Art

Art Events

Albert Bierstadt. Yosemite Valley. 1868. oil on canvas. Gift of Miss Marguerite Laird in memory of Mr. and Mrs. P.W. Laird.

The OMCA Art Department, originally founded in 1916 as the Oakland Art Gallery, continues to be active in the acquisition and exhibition of art in all media - painting, sculpture, drawing, prints, photography, mixed media, installation, and craft - while actively circulating, nationally, exhibitions organized by the museum's curators. As defined by the guidelines for collecting the art of California, an artist may have been born, raised, or have studied in, moved to, or worked in the state to be considered for the Oakland Museum's collection. In the case of artists who worked in California for only a brief time, the museum collects pieces from that period alone.

The Oakland Museum of California is undergoing a major renovation and reinstallation project. During this time our Natural Sciences Gallery and selected temporary exhibitions will remain open while the Art and History Permanent Galleries are closed. In addition, many of our services will be limited. To learn more, start here: www.museumca-campaign.org

Please visit our special exhibitions, Natural Sciences Gallery. or join us for special events.

Due to staffing limitations during our renovation, our Rights and Reproductions services will be restricted between now and Spring 2010. We will be unable to accommodate requests that require new photography or research. We will review requests for existing imagery on a case-by-case basis. The average turn around time for Rights and Reproductions will be a minimum of 12 weeks.

Additionally, the museum has a moratorium on all outgoing loans and general collections research. Our online museum will remain open to accommodate research of our collections database. The online museum is open every Thursday from 1 to 4 p.m. in the History Office and offers limited access to our collections database. This service will end August 23, 2009.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Thank you for your understanding during this very busy time.