The Brooklyn Rail

I first met Richard Serra in the spring of 1980 while he was installing his work for an exhibition Mel Bochner, Richard Serra at the Hayden Gallery, the predecessor of the MIT List Visual Arts Center, where I was working as the assistant to Kathy Halbreich, Director and curator of the exhibition. The exhibition included sculpture but the primary focus was on wall drawings by both Serra and Bochner. I remember from the outset the intensity of Richard and of his work and was enthralled by both. Also, I had the good fortune to become well acquainted with Clara Weyergraf, who would become Richard’s wife, as I was obsessed with making the fullest and most accurate bibliography of Richard’s work for the catalogue and found the perfect partner in Clara.

Later after I had moved to New York and became Director of Programs for the Dia Art Foundation as it opened the building on West 22^nd Street, I would run into Richard and occasionally Clara. But it was only in 1993 when I became the Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) that I developed a close relationship with the Serras. Jasper Johns had made a gift to SFMOMA of the Splash Piece: Casting (1969–70) and the museum had made a commitment to have Richard remake the work as a permanent installation in the museum’s new building by Mario Botta that would open in early 1995. I worked closely with the head of the installation team Kent Roberts and with Richard in preparing and then executing the work on site. It is an extraordinary work, and it was an extraordinary experience working so closely with Richard. I was even more impressed by his focus, intensity, discipline, and complete engagement at every step.

Over the years we stayed in touch as I acquired works by him, especially drawings, for SFMOMA and later for MoMA, New York. One of the major wall drawings I acquired for SFMOMA was Taraval Beach (1977), the name of the neighborhood where Richard had grown up in San Francisco. He spoke about how his walks on the beach there left an indelible effect on memory and work. I don’t remember the time when Richard called me but I believe it was probably 2009 and asked me if I would be part of the curatorial team for a retrospective of his drawings that was being organized by the Menil Collection. We worked very closely on that exhibition, and I spent hours with Richard at the Tribeca studio and loft, making a selection of works and planning the presentations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at SFMOMA. Then in preparations for the opening of the expansion of SFMOMA in 2016, I again worked closely with Richard on a presentation of a major group of sculptures from the museum’s collection and the collection of Donald and Doris Fisher.

Richard had ferocious intelligence and unflagging curiosity. His judgments were sharp and immediate. He had no patience for ignorance or pretense. He appreciated people who kept the same level of commitment and discipline that he maintained. Despite his formidable character and reputation, I always found him accessible and even at times warm and with wonderful humor. He could share his knowledge and wisdom in ways that opened up art and the world. It was a marvelous privilege to have spent time and worked with him over so many years on so many different occasions. I will be forever grateful that he has been an important part of my life.