Gallery Talk

Learning in the Grove of Akademus / With Jeff Gunderson

Sat. February 22, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm This event has passed

Free

Longtime San Francisco Art Institute librarian and resident historian, Jeff Gunderson, will discuss the founding of the California School of Fine Art’s groundbreaking photography program in the 1940s and the school’s post-war milieu of avant-garde experimentation. Students in the photography program enjoyed close relationships with their teachers, often staying in their homes and working side-by-side in the field, inspiring student Ira Latour to describe his early days in the program as “learning in the Grove of Akademus.” Gunderson will call on several exhibiting artists, some now in their 90s, to share stories and memories of their time at the CSFA.

Jeff Gunderson has been the Librarian and Archivist at the San Francisco Art Institute since 1981. He has written on the history of California photography, the San Francisco art scene of the 1940s, and done presentations on artists Joan Brown, Elmer Bischoff, Ed Ruscha, Charles Howard, the history of LGBTQ art in San Francisco, the history of Bay Area conceptual art, and the influence of art libraries on artists.  He also did the introductory essay to Black Power/Flower Power: Photographs by Pirkle Jones and Ruth-Marion Baruch.  He is currently working on a collection of essays about open water swimming.