Event Press Release

Michael Kimmelman, New York Times Chief Art Critic, To Speak At SFMOMA As 2003 Phyllis Wattis Distinguished Lecturer

Release date: February 27, 2003

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Since its inception in 1995, the Phyllis Wattis Distinguished Lecture Series at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) has brought scholarship and art commentary of the highest caliber to the Bay Area. SFMOMA's Phyllis Wattis Distinguished Lecture Series 2003 will feature Michael Kimmelman, chief art critic for the New York Times, a pianist and the author of Portraits: Talking with Artists at the Met, the Modern, the Louvre, and Elsewhere. This year's series will feature a two-part program addressing post-minimalist art: Kimmelman's Wattis Distinguished Lecture, Out of the Box: America's Greatest Generation of Artists and the Great American Dream, on Thursday, April 3, at 7 p.m., and a special event, A Conversation with Michael Kimmelman, on Saturday, April 5, at 2 p.m. Both programs will be presented in SFMOMA's Phyllis Wattis Theater.

Tickets for the series may be purchased (without a surcharge) at the admissions desk in advance and on the day of the event (subject to availability). Tickets may also be purchased at www.ticketweb.com or by phone at 866/468-3399 (a surcharge will be applied). Event tickets include Museum admission. For more information, the public can call the Education Programs Information Line at 415/947-1292.

The 2003 Phyllis Wattis Distinguished Lecture Series

Wattis Distinguished Lecture

Out of the Box: America's Greatest Generation of Artists and the Great American Dream
Michael Kimmelman, chief art critic, The New York Times
Thursday, April 3, 2003
Reception: 6 p.m. The Schwab Room
Lecture: 7 p.m. Phyllis Wattis Theater

"America's greatest generation of artists" and the works they created are the subject of Kimmelman's Wattis Distinguished Lecture. Focusing on Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty, James Turrell's Roden Crater, Michael Heizer's City, Donald Judd's complex of installations at Marfa, Texas, and other ambitious projects envisioned by Post-Minimalists in the 1960s and early 1970s, Kimmelman discusses the vast scale of the works and considers their creators' desire to function outside the purview of traditional art institutions and beyond the scope of museum and gallery walls.

$15 general admission; $10 SFMOMA members, students with ID and seniors (includes admission to cocktail reception).


A Conversation with Michael Kimmelman
Saturday, April 5, 2003
2–4 p.m. Phyllis Wattis Theater

Neal Benezra, director, SFMOMA; Madeleine Grynsztejn, Elise S. Haas senior curator of painting and sculpture, SFMOMA; Michael Kimmelman, chief art critic, The New York Times Benezra and Grynsztejn join Kimmelman for a wide-ranging discussion of post-minimalist and contemporary art, with ample opportunity for audience dialogue.

$12 general admission; $8 SFMOMA members, students with ID, and seniors.

Media Contacts

  • Sandra Farish Sloan, 415/357-4174,
  • Libby Garrison, 415/357-4177,

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