from the Suzhou Museum Showcasing 21 objects from the Suzhou Museum, Masterworks in Metal, Ink, and Silk highlights selections from China’s long and rich cultural history. Located only 66 miles west of Shanghai, Suzhou is often called the “Venice of China” because of its numerous canals intertwining the historic dwellings and gardens of its illustrious residents. Part of the collections of the Suzhou…

Heaven and Earth, the Determined Freedom of an Undetermined Life Marianela de la Hoz was born in Mexico City and has lived in San Diego County for the last 10 years. Her detailed painting technique is informed by Surrealism and focuses on representational art. Heaven and Earth, the Determined Freedom of an Undetermined Life consists of an altarpiece with 11…

Journey through the City With the exhibition Journey through the City, The San Diego Museum of Art realizes two major achievements. The first is to open a new space devoted to welcoming visitors and interpreting art—an ever changing environment dedicated to exploring the full spectrum of approaches to the arts and, of course, our Permanent Collection. Secondly, we begin a very…

Plains Indian Ledger Art from the 19th Century to Now Alternative Accounts: Plains Indian Ledger Art from the 19th Century to Now focuses on works created by Plains Indians that reveals a transitional form of artistry whose roots lie deeply seeded in ancient tradition. Made with techniques once used to paint on buffalo skins, these works on ledger paper reveal the prevailing artistic…

Giambattista Piranesi (1720-1778) was a printmaker, architect, antiquarian, art dealer, theorist, and designer—one of the foremost artistic personalities of the 18th century, whose views of Rome remain the city’s defining image. Fresh, thought-provoking, and innovative, Piranesi, Rome, and the Arts of Design sets out to show the range of the artist’s genius in a 21st-century approach to his creative endeavors….

Presented in conjunction with Arnold Newman: Masterclass and the Summer Break 2013 festival, Double Portraits is an intervention into the Museum’s Permanent Collection. Featuring works by Jess T. Dugan, Goshka Macuga, Dulce Pinzón, Kurt Simonson, and Jaimie Warren, this spotlight exhibition situates contemporary photography alongside paintings from the 16th through early 20th centuries on view in the Museum’s European Art…

This Permanent Collection installation is presented as a complement to the temporary exhibition Arnold Newman: Masterclass. Divided between two main sections, the installation presents recent acquisitions in photography and works by artists portrayed in Newman’s photographs. The Museum continues to grow its Permanent Collection of photography. This presentation of recent acquisitions focuses on photographers active in Mexico and the United…

With great sensitivity and care, Arnold Newman (1918–2006) incorporated the personal environment, the work, and the intellectual background of the subject in his photographs. For Newman, creating a successful portrait was a question of camera, lighting, film, and the cropping of a picture. His metaphorical studies of famous artists, creative professionals, scientists, intellectuals, and statesmen are formally and conceptually balanced…

Architecture and Planning at The San Diego Museum of Art and in Balboa Park Recently, numerous public and private dialogues have addressed the future of Balboa Park, particularly in anticipation of the upcoming 2015 Centennial Celebration. Housed in Gallery One—the future home of the Museum’s Welcome Center—Looking Towards 2015 presents projects that draw attention to smaller, yet no less important,…

This exhibition examines the myriad ways in which women have been represented in relation to war and industry in modern and contemporary art created in the United States. During the twentieth century, both the advent of war and increased industrialization, have led to major changes in the lives of women: their roles in their families, the way in which they…