Late last month, the director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, John Edward Buchanan Jr., died at the age of 58 after a battle with cancer.
Buchanan joined as head of the de Young and Legion of Honor museums in 2006; prior to that he served as the executive director of the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon for more than 10 years.
Through his extensive global network of private lenders, museum colleagues and foreign governments, Buchanan brought the treasures and masterpieces of the worlds of painting, sculpture, haute couture, decorative arts, antiquities and pop culture to San Francisco. Buchanan’s leadership provided the Museums with exceptional opportunities, including hosting the foremost exhibitions of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism from the collection of the Musee d’Orsay in 2011, and contributing to an internationally successful exhibition program, among which included the haute couture craftsmanship of Vivienne Westwood, Yves Saint Laurent and Cristobal Balenciaga.
Under Buchanan’s six-year stewardship the Museums welcomed over 11.9 million visitors, presented over 100 special exhibitions rooted in the depth and diversity of the museums’ permanent collections, oversaw the publication of 31 exhibition catalogues and collection-based publications, and increased the museums’ membership to 122,000 households. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco have the third largest membership in the nation, are the fourth most visited art museums in North America and are the fourteenth most visited museums in the world.
A memorial service is planned for Buchanan on Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 1pm at Grace Cathedral, 1100 California Street, San Francisco.
At his family’s request, donations can be made in Buchanan’s memory to the Director’s Discretionary Fund at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (mail to: Sabina Crivello, de Young Museum, 50 Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco, CA 94118 or call (415) 750-3687) or to support the research of Dr. Andrew Ko at the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center (mail to: Dr. Andrew Ko (research fund B2098), UCSF Medical Center, attention: Sarah Krumholz, UCSF, 220 Montgomery Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, CA. 94104 or call (415) 502-1899).
Sarah B.
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