16 Facts About Susan Landauer

Susan Landauer was an American art historian, author, and curator of modern and contemporary art based in California.

Susan Landauer worked for three decades, both independently and as chief curator of the San Jose Museum of Art and co-founder of the San Francisco Center for the Book.

Susan Landauer organized exhibitions that gained national attention; among the best known are: "The San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism", "Visual Politics: The Art of Engagement", and retrospectives of Elmer Bischoff, Roy De Forest, and Franklin Williams.

Susan Landauer's work was recognized with awards and grants from the International Association of Art Critics, National Endowment for the Arts and Henry Luce Foundation, among others.

Susan Landauer died of lung cancer at age 62 in Oakland on December 19,2020.

Susan Landauer grew up in Berkeley, four blocks from the University of California, Berkeley campus, where her mother, Barbara, studied art in preparation to becoming an interior designer.

Susan Landauer enrolled in graduate studies at Yale University, shifting focus to American art.

Susan Landauer's dissertation centered on mid-century San Francisco abstract expressionism, a topic that was initially controversial in her department, which questioned whether it merited rigorous investigation; after successfully defending her subject, she would convert the dissertation into her first book, The San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism.

Susan Landauer gained widespread attention for "The San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism", which was based on her Yale dissertation and won a regional museum show award from the International Art Critics Association.

Susan Landauer's accompanying book, Elmer Bischoff: The Ethics of Paint, characterized him as the "romantic" of Bay Area painters, detailing his lyrically improvisational paint handling, sensuous color, connection to the region and jazz music, and willingness to take risks in order to remain true to himself.

Susan Landauer continued to champion California work, while widening her scope to include underrepresented groups, idioms, and riskier sociopolitical themes, which in part reflected the community's entrepreneurial spirit, independent thought, and openness.

Susan Landauer enhanced the museum's art collection, particularly of works by California artists, some of which was documented in the book, Selections: The San Jose Museum of Art Permanent Collection.

Susan Landauer curated Rodriguez's first solo exhibition and one for Mexican photographer Manuel Alvarez Bravo.

Much of Susan Landauer's later writing focused on under-appreciated women artists, including catalogue essays for the exhibitions "The Dual Worlds of Bernice Bing" and "Women of Abstract Expressionism", and the catalogue, Her View: The Bay Area Figuration of Gail Chadell Nanao.

Susan Landauer contributed essays to catalogues on Richard Diebenkorn, Guy Diehl, and John Paul Jones, among others.

The De Forest show took on an under-recognized contrarian from the funk milieu of the late 1950s who Susan Landauer appreciated since childhood and set out to vindicate.