Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director from 2008, succeeded by Julie Rodrigues Widholm in August, 2020.[1][2] The museum is a member of the North American Reciprocal Museums program.

Not to be confused with Berkeley Art Center.

Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive is located in Oakland, California
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
Location in Berkeley shown on a map centered on Oakland, California
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive is located in San Francisco Bay Area
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
Location in the San Francisco Bay Area
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive is located in California
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
Location in California
Former name
University Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive (UAM/PFA)
Established1963
Location2155 Center St, Berkeley, CA 94720
Coordinates37°52′16″N 122°15′59″W
Typeart museum, film archive
DirectorJulie Rodrigues Widholm
ArchitectMario Ciampi (1970), Diller Scofidio + Renfro (2016)
Websitebampfa.org

Collection

Art
The collection's first object: Flight into Egypt.

The University of California art collection began with Flight into Egypt, a 16th-century oil on wood panel by the School of Joachim Patinir gifted to the university by San Francisco banker and financier François Louis Alfred Pioche in 1870.[3][4] The museum was founded in 1963 after a donation was made to the university from artist and teacher Hans Hofmann of 45 paintings[5] plus $250,000. A competition to design a building was announced in 1964, and the museum, designed by Mario Ciampi, opened in 1970.[6] Founding Director Peter Selz, formerly of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, served from 1965 to 1973 and played a key role in establishing the museum, championing unorthodox Bay Area artists.[7]

The collection holds more than 22,000 works of art, including Ming and Qing dynasty Chinese paintings, Mughal dynasty Indian miniature painting, Baroque painting, old master prints and drawings, early American painting, African-American quilts, 19th and 20th century photography, Conceptual art, and international contemporary art.

Sandstone statue of Ganesha, India, 10th century.

The museum has featured works by Albert Bierstadt, Jonathan Borofsky, Joan Brown, Robert Colescott, Jay DeFeo, Helen Frankenthaler, Paul Gauguin, Juan Gris, Ant Farm, Howard Fried, Paul Kos, Robert Mapplethorpe, Knox Martin, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Sebastião Salgado.[8]

The museum also features the MATRIX Program for Contemporary Art.[9] MATRIX has featured artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Louise Bourgeois, James Lee Byars, Sophie Calle, Jay DeFeo, Willem de Kooning, Juan Downey, Eva Hesse, Sol LeWitt, Shirin Neshat, Nancy Spero, Cecilia Vicuña, and Andy Warhol.[9]

Joan Miró, Metamorphosis, mixed media, 1936, one of 15 works given to the museum in 2021 from the Richard and Mary L. Gray Collection.

In 2009, the museum acquired (as a gift from the artist) 56 paintings and drawings from the Abu Ghraib Series by Fernando Botero.[10][11] Selections from the series have been regularly included in the museum's annual Art for Human Rights exhibitions.[12]

In 2014, the museum acquired San Francisco collector and dealer Steven Leiber's collection of Conceptual art and art materials, as well as his library of reference and artists' books related to Conceptualism and the Fluxus movement. According to The New York Times, "with the acquisition…the museum and film archive will become one of the world’s most important centers for the study of Conceptual art."[13]

In 2019, as a bequest, the museum acquired the Eli Leon Collection of almost 3,000 works by African-American quilt makers, including more than 500 works by Rosie Lee Tompkins. The collection now accounts for about 15 percent of the museum's art collection.[14][15] Drawing from the Eli Leon Collection, BAMPFA presented Rosie Lee Tompkins: A Retrospective in 2020; The New York Times called it "a triumphal retrospective" that "confirms her standing as one of the great American artists–transcending craft, challenging painting and reshaping the canon."[16][17] A subsequent exhibition showcasing the broader Eli Leon Collection is planned for 2022.[14]

In 2021, a gift from the Richard and Mary L. Gray Collection added 15 significant works on paper to the collection, by artists including Guercino, Tiepolo, Guardi, Géricault, Juan Gris, Paul Klee, and Miró.[18]

Film

The Pacific Film Archive (PFA) was founded by Sheldon Renan, who began screening films on the UC campus in 1966 and was appointed Director of the new PFA in 1967.[19][20] The PFA specializes in programming films "in a theoretical or critical context—exploring, for example, film noir in the context of the post-war ethos."[21] Lectures by film scholars and visits from filmmakers further contextualize the programming. The archive houses 16,000 films and videos, including the largest collection of Japanese films outside of Japan.[22] The PFA also includes a library and study center,[23] and maintains online catalogs of its films and books[24] and an online database of documentation associated with the films.[25]

  • BAMPFA's major retrospective in March 2019 of the work of Hans Hofmann, who was instrumental in the creation of the museum. Photo by Steven Saylor.
    BAMPFA's major retrospective in March 2019 of the work of Hans Hofmann, who was instrumental in the creation of the museum. Photo by Steven Saylor.

Buildings

The former Berkeley Art Museum building was designed by Mario Ciampi and opened in 1970.[6] The concrete Brutalist building was deemed seismically unsafe in 1997, and iron braces were added in 2001 to improve safety. In 1999, the Pacific Film Archive moved to a temporary building across the street.[26]

Interior of the former (seismically unsafe) Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive building designed by Mario Ciampi

In 2008, BAMPFA unveiled plans for a new visual arts center, to be designed by the Japanese architect Toyo Ito and located in downtown Berkeley, across the street from UC Berkeley's main entrance.[27][28][29] In 2009 those plans were cancelled. Citing the weak economy and trouble raising necessary funds, BAMPFA decided to retrofit and enlarge (rather than demolish) the former University of California Press printing plant at that site, a 1939 Art Deco building on the California Register of Historic Resources and qualified to be on the National Register of Historic Places.[26][30][31]

Berkeley Art Museum sign (detail), photo by Steven Saylor

In 2011, BAMPFA presented the schematic design for the $100 million transformation of the former printing plant into its new home, designed by the New York firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro.[32] Located at 2155 Center Street in downtown Berkeley, the building combines the existing concrete structure with a new metal-clad, skylighted addition that includes several galleries, a 232-seat theater, a store and a learning center.[32] Construction began in 2013.[33] The museum re-opened to the public on January 31, 2016.[34] The building totals 83,000 square feet, with 25,000 square feet of gallery space.[35]

The vacated Mario Ciampi building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.[36] The building, seismically retrofitted and "reimagined", reopened in late 2021 as the Bakar BioEnginuity Hub, an incubator for biotechnology start-ups,[37][38] named Woo Hon Fai Hall in honor of the father of a donor, David Woo.[39]

See also

References
  1. "Lawrence Rinder, director and chief curator of BAMPFA, to step down". news.berkeley.edu.
  2. Libbey, Peter (June 25, 2020). "Berkeley Art Museum Names a New Director". The New York Times.
  3. Charles A. Fracchia (July 26, 2011). "Francois Louis Alfred Pioche, San Francisco Banker and Financier". www.sfhistoryencyclopedia.com. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011.
  4. Flight into Egypt, BAM Collection object 1870.1
  5. "Art Collection – CollectionSpace". webapps.cspace.berkeley.edu.
  6. BAM/PFA Mission & History
  7. Karlstrom, Paul J. (2012). Peter Selz: Sketches of a Life in Art. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520269354.
  8. "Exhibition History – BAMPFA". bampfa.org.
  9. "Matrix Exhibitions – BAMPFA". bampfa.org.
  10. "Art Collection – CollectionSpace". webapps.cspace.berkeley.edu.
  11. Lucinda Barnes, "Fernando Botero: The Abu Ghraib Series," September 23, 2009-February 7, 2010 exhibition notes.
  12. "Permanent Accusation: Art for Human Rights". bampfa.org.
  13. Randy Kennedy (December 18, 2014), A Permanent Home for a Collection of Art Ephemera The New York Times.
  14. "BAMPFA Receives Historic Bequest of Nearly Three Thousand Quilts by African American Artists". bampfa.org.
  15. Libbey, Peter (October 16, 2019). "African-American Art Quilts Find a Museum Home in California". The New York Times.
  16. "Rosie Lee Tompkins: A Retrospective". bampfa.org.
  17. Smith, Roberta (June 26, 2020). "The Radical Quilting of Rosie Lee Tompkins". The New York Times.
  18. "The Enduring Mark: Six Centuries of Drawing from the Gray Collection". bampfa.org. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  19. Amazonas, Lee (Spring 2004). "Guerrilla Cinematheque Comes of Age: The Pacific Film Archive" (PDF). Chronicle of the University of California: 147–159.
  20. "Sheldon Renan Selects: Light and Time". bampfa.org.
  21. "The Pacific Film Archive". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 16 (1): 39–42. 1996. doi:10.1080/01439689600260071.
  22. bestcollegereviews.org: The 35 Best College Art Museums
  23. "Film Library & Study Center – BAMPFA". bampfa.org.
  24. "Search Film, Video, and Book Catalogs". bampfa.org.
  25. "CineFiles Film Document Database". bampfa.org.
  26. Modenessi, Jennifer (January 29, 2010). "UC Printing Plant may become new home of Berkeley Art Museum". Contra Costa Times. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
  27. Kino, Carol (March 28, 2007). "On College Campuses, A Crop of Galleries". The New York Times.
  28. DelVecchio, Rick (September 30, 2006). "Tokyo architect to design Cal's new museum". San Francisco Chronicle.
  29. Ouroussoff, Nicolai (November 24, 2008). "A Berkeley Museum Wrapped in Honeycomb". The New York Times.
  30. Lee, Lydia (January 26, 2010). "Berkeley's Moderne Art Museum". The Architect's Newspaper. Archived from the original on January 29, 2010. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
  31. Bhattacharjee, Riya (January 28, 2010). "University Eyes Old UC Printing Plant for New Art Museum". Berkeley Daily Planet. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
  32. Pogrebin, Robin (September 16, 2011). "Berkeley Museum Unveils New Design". The New York Times.
  33. Rosario, Gladys (February 13, 2013), "Construction begins on UC Berkeley Art Museum", Daily Californian
  34. "Community Day – BAMPFA". bampfa.org.
  35. "BAMPFA Thrives in its First Few Months in its New Downtown Berkeley Home". bampfa.org.
  36. "University Art Museum: 13001034". National Register Information System. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
  37. "Bakar BioEnginuity Hub". Capital Strategies, University of California, Berkeley.
  38. King, John (December 9, 2021). "A brutalist icon in Berkeley is reborn as a bioresearch hub". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
  39. Rodríguez, José (December 19, 2011). "Hong Kong businessman honors father, Woo Hon Fai, with major gift to UC Berkeley". Berkeley News. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
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