SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art announced the appointment of Anna Katz as the Doris and Donald Fisher Senior Curator and Head of Painting and Sculpture. She will be the first person to hold the position since it was recently endowed by the Fisher family in honor of Doris and Donald Fisher’s deep love of art and artists and decades-long investment in SFMOMA. Katz joins SFMOMA from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), where she most recently served as senior curator. She will begin in her position at SFMOMA on August 17, 2026.
In her new role, Katz will work closely with Christopher Bedford, Helen and Charles Schwab Director, and Janet Bishop, Thomas Weisel Family Chief Curator, in tandem with the full Department of Painting and Sculpture staff, to develop the vision for the department and guide its exhibition and acquisition strategies going forward. This includes stewarding the museum’s extensive painting and sculpture collection and the celebrated Fisher Collection at SFMOMA. As part of her essential leadership role, Katz will also be integral to the museum’s effort to cultivate engagement with a wide range of audiences and stakeholders.
Katz brings nearly two decades of experience to SFMOMA and is recognized for her deep commitment to art historical research and thoughtful collaborations with contemporary artists, developed over many years. Her curatorial work is guided by a belief that popular appeal and scholarly rigor can live together as part of a cohesive whole and many of her projects have considered the relationships between art and the social concerns of daily life.
“Anna’s longstanding interest in writing new social art histories aligns beautifully with SFMOMA’s own vision to break down the barriers between art and life,” said Bedford. “We are delighted to welcome Anna to SFMOMA where her incredible insight, passion and work ethic will be essential to driving our museum forward and supporting the realization of our greatest ambitions in service to our communities. I know she will be an invaluable member of our team.”
“My love for SFMOMA dates to my undergraduate years at UC Berkeley, when I became a student member of the museum. I could not be happier to be returning to the Bay Area and joining this extraordinary institution, with its unmatched collection and sterling exhibition history,” said Katz. “Indeed, I am honored and thrilled to be working with SFMOMA’s staff and board and Bay Area art communities at a time when the commitment to the public life of art and ideas is more important than ever.”
Over the course of her 11-year tenure at MOCA, Katz presented an extensive array of exhibitions—many of which were accompanied by publications—that revealed new scholarship, including Ordinary People: Photorealism and the Work of Art since 1968 (2024), a large-scale survey that reexamined the postwar art movement of photorealism and its social contexts, and With Pleasure: Pattern and Decoration in American Art 1972–1985 (2019), the first full-scale scholarly survey of the groundbreaking American art movement. Her recent curatorial projects include MOCA Focus: Takako Yamaguchi (2025); MOCA Focus: Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio (2023); Judith F. Baca: World Wall (2022); and Pipilotti Rist: Big Heartedness, Be My Neighbor (2021). Katz’s recent collection shows include The Expanding Field: MOCA’s Collection from the 1940s to 1970s (2026), Good on Paper: Works from the Gene J. and Betye M. Burton Acquisitions Endowment (2026) and Long Story Short (2023). At MOCA, she was also the head of the Drawings and Photography Acquisition Committee, responsible for actively diversifying the collection through acquisitions of works by Asco, Paz Errzuriz, Len Ferrari, Cynthia Hawkins, Christine Sun Kim, Yolanda Lpez, Senga Nengudi, Diane Severin Nguyen, Liliana Porter, Shizu Saldamando, Joey Terrill and John Valadez, among many others.
Katz previously held the position of Joan Tisch Teaching Fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2008–13) and has worked as a lecturer and adjunct professor at a range of colleges and universities, including Pratt Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, and Occidental College, among others. She has served as a visiting critic and juror and panelist for a wide array of artist awards and initiatives. She holds a Ph.D. in art and archaeology from Princeton University and a B.A. in history of art from the University of California, Berkeley.
