The San Diego Museum of Art is pleased to welcome Ladan Akbarnia, Ph.D., as its new Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art. Akbarnia will begin her role on October 15, 2019. Akbarnia comes to the Museum with 20 years of specialized curatorial and research experience in the arts of the Islamic world, in particular from Iran, Central Asia and India. She has worked with reputable institutions across the world, including in her most recent role as Curator and Assistant Keeper for the Islamic Collections at The British Museum in London, where she was a lead curator for the Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic World. Akbarnia previously served as Executive Director at the Iran Heritage Foundation in London and Associate Curator of Islamic Art at the Brooklyn Museum, where…

First Major Exhibition in 30 years Reexamines the Great Gilded Age Painter SAN DIEGO, CA – The San Diego Museum of Art is pleased to present the exhibition Bouguereau & America, featuring nearly 40 paintings by the popular French academic artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905). On view November 9, 2019 through March 15, 2020, this exhibition reexamines the work of this long-neglected artist and allows a view unencumbered by a modernist bias.  Bouguereau & America showcases the master’s traditional use of composition, form and subject matter, bringing to life paintings of goddesses, heroes, shepherdesses and nymphs, including the beloved work The Young Shepherdess (1885), drawn from the Museum’s permanent collection. The exhibition is the first in nearly 30 years to bring together many of the artist’s most important works, including A…

The San Diego Museum of Art presents the exhibition Art & Empire: The Golden Age of Spain, featuring more than 100 outstanding works by leading artists from Spain and its global territories during the pivotal years of around 1600 to 1750.On view May 18, 2019 through Sept. 2, 2019, the exhibition showcases a wide variety of exquisite paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts produced throughout the Spanish-speaking world. This exhibition is the first in the U.S. to examine the notion of “Golden Age” beyond the shores of the Iberian Peninsula by bringing together works from Spain’s European, American, and Asian realms. “Art & Empire: The Golden Age of Spain showcases the broad scope of the Spanish empire and helps bring context to some of the international treasures within the Museum’s permanent…

SAN DIEGO, CA – The San Diego Museum of Art is pleased to announce the 38th annual Art Alive exhibition, on view April 11– April 14, 2019. As the Museum’s signature fundraiser and a highly anticipated spring tradition, the event features nearly 100 floral designers’ interpretations of famous works of art throughout the Museum, filling the galleries with a brilliant crescendo of color and scent. Art Alive has grown significantly since it launched in 1982. The four-day event welcomes more than 12,000 guests to the exhibition and 1,400 guests to Bloom Bash, the popular opening celebration. Each year, Art Alive exceeds the previous record for funds raised. This year, Bloom Bash will expand into the Plaza de Panama to accommodate a growing guest list, new activities including a Ferris wheel,…

The San Diego Museum of Art is pleased to welcome Regina Palm, Ph.D., as Associate Curator of American Art on October 29, 2018. In her new role, Palm will work with the Museum’s internationally renowned American art collection, which includes the newly acquired portrait of John Alfred Parsons Millet by John Singer Sargent, and makes up a significant segment of the Museum’s holdings. She will also manage the development of installations and related exhibitions and contribute to the Museum’s provenance research and art acquisition programs. Palm has many years of museum curatorial and research experience acquired from reputable institutions across the nation. Coming from her most recent post at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, Palm previously held curatorial and research appointments at the Amon Carter Museum of…

SIX IMMERSIVE INSTALLATIONS TO BE INCLUDED IN HIS FIRST U.S. EXHIBITION Integrates Multi-Sensory Installations, Mixed Media Sculpture and Artificial Intelligence to Raise Discussion of Humanitarian Issues   The San Diego Museum of Art is pleased to present Tim Shaw: Beyond Reason, an exhibition creating psychologically charged environments that address humanitarian issues in several immersive installations. On view Oct. 20, 2018 through Feb. 24, 2019, the exhibition touches on several major themes, including global terrorism, freedom of speech, abuse of power and the future of artificial intelligence. Tim Shaw, a celebrated Northern Irish sculptor, is known for his large-scale multi-sensory installations that create dialogue around controversial topics. The six installations featured in this exhibition are based on extraordinary personal experiences throughout the artist’s life, but the topics are universal and timeless….

The San Diego Museum of Art announced a new President of the Board and the appointment of five new members to its Board of Trustees. The new board has been carefully selected to help the Museum further its mission inspire, educate, and cultivate curiosity through great works of art, and enhance the rich and diverse cultural experience for Museum visitors. The board members began their new roles on July 1, 2018. Taffin Ann Ray succeeds President Harvey White, who has been Board President for the past two years and has served on the board since 2007. Ray has volunteered as a docent for the past eight years and will continue to be a docent while serving as President of the Board. She is the first Museum docent to serve as…

The San Diego Museum of Art presents more than 90 works of art from its world-renowned Edwin Binney 3rd Collection of Indian paintings in an exhibition titled Epic Tales from Ancient India: Paintings from The San Diego Museum of Art. On view June 9, 2018 through Sept. 3, 2018, this exhibition represents the major narratives, regions and styles of South Asian art from the 16th through the 19th centuries, and provides the tools for reading and understanding Indian painting. Epic Tales from Ancient India introduces viewers to the world of South Asian paintings and their original narrative context by explaining the classics of literature that the works illustrate. The exhibition features four sections arranged by literary category. The stories include the Bhagavata Purana, a Sanskrit text about the Hindu god…

The San Diego Museum of Art announced today the appointment of Stacey Loomis as Director of Development and Membership. Loomis will begin her role on February 20, 2018, and will lead the Museum’s Development and Membership department to develop and cultivate positive relations with donors and prospects in the community, and to grow the Museum’s overall fundraising and development capabilities. Loomis brings to the Museum 14 years of development experience in fundraising, including her most recent role as director of major gifts and planned giving at the San Diego Opera. During her time there, Loomis secured major and planned gifts from individual prospects, and managed donor acquisitions and cultivation events. Loomis’ fundraising career also included roles with Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego; University of…

The San Diego Museum of Art is proud to announce the acquisition of two outstanding paintings, Nymph of the Spring (ca. 1540) by Lucas Cranach the Younger and Portrait of John Alfred Parsons Millet (1892) by John Singer Sargent. Both works fill important gaps in the Museum’s holdings, with the Sargent strengthening the already expansive collection of portraits, and the Cranach being the most important Northern Renaissance painting in the collection. Nymph of the Spring is currently on display in Genre and Myth, and Portrait of John Alfred Parsons Millet is on view in the American Art galleries. Nymph of the Spring by Lucas Cranach the Younger is an exceptionally well-preserved painting of a nude lying in a landscape, softly gazing at the viewer. The son of Lucas Cranach the…