SAN FRANCISCO—According to the Associated Press, on Tuesday, July 19 a dedication ceremony for the renovated Mexican Museum was held as San Francisco will home the largest collection of Mexican and Latino art. The Mexican Museum was created from a dream by Mexican-American artist Peter Rodriguez.
The Mexican Museum was originally located in a Mission District storefront in 1975. According to the AP, Rodriguez started a collection which now has over 16,000 pre-Columbian, colonial, and contemporary works of Mexican and Latino art.
According to the museum’s website, the ceremony is the culmination of more than three years work by Andrew Kluger, Chairman of the museum’s the board of trustees. Kluger has led the $63 million effort to construct a new house for the museum. In 1982, the museum moved to the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco’s Marina District.
Peter Rodriguez, died on July 1 at the age of 90. His family believed that he never lost the dream that the new building for the museum would be built.
Irene Christopher spoke to AP stating, “My uncle worked tirelessly, and with passion and drive, to personally demonstrate that, as a Mexican-American, we can achieve any dream by ourselves.”
The Mexican Museum is moving to San Francisco’s downtown Yerba Buena Arts District. The museum will now house its current collection plus 800 pieces of Mexican folk art that was donated by the Nelson Rockefeller family, pieces by Mexican muralist Diego Rivera and painter Miguel Covarrubias.
Kluger believes that the museum is a labor of love that helps residences and visitors on learning and understanding Latin American and Chicano culture.
“In particular, I think the new museum is going to help second- and third-generation immigrants learn about their heritage,” said Kluger, Founder and CEO of Early Bird Alert, a medical technology company. He also is the managing partner of Bluegrass Assisted Living; and CEO of Medical Business Systems, a medical billing company.
The museum will open its new location in spring 2019.
