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Exhibition

Hung Liu: Witness

June 30–December 10, 2023
Floor 2

Chinese-born artist Hung Liu (1948–2021) created richly layered portraits and installations that interweave memory and history. This exhibition features works from SFMOMA’s collection, from her most significant paintings made in China during the tumult of the Cultural Revolution between 1966–76 to those created in the U.S. during the 1990s and 2000s. Intimate and large-scale works blend landscapes and images from historical and family photographs with dripping brushwork. Together, they reveal Liu’s enduring commitment to “be a witness of my time” as she elevated her subjects to “mythic figures on the grander scale of history painting.”

Header image: Hung Liu, Loom, 1999; collection SFMOMA, purchase through a gift of Nelcy Tarics; © Estate of Hung Liu

Exhibition Preview

Hung Liu, Avant-Garde, 1993; collection SFMOMA, gift of Hung Liu and Jeff Kelley; © Estate of Hung Liu
Hung Liu, The Botanist, 2014; collection SFMOMA, gift of Lorrie and Richard Greene and Accessions Committee Fund purchase; © Estate of Hung Liu
Hung Liu, My Secret Freedom, 1972–75; collection SFMOMA, purchase, by exchange, through a gift of Peggy Guggenheim; © Estate of Hung Liu
Hung Liu, Loom, 1999; collection SFMOMA, purchase through a gift of Nelcy Tarics; © Estate of Hung Liu

Watch Interviews with the Artist