retrospective of the studio's work, recognizing the firm's unorthodox practice.
DS+R is currently working with SFMOMA on the exhibition How Wine Became Modern: Design + Wine, 1976 to Now on view November 20, 2010, to April 17, 2011.
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| Norman Foster, Foster + Partners; photo: Croci and Du Fresne |
Foster + Partners, London
http://www.fosterandpartners.com/
Founded by architect Norman Foster, Foster + Partners is an international practice based in London with project offices in more than 20 countries. The firm is known for its work on such projects as the Great Court of the British Museum in London, Beijing International Airport (the largest building in the world), the new German Parliament, the Reichstag in Berlin, and the new Hearst Headquarters in New York, the city's first Gold LEED®–certified commercial tower. Other cultural projects include the competition-winning design for the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC; Winspear Opera House, Dallas; the Sackler Galleries at the Royal Academy of Arts, London; the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts; the Musée Carré d'Art, Nîmes; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston expansion.
Foster + Partners has received 560 awards and citations for architectural excellence and has won more than 100 international and national competitions. Lord Foster has been the recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize (1999), the Praemium Imperiale Award for Architecture (2002), the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal for Architecture (1991), and the Royal Institute of British Architects Royal Gold Medal (1983), among many other honors. In 1990 he was granted a Knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours and in 1999 was honored with a Life Peerage, becoming Lord Foster of Thames Bank.
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| Snøhetta principals Craig Dykers and Kjetil Thorsen; photo courtesy Snøhetta |
Snøhetta, Oslo
Snøhetta is an international architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design firm based in Oslo, Norway, and New York City. The practice is centered on a transdisciplinary approach where multiple professions work together to explore differing perspectives on the conditions for each project undertaken. A respect for diverse backgrounds and cultures is a key feature of the practice; reflecting this value, Snøhetta is composed of designers and staff from around the world.
The company has completed some of the world's most recognized cultural projects, including the revival of the Great Library of Alexandria in Egypt, which includes several museums; the new National Opera, Oslo, Norway; the Lillehammer Art Museum, built for the Winter Olympics in Norway; and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center site, New York (currently under construction). Current projects include the Wolfe Center for the Arts at Bowling Green State University, Ohio; the Hunt Library and Institute for Emerging Issues, North Carolina; and the Mutrah Fish Market in Muscat. In 2004 the company received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, and in 2009 it was honored with the Mies van der Rohe Award. Snøhetta is the only company to have twice won the World Architecture Award for best cultural building (2005 and 2009).
Fire Station Relocation Project
May 11, 2010
The City of San Francisco and SFMOMA are collaborating to finalize an agreement for the exchange of the existing fire station site on Howard Street for a new fire station to be constructed nearby at 935 Folsom Street, between Fifth and Sixth Streets. The agreement allows SFMOMA to proceed with the expansion while providing area residents with a superior fire station to replace the Howard Street station.
SFMOMA successfully completed the purchase of land for the new fire station on March 30, 2010. Subject to City approvals, SFMOMA will fund, design, and construct a new station in accordance with current building codes for essential facilities. In return, the city has agreed to deed to the SFMOMA the existing Fire Station No. 1 and a portion of Hunt Alley directly behind the station. SFMOMA's support for the new fire station represents a gift to the city valued at more than $10 million.
"With this gift of support from SFMOMA, our city will gain a new firehouse that will be better located, seismically safe, and better for the firefighters at no taxpayer expense, while also benefitting from an expanded and tenhanced art museum," said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.
The new firehouse will be designed by San Francisco–based architecture firm Gensler. Gensler is a global design and architecture firm headquartered in San Francisco with offices in 33 locations around the world including New York, Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago, Houston, London, Dubai, and Shanghai. Founded by Arthur and Drue Gensler in 1965 with an original focus on corporate interiors, Gensler is widely credited with elevating the practice of interior design to professional standing. Gensler specializes in multiple practices including commercial and government buildings, workplace, retail, airports, hospitality, education, mixed-use and entertainment, planning and urban design, brand strategy, mission-critical facilities, sustainable design consulting, and more.
Gensler projects include the Shanghai Tower, 2000 Avenue of the Stars in Los Angeles, Mineta San Jose International Airport, L.A. Live, Dubai International Finance Center, and a major renovation of Terminal 2 at San Francisco International Airport now underway. Arthur Gensler is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and of the International Interior Design Association, and a professional member of the Royal Institute of British Architects and a former member of SFMOMA's Board of Trustees. He is also a charter member of Interior Design magazine's Hall of Fame and a recipient of IIDA's Star Award.
SFMOMA Raises $250 Million for Expansion and Endowment
Contributions Double SFMOMA's Endowment and Propel Museum Toward $480 Million Goal to Transform the Visitor Experience and Enhance Museum's Role in the Bay Area
February 4, 2010
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| Sam Francis, Middle Blue III, 1959; oil on canvas; 72 x 96 in.; The Doris and Donald Fisher Collection at SFMOMA; © Samuel L. Francis Foundation, California/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Board Chair Charles R. Schwab announced today that the museum has received landmark contributions totaling more than $250 million to expand the museum and grow its endowment. Making up more than half of a projected $480 million campaign goal, these pledges from museum leadership will fuel SFMOMA's plans to triple its gallery and public spaces; offer enhanced exhibitions, educational programs, and services for the public; and showcase the Fisher Collection, one the world’s finest private collections of modern and contemporary art. Of the total raised to date, $100 million will go toward SFMOMA's endowment — increasing it by 100 percent — to support expanded programming and operations and to ensure the institution's long-term success. These early commitments, which will enable the museum to move forward confidently with its expansion, are structured as challenge grants in order to catalyze support from other funders.
SFMOMA Director Neal Benezra also announced that the museum has extended its groundbreaking agreement with the family of Doris and the late Donald Fisher to house their unparalleled art collection from a 25-year loan to a period of one hundred years, which will be renewable thereafter. The Fisher Collection will be on display in a new wing that will be built as part of the museum's expansion. Select works from SFMOMA's collection will also be presented in the new wing and works from the Fisher Collection will be interwoven throughout the museum. The Fisher Collection will also become an integral part of SFMOMA's exhibitions, educational and public programs, and ongoing scholarship. A major exhibition drawn from the 1,100 works in the Fisher Collection, with masterworks by Alexander Calder, Chuck Close, Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Gerhard Richter, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, and many others, will be presented at SFMOMA from June 25 through September 19, 2010.
Benezra also announced that SFMOMA is launching an international search to select an architect to design the expansion. The museum will invite a select group of firms to submit proposals and anticipates choosing an architect in fall 2010. The projected completion date for the expansion is 2016.
"As we mark the museum’s 75th anniversary, this transformative expansion and the addition of the Fisher Collection will dramatically increase SFMOMA's educational, economic, and cultural role in San Francisco — a city celebrated worldwide as a hub for innovation and creativity," said Schwab. "These pivotal contributions give us great momentum to galvanize others in support of a project that will strengthen one of the Bay Area's greatest public resources. I am confident that this early show of support will inspire SFMOMA trustees and friends to meet the challenge of securing SFMOMA's position among the world’s top modern and contemporary art museums."
"San Francisco is where my parents raised their family and opened the first Gap store in 1969, which grew into a business beyond their dreams. They wanted to find a place to share the art collection that they lovingly built together over four decades and were thrilled with this unique partnership opportunity with SFMOMA," said museum Trustee Bob Fisher, son of Doris and Don Fisher. "The entire family is dedicated to the cultural vitality of this city, and we are committed to supporting this important community institution and helping give art lovers around the world a new reason to visit San Francisco."
Said Benezra, "Over eight decades, this museum has grown through the patronage and foresight of individuals dedicated to creating an outstanding museum on the West Coast. This same generosity, vision, and commitment to our educational mission is driving SFMOMA’s growth in the 21st century — enabling us to expand our programs and services to the community, and offer unparalleled opportunities to experience modern and contemporary art."
SFMOMA has worked with the management consulting firm Bain & Company since October to complete a comprehensive business plan to determine the operating expenses and related revenue and endowment requirements necessary to sustain an expanded program and facility. SFMOMA last completed a major expansion in 1995, when it moved from small, retrofitted, rented space in the War Memorial Building across from San Francisco’s City Hall into the celebrated brick-front building on Third Street designed by architect Mario Botta.
The move catalyzed incredible growth in the museum’s audiences, educational programs, exhibitions, and collections. During the past 15 years, SFMOMA's annual average attendance has tripled to approximately 650,000; membership has grown to 40,000; the collection has more than doubled to 27,000 works; family programs have increased five-fold; and teacher-training programs have increased six-fold. SFMOMA has also developed one of strongest exhibition programs in the world, organizing groundbreaking shows that travel to leading museums internationally, including recent surveys of the work of Diane Arbus, Olafur Eliasson, Eva Hesse, Frida Kahlo, William Kentridge, Sol LeWitt, Richard Tuttle, and Jeff Wall.
In moving to its new home, SFMOMA also spurred the transformation of the city's South of Market district, where the museum became the cornerstone of subsequent residential, retail, and cultural development, revitalizing the entire quadrant of the city's downtown. In May 2009 SFMOMA opened a new, $24 million Rooftop Garden that was fully funded upon completion and supported by an endowment for ongoing operations and programming.
Today, SFMOMA is expanding to accommodate the tremendous growth in its audiences, collections, and programs since 1995 and to enhance its offerings for museum visitors. The expansion also provides great potential for continued future growth of the museum's permanent collection.
"Our 1995 expansion provided SFMOMA with a landmark building that literally put the museum on the map and signaled our mission and ambition to the public," said Benezra. "Our next expansion will create the facilities needed to accommodate the institutional growth we have achieved during the past 15 years and will enable us to both expand our role within the region and move to next level of service and performance as one of leading museums of modern and contemporary art in the world."
A Tribute to Donald Fisher
September 28, 2009
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| Donald Fisher |
Donald Fisher, who along with his wife, Doris, was among the greatest and most generous donors in the history of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, passed away on Sunday, September 27.
Don Fisher first joined the SFMOMA Board of Trustees in 1983. Through the years, he served with great distinction in many roles, among them the elected position of Secretary/Treasurer, and on the Executive, Finance, Nominating, Audit, and Building Committees.
"On behalf of the entire of Board of Trustees, I am deeply saddened by the loss of our friend Don Fisher," said Board Chair Charles R. Schwab. "Don was instrumental in the development of SFMOMA, and his generosity will be felt for generations to come. From gifts of masterworks and support for exhibitions over the years to his latest landmark gift to the city—designating SFMOMA as the future home of his extraordinary collection—we are all the beneficiaries of his leadership and legacy."
Fisher was a driving force in expanding SFMOMA's collection and was the founding chair of the museum's Accessions Committee. Through his leadership, the practice of annual support for accessions in each of SFMOMA's curatorial areas was established, and it continues to this day.
Don and Doris Fisher have supported many great exhibitions and made numerous gifts of art to SFMOMA over the years. They generously underwrote exhibitions of the work of Alexander Calder, Sol LeWitt, Ellsworth Kelly, Gerhard Richter, and, most recently, William Kentridge. The Fishers made 37 fractional gifts to the museum, including works by Calder, Kelly, Kentridge, and Richter, as well as Chuck Close, Anselm Kiefer, Roy Lichtenstein, Sigmar Polke, Richard Serra, Frank Stella, Cy Twombly, and Jeff Wall. Together, Don and Doris Fisher have also supported SFMOMA's programs in education and publications and the museum's fund-raising events.
Through The Gap Foundation, the Fishers have long supported half-price admission and programming on Thursday evenings. In addition, through gifts from The Gap Foundation and Banana Republic, they have generously supported KidstART free admission for children, education programs for youth, the development of education and audience programs utilizing new technologies, and exhibitions of works by Alexander Calder and Yoko Ono.
Don and Doris Fisher have also played a seminal role in developing and sustaining SFMOMA since the opening of the museum's downtown building in 1995. Don Fisher served on the committee that selected Mario Botta as architect, and the Fishers were among the most generous donors to the project — first to the New Museum Campaign, and then to the Capital Campaign for Endowment.
On September 25 SFMOMA announced the details of a pioneering partnership between the Fishers and the museum to house the Fishers' extraordinary collection of contemporary art at the museum. The Fisher Collection will be the centerpiece of a dramatic expansion of SFMOMA, to which the Fisher family will give significant support. The Fishers will again play a pivotal role in what will be a profound transformation of SFMOMA in the 21st century.
Beyond their record of exceptional generosity to SFMOMA, Don and Doris Fisher have been leading Bay Area philanthropists, supporting the San Francisco Opera, Symphony and Ballet, Stanford University, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and the University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco, as well as many other regional organizations.
"San Francisco has lost a great leader. This city and this museum owe a great debt of gratitude for Don Fisher's vision and generosity," said SFMOMA Director Neal Benezra. "Some of my favorite memories of Don were the occasions when I walked him and Doris through exhibitions at the museum and we critiqued the work on view. By challenging conventional wisdom in all its forms, he inspired us to innovate. His ambitions for our museum were very simply without limit, and it will be a great pleasure to act on the leadership that he provided in the future."
SFMOMA is organizing a major exhibition of the Fisher Collection that is scheduled to open in summer 2010 as part of the celebration of its 75th anniversary.
Fisher Collection Comes to SFMOMA
September 25, 2009
SFMOMA announced today the development of a groundbreaking relationship with Doris and Donald Fisher that would provide the Fisher Collection — one of the world's leading collections of contemporary art — with a home at SFMOMA.
The Fishers, who together founded Gap Inc. in 1969, have long envisioned keeping their collection intact for the public in their hometown of San Francisco. The Fisher Collection includes more than 1,100 works by leading artists including Alexander Calder, Chuck Close, Willem De Kooning, Richard Diebenkorn, Anselm Kiefer, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Brice Marden, Agnes Martin, Gerhard Richter, Richard Serra, Cy Twombly, and Andy Warhol, among many others.
"San Francisco is where we raised our family and opened our first Gap store, and we want to give back to the city we love by sharing the art that means so much to us," says Don Fisher. "Doris and I share a vision with SFMOMA to enhance its collections and programs and we are prepared to make a substantial gift to strengthen the museum's standing as one of the world's great contemporary art museums."
SFMOMA is in the planning phase for a major expansion, announced last April, that will triple the museum's gallery space. The expansion reignited the Fishers' hopes of housing their collection in San Francisco by partnering with the museum to provide the necessary space and resources. In August 2007, the Fishers proposed building a museum in the Presidio, but decided this past July not to move forward.
"We are thrilled to forge this groundbreaking partnership and bring the Fishers' outstanding collection to the people of San Francisco and the world, which will make the museum an even greater public resource and provide visitors with a deeper, fuller view of key contemporary artists and movements," says Neal Benezra, director of SFMOMA. "The Fisher collection is a perfect complement to the museum's strong holdings of artists like Gerhard Richter, Andy Warhol, and Philip Guston, and gives us new strength in our representation of major figures like Alexander Calder, Anselm Kiefer, Richard Serra, and Chuck Close."
"This extraordinary partnership with the Fisher family will greatly advance SFMOMA's standing as one of the world's leading museums for contemporary art," says Charles Schwab, chairman of the Board of Trustees at SFMOMA. "Doris and Don Fisher are longtime, valued friends and patrons of SFMOMA, and they are demonstrating the kind of vision that has fostered the development of many of the world's greatest museums and public institutions throughout history."
Upon completion of SFMOMA's planned expansion, works from the Fisher Collection will be on display in a new wing that will also incorporate art from the museum's collection. In addition, works from the Fisher Collection will be interwoven in existing galleries with SFMOMA's modern and contemporary holdings. Together, they will form one of the world's most important collections of art of the past 50 years. The Fishers will create a trust, administered in collaboration with SFMOMA, to oversee the care of their collection at the museum, renewable after 25 years.
"This amazing collection belongs right here in the City of San Francisco," said Mayor Gavin Newsom. "Doris and Don Fisher have made an incredibly generous offer, and SFMOMA is the ideal partner and location to house this collection. This collaboration deserves our unanimous support and appreciation. This is a gift for the ages."
Pending additional site planning and approval from local agencies, SFMOMA's expansion is now envisioned to provide the museum with an additional 100,000 square feet of gallery and public space, greatly enhancing and expanding both the presentation of art in all areas of its collections — painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, design, and media arts — and its educational programs. The expansion will also include 40,000 square feet of additional space, including larger and more advanced conservation facilities and an expanded library. The expansion will be located on Howard Street (between Third and New Montgomery streets), on a site bridging Natoma Street and connecting to the museum along the southern facade — creating galleries that will merge seamlessly with the existing building.
Relocating administrative support space from the museum to a new wing will provide SFMOMA with more than 13,000 square feet of new gallery and public space in the existing Mario Botta-designed building, while consolidating all staff offices to one on-site location. In addition, the expansion will include a new entry on Minna Street (which runs along the museum's northern facade) to improve access for school groups and to the museum's Phyllis Wattis Theater for public programming.
In the coming months, SFMOMA will be working with Bain and Company to develop an extensive business plan to define the impact of the enlarged facility, increased operations, and enhanced programming on the museum's expansion and annual operating budgets. The business plan will inform both the contributions to the capital campaign and endowment that will be made by the Fishers and the funds that need to be raised by the museum.
"We will be going through a period of due diligence so that we have a clear and concise picture of the funding that is needed to support this unprecedented collaboration," states Schwab. "This presents a tremendous opportunity for SFMOMA and for our city, and with it we have a responsibility to ensure that the museum has the necessary physical, financial, and staff resources in place to sustain and grow through time."
The proposed new wing at SFMOMA presents an ideal location for the Fisher Collection where it will be seen by the hundreds of thousands of people who visit the museum annually. In addition, SFMOMA is conveniently accessible to public transportation and parking, and to hotels, restaurants, and other cultural institutions in downtown San Francisco. The collaboration also minimizes the environmental impact and diffusion of resources that would result from building a new, separate institution.
Fisher Collection Exhibition in 2010
SFMOMA is organizing a major exhibition of the Fisher Collection that is scheduled to open in summer 2010 as part of its 75th anniversary celebration. On the weekend of January 16 through 18, the museum will kick off a yearlong schedule of special programs, exhibitions, and events exploring SFMOMA's impact and evolution as a leading cultural resource for the people of the Bay Area and visitors from around the world.
About Doris and Don Fisher
Doris and Don Fisher started collecting modern and contemporary art more than 40 years ago. They have acquired in-depth holdings by artists they admire, and their collection is distinguished in its representation of the entire careers of key artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Don Fisher has been an SFMOMA Trustee since 1983 and has served on several Board committees, most recently serving as Secretary/Treasurer. Over the years, Doris Fisher has served on SFMOMA's Education Committee and also serves as co-chair of the Collector's Committee and the Trustee Council of the National Gallery in Washington, DC.
