San Francisco Philanthropist Evelyn Hass dies at age 92
Don't miss Holland Cotter's New York Times article which is a decade-end wrap up in the art world.
http://is.gd/5KQpX
NEW YORK IN MARCH 2010
The Armory Show March 4, 2010 - March 7, 2010 New York
http://www.thearmoryshow.com/cgi-local/content.cgi
ADAA at the Park Avenue Armory March 3, 2010 - March 7, 2010, New York
Upcoming in New York City the international art world will gather with 267 galleries from 31 countries at The Armory Show (pier 92 + 94). Many satellite fairs such as ADDA, VOLTA NY, Scope, Pulse, Bridge, Red Dot and Art Now will represent countless galleries from all over the globe.
ART MARKET MONITOR Confidence Builders by Marion Maneker
.... Bloomberg’s Scott Reyburn talked to a few buyers about their purchases and prices:
“It’s very difficult to value things at the moment,” said the New York-based art adviser David Nisinson, who bought a 1990 Gerhard Richter abstract for 529,250 pounds at Sotheby’s against a low estimate of 500,000 pounds. “So little has been traded recently that it’s hard to know what things are worth. It’s a market in flux. There’s more confidence than there was, but it’s fragile and depends on the financial markets. At least a lot of people have a lot more money than they did six months ago,” he said.
“There were some good things in the auction and estimates were reasonable,” said New York-based dealer Christophe van de Weghe. “It will give buyers confidence. People are able to see things are selling and there’s no panic in the market.” “Prices are back to the level of 2006 and 2007,” said Van de Weghe.
Tribute to 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, Berkley 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.".....
Fisher Collection Exhibition in 2010
SFMOMA is organizing a major exhibition of the Fisher Collection tha 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.