Peter Rodríguez (curator)
American artist, curator, museum director
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peter Rodríguez (1926 – 2016) was an American artist, curator, and museum director. He was the founder, director and curator of the Mexican Museum in San Francisco, and a co-founder of the Galería de la Raza.[1][2]
Peter Rodríguez-Garcia
Peter Rodríguez | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 25, 1926 Stockton, California, U.S. |
| Died | July 1, 2016 (aged 90) San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Peter Rodriguez, Peter Rodríguez-Garcia |
| Known for | painting, curation, arts administration |
| Movement | Bay Area Chicano Art Movement, Abstract expressionism |
| Parents |
|
Early life
Peter Rodríguez was born as a twin on June 25, 1926, in Stockton, California.[3] There were eleven children in his family, his twin brother is Tony.[3][4] He was the son of Jesús Rodríguez and Guadalupe García Rodríguez, immigrants from Guadalajara, Mexico.[5] The family lived in Fowler and Jackson, California.[3] He attended Oneida School (or Oneida School House) in Jackson Gate, California, which is where he started making art.[3][6] At a young age he took an interest in art and comics, and won awards.[5]
When he was still young, he moved to San Francisco.[5] Early in his career he worked in the fashion industry and in advertising.[1] He was a self-taught artist, often using acrylics or oil paints.[5]
Career
In the early 1960s, he was invited to show his work at Museo del Estado, Jalisco in Mexico and he took time to also visit Mexico City.[5] From 1968 to 1969, Rodríguez moved to the Tlalpan neighborhood of Mexico City, learning about culture and local arts.[5]
By 1970, he moved to San Francisco.[5] That same year in 1970 he co-founded the Galería de la Raza,[5] with Chicano Movement artists Ralph Maradiaga, Rupert García, Francisco X. Camplis, Gustavo Ramos Rivera, Carlos Loarca, Manuel Villamor, Robert Gonzales, Luis Cervantes, Chuy Campusano, Rolando Castellón, and René Yañez.[7][8]
in 1975, Rodríguez founded the Mexican Museum on Folsom Street in the Mission District, and served as the founding director and curator of the museum for 10 years.[5][9] The museum now holds a permanent collection of over 16,000 objects.[2] As the museum grew it needed to find a larger space, moving to Fort Mason and then to Yerba Buena Gardens, where a new space for a museum was being built and expected open in 2020 (however it's possibly delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic).[5][10]
Death and legacy
He continued to paint into his 80s, even after moving into the Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center around 2012.[11] Rodriguez died on July 1, 2016, at the age of 90 at the Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco.[5]
On July 19, 2016, Rodríguez's legacy was celebrated in San Francisco when they unveiled the cornerstone of the new museum, with Nancy Pelosi and Claudia Ruiz Massieu in attendance.[1][2]