exhibitions for more than 75 years. A trailblazing institution, SFMOMA was the first on the
West Coast dedicated solely to 20th-century art
and has the designation of having been home to
Jackson Pollock’s inaugural show.
And now, the wait is over. The transformed
building opens its doors to the public on May
14 and will offer almost three times more
gallery space than the former structure, displaying more than 600 never-before-seen
artworks promised to the museum through its
Campaign for Art initiative. Over seven years
the program collected work from close to 200
donors and increased the SFMOMA’s collection by more than 10 percent. International
as well as local collectors and artists donated
works, including a Bay Area resident and
one of the world’s most active modern and
contemporary art buyers, Chara Schreyer.
Schreyer’s private collection is widely seen
as one of the 10 best in the world of modern
art, making her a mainstay on the prestigious
ARTnews 200 Top Collectors list — she’s
appeared on it 15 years in a row.
But accolades and rankings aside, it’s evident
Schreyer’s life is one that’s dedicated to art. “I
was always a visual person,” she says, and has
childhood memories of walking through model
homes with her father, a successful Southern
California developer. Eventually, at UC Berkeley,
she broadened her tastes and knowledge while
pursuing an art history degree.
“Renaissance art was my first love,” she
says, but a particular aspect of modern wound
up resonating even more: “it’s art that’s about
concept rather than product.” After graduating, Schreyer stayed in the Bay Area and began
collecting. She now owns five homes — one in
Belvedere, Tiburon and San Francisco; two in
Los Angeles — that all serve as evolving galleries filled with works by Ruth Asawa, Jeff
Koons, Eva Hesse, Allen Ruppersberg and
Jeff Wall, to name a handful. Does she have a
favorite piece? “It’s like children,” she replies.
But inquisitive aesthetes can get an idea of her
preferences and view some of her cache later
this year when a presently untitled book about
her art-filled homes is released by Assouline.
Like a true supporter of the arts, Schreyer
enjoys collecting work by young artists, most
recently Alex Hubbard and Carol Bove, and
she likes to highlight pieces giving voice to
the often-marginalized. One of the works she
is promising as a gift to SFMOMA is Glenn
Ligon’s painted neon sculpture “Double
America.” “Glenn Ligon is a gay black man and
the piece speaks to the double standards in
this country. I’m left-leaning,” she adds.
In addition to collecting, for the past 20
years Schreyer has served on SFMOMA’s board
of trustees, who range from artist Ed Ruscha
(whose work she owns) to tech mogul Marissa
Mayer. So what stirs her the most about the
new SFMOMA? “I’m so proud and excited —
the Fisher Collection, Agnes Martin’s work, the
fact that up until the completion of the (New
York) MoMA (in 2018 or 2019) this will be the
largest museum of its kind in the country.”
The 460,000-square-foot revamped
SFMOMA will also offer free admission to
those 18 and younger and open its entire first
floor to visitors without a ticket, making it one
of the most financially accessible museums
in the country. Factor in that along with the
32,000 modern and contemporary works by
Ai Weiwei, Chuck Close, Frida Kahlo, Cindy
Sherman and others, and it’s also among the
best, Schreyer believes. “I’m a little biased,”
she admits with a laugh. sfmoma.org m
Over seven years the program
collected work from close to 200
donors and increased the
SFMOMA’s collection by more
than 10 percent.
Above: Glenn Ligon’s
“Double America.” This
image: Rear view of the
new SFMOMA.
