About MODERNISM
In 1979 Modernism opened its doors in San Francisco. It has since presented over 500 exhibitions with works by over 380 international contemporary and modern artists. The diverse program, curated by gallery founder and owner Martin Muller, includes a range of conceptually challenging and aesthetically rigorous painting, photography, sculpture, video, performance art, works on paper and new media.
Distinguished by its profound link to art history and a distinct scholarly approach expressed through an extensive publishing program (which boasts almost 70 titles), Modernism’s rich educational offerings have established it as an institution. Beyond early achievements such as mounting the first major Bay Area exhibition of Andy Warhol (1982), and recreating the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art’s famed Four Abstract Classicists exhibition (which included Karl Benjamin, Lorser Feitelson, Frederick Hammersley and John Mclaughlin) in 1993, Modernism has consistently presented art by modern masters such as Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, Edvard Munch, Henri Matisse, Man Ray, Hannah Hoch, Georges Valmier, André Masson, Albert Gleizes, Jacques Lipchitz, Jean Metzinger, Louis Marcoussis, Jean Lurçat, Fernand Leger, Henri Hayden, and Burgoyne Diller. The historical program to date encompasses Dada, Cubism, Surrealism, Vorticism and German Expressionism to name a few, as well as a strong focus on the Ukrainian and Russian Avant-Garde 1910-1930.
With a refusal to be sidetracked by trendiness, Modernism has established a reputation for taking risks, presenting work ahead of its time and expanding the range of the Bay Area art scene.
After an initial focus on abstraction in its early years, exhibiting American artists such as geometric abstractionist David Simpson and formal abstractionist James Hayward, the gallery bolstered its program with the introduction of numerous international contemporary sensations and modern masters. Such remarkable introductions include the first major West Coast exhibition of German Expressionism which included Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max Beckmann and Erick Heckel (1981); the first United States gallery exposure of conceptual Austrian painter and conceptual artist Gottfried Helnwein (1992); the first solo exhibition in the United States of Swiss architect and artist Le Corbusier (2003); the first California gallery exhibition of German collage artist, painter, experimental and fashion photographer Erwin Blumenfeld (2006); and the first West-Coast exhibition of French Nouveau Re?aliste de?collage artist Jacques Villegle? (2006).
Perhaps most notably, Modernism is responsible for the presentation of arguably the nation’s most significant body of Ukrainian and Russian Avant-Garde art beyond museum walls. The movement, which encompasses aesthetically and conceptually iconoclastic works from 1910-1930, is regarded as the anthesis of academic tradition. This work, which was for many decades deemed illegal in the Soviet Union, was at perpetual risk for destruction. Muller recognized the urgency to protect and preserve such formative works early on in his career. His mission to bring Ukrainian and Russian art of historical significance to the United States prevented the loss of countless cultural relics during periods of political tumult.
Many honorable exhibition achievements in the genre were to follow, including the first presentation in the United States of Ukrainian and Russian Avant- Garde outside of New York (1980). The exhibition featured pioneers such as Kazimir Malevich (including his masterful 1917-18 canvas Supremus No. 84), Nikolai Suetin, Alexander Rodchenko, Alexandra Exter, Natalia Goncharova, El Lissitzky, Anna Kagan, Wassily Kandinsky, Ivan Kliun and Lyubov Popova. Modernism also presented the first solo exhibition of Ukrainian Avant Garde artist Alexander Bogomazov outside of Russia (1983). In the 46 years since its formation, Modernism has presented fourteen exhibitions of Ukrainian and Russian Avant-Garde art and remains one of the only galleries in the nation still presenting the school on a regular basis.
Alongside Modernism’s geometric abstraction artists such as David Simpson, Frederick Hammersley, John M. Miller, Elaine Lustig-Cohen, Edith Baumann and Scot Heywood, who find the origins of their school in the achievements of the Russian Avant-Garde, the gallery’s program also encompasses a strong group of gestural abstractionists including storied San Francisco painter Sam Tchakalian with his intensely physical application of thickly impastoed paint to canvas, and Naomie Kremer, with her colorful, frenetic large-scale paintings, sometimes transformed with unique video projections to create “hybrids.”
Showcasing Modernism’s aforementioned range are the numerous groups of contemporary representational artists exhibited through the years, led by two cornerstones of the gallery, Los Angeles realist painter John Register [1939-1996], with his reflective scenes of empty waiting rooms and lonely landscapes, and Oakland figurative painter Mark Stock [1951-2014], his narrative works filled with unrequited love, intrigue and drama.
Even prior to introducing Andy Warhol to the Bay Area, Pop Art was already being featured at Modernism in 1981 with the iconic work of fellow star Mel Ramos and his immortalized superheroes and iconic pinups posed with consumer products such as Coke bottles, Lifesavers and Hershey’s Kisses. Nine more solo exhibitions of Ramos’s Pop Art would follow along with shows of other leaders in the genre: Tom Wesselmann in 1984 and Ed Ruscha’s early works in 1991.
Additional schools featured regularly include Post Pop (Jerry Kearns (New York), Sheldon Greenberg (Oakland), Yang Mian (Chengdu), and Shawn Huckins (New Hampshire); Photorealism (Charles Bell, Ralph Goings, Ben Schonzeit); New media (Max Almy, Peter Sarkisian, Cork Marcheschi); Sculpture (Kristine Mays, Fletcher Benton, John De Andrea, Jenny Holzer) and Conceptual Art (Herman Nitsch, Ida Applebroog, Jonathon Keats). Some artists’ expressions of modernism manifest as a fundamental rejection of categorization like Arnulf Rainer, Robert Wilson and Jean-Charles Blais, or the Zdanevich brothers who coined the term “Everythingism.”
The story of the gallery would not be complete without the mavericks of modern arts’ most significant innovation— photography—artists like Hans Namuth, Hans Bellmer, Brassaï, Lucien Clergue, Andre De Dienes, Judy Dater, Elena Dorfman, Michael Dweck, Raymond Holbert, David Levinthal, Lindsay McCrum, Richard Misrach, Laurie Simmons, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Lew Thomas.
The connection between the gallery’s modern and contemporary interests may not be immediately apparent. While Modernism’s collection of artists, media and styles appears incredibly eclectic at first glance, all are connected by Martin Muller’s three strict criteria: that a work must be emotionally charged, visually strong, and fully defendable critically. Considering this, it becomes less surprising to see the early 20th century Cubo-Futurist compositions of Kirill and Ilya Zdanevich juxtaposed with contemporary Iranian artist Sameh Khalatbari’s politically charged multi-media canvases (2023). While some links may be more obvious, like that between the empty interior scenes of John Register and the similar but inhabited compositions of Edward Hopper (In 1996 the gallery purposely held John Register and Edward Hopper exhibitions side by side, with an accompanying Hopper: Register catalogue, in order to both compare and contrast the work of the modern master Edward Hopper with the contemporary John Register), Modernism consistently demonstrates a curatorial agility to conceive of works as a part of the greater context of art history. A keen ability to develop a cohesive narrative with artworks of great diversity, as demonstrated with group shows such as Autour de l’Insolite (1992 & 2022) which included work by 50 artists spanning more than 100 years, is a quality that sets Modernism apart from its peers.
In 2004, Modernism opened a second location, Modernism West, in the Mission District of San Francisco. The space, which operates in tandem with beloved innovative restaurant Foreign Cinema, serves as an extension of Modernism’s artistic program often hosting experimental exhibitions in a stunning white-cube space.
Now, 46 years later, with a gallery fac?ade that takes inspiration from El Lissitzky, one of the first artists exhibited at Modernism, the interrelated particularity of Modernism’s history is undeniable. All things lead to another, all is informed by what precedes.
Modernism is proud to be a longstanding member of both the Art Dealers Association of America and the San Francisco Art Dealers Association.
Staff
Martin Muller, President
Danielle Beaulieu, Director
Asa Perryman, Gallery Manager
David Peniston, Registrar
Allyson Beaulieu, Gallery Assistant
Lexi Paulson, Gallery Assistant