Alla Efimova photographed by Simon Rogghe

Alla Efimova is an art historian, curator, and consultant based in Berkeley, CA. She grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia. Efimova was the Director of the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at the

University of California Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

(2009–14) and a curator at the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive. She is the founder of KunstWorks, an agency specializing in legacy advancement for contemporary artists and artists' estates. She has taught modern and contemporary art history at the

University of California Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California syste ...

and San Francisco Art Institute. Efimova serves on the boards of the Carl Heidenreich Foundation, Wild Projects, and on the advisory board of the American Photography Archives Group (APAG).

Education

Alla Efimova received her B.A. from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, and a Ph.D. in Visual and Cultural Studies from the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...

Exhibitions and publications

Selected exhibitions

*Through the Eyes of Rachel Marker: A Literary Installation by

Moira Roth Moira Roth was a feminist art historian and art critic who was Trefethen Professor of Art History at Mills College in Oakland, California from 1985 to 2017. She taught at the University of California, San Diego from 1974 to 1985. She was educat ...

. The Magnes Collection, University of California Berkeley, 2013. *They Called Me Meyer July. The Magnes, Berkeley, 2007. Presented at The Jewish Museum (NY) and Jewish Historical Museum (Amsterdam). *Acting Out: Claude Cahun and

Marcel Moore Marcel Moore (born Suzanne Alberte Malherbe, 19 July 1892 – 19 February 1972) was a French illustrator, designer, and photographer. She, along with her romantic and creative partner Claude Cahun, was a surrealist writer and photographer. Ear ...

. With guest curator Tirza True Latimer. The Magnes, Berkeley, 2005. Presented at The Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA. *Carl Heidenreich and Hans Hofmann in Post-War New York. Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive, 2004.

Exhibition catalogues

*Surviving Suprematism: Lazar Khidekel. The Magnes, Berkeley, 2005. *Layers: Contemporary Collage from St. Petersburg, Russia. Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture,

UMBC The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a public research university in Baltimore County, Maryland. It has a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs (38 master, 25 doctoral, ...

, 1996.

Selected books

*Thought Experiments: The Art of Jonathon Keats. Alla Efimova and Julie Decker, eds. Hirmer Publishers, 2021. *The Jewish Worlds: 100 Treasures of Art and Culture from The Magnes Collection. Alla Efimova and Francesco Spagnolo. Skira Rizzoli, 2014. *Textura: Russian Essays on Visual Culture. Alla Efimova and Lev Manovich, eds. The University of Chicago Press, 1993.

Articles

*"On the Art of Jonathon Keats," Zyzzyva (April 2021) *"The Gifts," Brill (January 2007

*"To Touch on the Raw: The Aesthetic Affections of Socialist Realism," Art Journal (May 2014

*"On Sleep and Oblivion in Post-Soviet Film." In The Imprints of Terror : The Rhetoric of Violence and the Violence of Rhetoric in Modern Russian Culture, ed. Anna Brodsky, et al. (Wien: Sagner, 2006).

References

External links

Official website

Video
of

San Francisco Arts Commission The San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) is the City agency that champions the arts as essential to daily life by investing in a vibrant arts community, enlivening the urban environment and shaping innovative cultural policy in San Francisco, Cali ...

reading and conversation on Ed Aulerich-Sugai {{DEFAULTSORT:Efimova, Alla Writers from Berkeley, California Women art historians American art historians Russian art historians Russian women historians Historians of Russian art American art curators Russian art curators New York University alumni University of Rochester alumni Writers from Saint Petersburg Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Historians from California Russian women curators