Peter Rodríguez (1926 – 2016) was an American artist, curator, and museum director. He was the founder, director and curator of the Mexican Museum in San Francisco, and a co-founder of the Galería de la Raza.

Early life

Peter Rodríguez was born as a twin on June 25, 1926, in Stockton,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. There were eleven children in his family, his twin brother is Tony. He was the son of Jesús Rodríguez and Guadalupe García Rodríguez, immigrants from

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. The family lived in Fowler and

Jackson Jackson may refer to: Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson oil field in Durham, ...

. He attended Oneida School (or Oneida School House) in Jackson Gate, California, which is where he started making art. At a young age he took an interest in art and comics, and won awards. When he was still young, he moved to San Francisco. Early in his career he worked in the fashion industry and in advertising. He was a self-taught artist, often using acrylics or oil paints.

Career

In the early 1960s, he was invited to show his work at Museo del Estado, Jalisco in Mexico and he took time to also visit Mexico City. From 1968 to 1969, Rodríguez moved to the

Tlalpan Tlalpan ( , 'place on the earth') is a Boroughs of Mexico City, borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. It is the largest borough, with over 80% under conservation as forest and other ecologically sensitive area. The rest, almost al ...

neighborhood of Mexico City, learning about culture and local arts. By 1970, he moved to San Francisco. That same year in 1970 he co-founded the Galería de la Raza, with

Chicano Movement The Chicano Movement, also referred to as El Movimiento (Spanish for "the Movement"), was a civil rights movements, social and political movement in the United States that worked to embrace a Chicano, Chicano identity and worldview that combated ...

artists Ralph Maradiaga, Rupert García, Francisco X. Camplis, Gustavo Ramos Rivera, Carlos Loarca, Manuel Villamor, Robert Gonzales, Luis Cervantes, Chuy Campusano, Rolando Castellón, and

René Yañez René Yañez (19 September 1942 – 29 May 2018) was a Mexican-American painter, Assemblage (art), assemblage artist, performance artist, curator and community activist located in San Francisco, California. He was a well-known contributor to the a ...

. in 1975, Rodríguez founded the Mexican Museum on Folsom Street in the Mission District, and served as the founding director and curator of the museum for 10 years. The museum now holds a permanent collection of over 16,000 objects. As the museum grew it needed to find a larger space, moving to Fort Mason and then to Yerba Buena Gardens, where a new space for a museum was being built and expected open in 2020 (however it's possibly delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Death and legacy

He continued to paint into his 80s, even after moving into the Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center around 2012. Rodriguez died on July 1, 2016, at the age of 90 at the Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco. On July 19, 2016, Rodríguez's legacy was celebrated in San Francisco when they unveiled the cornerstone of the new museum, with

Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi ( ; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who was the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 2007 to 2011 an ...

and Claudia Ruiz Massieu in attendance.

References

External links

Oral history interview with Peter Rodriguez, 2004 October 23-24

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

Finding Aid for the Peter Rodriguez Mexican Museum of San Francisco Papers 1975 - 2001

Online Archive of California In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...

(OAC) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodríguez, Peter 1926 births 2016 deaths People from Stockton, California Artists from San Francisco Directors of museums in the United States People from Jackson, California American people of Mexican descent Self-taught artists Hispanic and Latino American artists