724 Ellis Street (civic center)
San Francisco, CA 94109
Over the past four decades, Modernism has presented more than 450 exhibitions, featuring an international roster of historical and contemporary artists. The museum-quality program, overseen by gallery founder and owner Martin Muller, includes conceptually challenging and aesthetically rigorous painting, photography, sculpture, video, performance art, and works on paper.
Since 1979, the gallery has been at the forefront of the art world, presenting a retrospective of the Russian Avant-Garde in 1980 – before any other West Coast gallery or museum showed the historically-important work of Russian Avant-Garde artists – and staging the first Bay Area gallery exhibition of Andy Warhol in 1982. Both abstraction and figuration have been central to the gallery program ever since. In addition to 17 more Russian Avant-Garde exhibitions, Modernism has shown the work of the Southern California abstractionist James Hayward since 1980, and recreated “Four Abstract Classicists”, a seminal 1959 Los Angeles County Museum of Art exhibition, in 1993. At around the same time, the gallery introduced America to the politically-charged conceptual works of Austrian-born multimedia artist Gottfried Helnwein.
In the 21st century, Modernism has continued to open new frontiers in the Bay Area art world. The historical program now encompasses Dada, Cubism, Surrealism, Vorticism, and German Expressionism, as well as the Russian Avant-Garde. Historical landmarks have included the first major West Coast retrospective of Le Corbusier in 2003, and the first major American exhibition of paintings, drawings, collages, and photographs by Erwin Blumenfeld in 2006. Over the past decade, Modernism has staged notable retrospectives of key modern artists including Edvard Munch, and historically important contemporary artists and photographers including Mel Ramos, John Register, Jacques Villeglé, and Judy Dater.
Representing nearly fifty contemporary artists from around the world, the gallery contributes to current artistic dialogues, both representational and abstract, with several dozen shows per year presented at both Modernism and Modernism West, as well as art fairs in North America and Europe. Areas of focus include conceptual and textual work, and art that meaningfully addresses important sociopolitical concerns.
The gallery regularly publishes books, monographs, catalogs, and fine art editions, including notable volumes about gallery artists Mel Ramos, Naomie Kremer, Gottfried Helnwein, Elena Dorfman, Charles Arnoldi, and Jacques Villeglé.
Modernism is a longstanding member of the prestigious Art Dealers Association of America and the San Francisco Art Dealers Association.
Staff
Martin Muller, President
Danielle Beaulieu, Director
David Peniston, Registrar
Lexi Paulson, Gallery Assistant
Allyson Beaulieu, Gallery Assistant
