Oral history interview with Peter Rodriguez
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 2 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 14 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 34 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Rodriguez, Peter, 1926-
label: Interviewer
content: Wagner, Nora
label: Names
content: Galería de la Raza (San Francisco, Calif.)
label: Names
content: Mexican Museum
label: Names
content: Dickey, Terry P.
label: Names
content: Garcia, Rupert, 1941-
label: Names
content: Hernandez, Ester, 1944-
label: Names
content: Reyes Ferreira, Jesus
label: Names
content: Tamayo, Rufino, 1899-1991
label: Names
content: Williams, Adriana, 1933-
label: Names
content: Ybarra-Frausto, Tomás, 1938-
topic: label: Occupation
content: Arts administrators -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Painters -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Sculptors -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Art -- Collectors and collecting -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Art -- Philosophy
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Rodriguez, Peter, 1926-
label: Interviewer
content: Wagner, Nora
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Peter Rodriguez (1926- ) is the founder and former director of the Mexican Museum, in San Francisco, Calif. Nora Wagner (1938- ) is a program director at the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, Calif.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 32 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2004 October 23-24
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.rodrig04
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript available on line
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Peter Rodriguez conducted 2004 October 23-24, by Nora Wagner, for the Archives of American Art, in San Francisco, Calif.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Rodriguez speaks of his family background, early childhood and elementary art education; travels to Mexico, Alaska, Colorado, and Washington, D.C.; exhibitions he participated in as well as curated; joining Galería de la Raza; the founding of the Mexican Museum in San Francisco, grants received and support from the San Francisco community; artists Jesse Aguirre, Manuel Villamor, and Ester Hernandez; Ann Rockefeller Roberts and the Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection of Mexican Folkart, acquired by the Mexican Museum in 1985. Rodriquez also discusses the various art forms he works in, including, sculpture, tapestry, oil painting, acrylic painting, portraits of artists, and pen and ink drawings; a collection of chairs he made; his 1992 Retrospective at the Haggin Museum, in Stockton, Calif.; his creativity and color scheme for exhibitions; appointment as an Art Commissioner for the city of San Francisco, 1977-1986; the Rosa Covarrubias collection; the different locations of the Mexico Museum; current funding for a new building on Mission Street; the exhibition "Lo del Corazon"; and his own hopes for the future of the Mexican Museum. Rodriguez also recalls Rufino Tamayo, Adriana Williams, Lauro Lopez, Chucho Reyes Ferreira, Rupert Garcia, Alfredo Arreguin, Candelario Medrano, Terrey Dickey, Bea Carrillo, and Tomás Ybarra-Frausto.