The famous Art Institute of San Francisco is closing its doors for good

Established in 1871, the famous art school has trained many artists including Eadweard Muydbridge, Mark Rothko, and Ad Reinhardt. Faced with a budget deficit that had become impossible to fill, the San Francisco Art Institute ( SFAI ) closed its doors. The University of California in San Francisco (UCSF) had, however launched, at the beginning of the year, the project of a merger of their two establishments to help it clean up its finances. But he flipped. Without help, the "San Francisco Art Institute is no longer financially viable ," representatives said in a statement on its website. Shaky for several years, the school's finances went into the red with the Covid-19 pandemic. They had to cancel the registrations for autumn 2020 (the cost of tuition was around 45,000 euros), depriving it of the corresponding income, which is necessary to meet his current expenses. To "ensure the future of the school" , explained its president Pam Rorke Levy at the start of the health crisis, there was even talk of selling the fresco that the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera had painted on one of its walls in 1931. A merger with the University of California, San Francisco was the last hope. But the school's budget deficit, the university explains , was such that it got the better of the project. The San Francisco Art Institute was established in 1871 by a group of local painters and writers united in the San Francisco Art Association (SFAA). It was first installed at the Hopkins Mansion, which architect Edward Searles donated to the University and the San Francisco Art Association. Then it was moved a little further, to a building built by Californian architects Bakwell and Brown. This is where Diego Rivera (1986-1957) made his mural entitled The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City . In 150 years of existence, the institute has seen, on its benches, several generations of artists. The photographer Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904), known for his decompositions of movement, was one of his first pupils. The painters Clyfford Still (1904-1980), Mark Rothko (1903-1970), and Ad Reinhardt (1913-1967) laid the foundations of abstract expressionism here. Director George Kuchar (1942-2011), artists Howard Fried (b. 1946) and Paul Kos (b. 1942), activist Angela Davis (b. 1944) and essayist Kathy Acker (1947-1997) have them; they opened the school to cinema, performance or even typography. The San Francisco Art Institute is permanently closed. But a foundation has been created to “protect his name, his history, and his archives” . On the other hand, the future of its walls and the fresco by Diego Rivera remains in suspense. “The Art Institute of San Francisco owns the mural. The University of California owns the building in which it is located. If the Institute does not pay its rent, then it will lose the fresco” , explain the representatives. seen in Le Journal des arts, article Paul Beriat.