Fred Martin papers, circa 1949-2022

Fred Martin (1927-2022) was a painter, author, arts administrator, and educator in San Francisco, California.

Born in San Francisco on June 13, 1927, Martin's family relocated to the East Bay when he was a child, and he was raised in Alameda and Oakland primarily. Focusing on art early in his life, Martin received his bachelor's degree in 1949 and master's degree in 1954, both from the University of California at Berkeley. Soon after graduation Martin began working as a registrar at the Oakland Art Museum for four years before joining the San Francisco Art Institute (then known as the California School of Fine Arts) as a gallery director and faculty member. He served as the director of the San Francisco Art Institute from 1965 until 1975, after which he continued teaching and was later named the Emeritus Dean of Academic Affairs.

Martin had his first solo exhibition in 1949 at the Contemporary Gallery in Sausalito, California, and his work was included that same year in a group exhibition of painting and sculpture at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The Oakland Museum of California organized a retrospective exhibition in 2003.

Martin's writing was key to his practice and shaped his artistic and teaching careers. He served as a contributing editor to Artweek from 1976-1992. He also authored a number of artists' books including Beulah Land, published by Crown Point Press in 1966; A Travel Book, published by Arion Press in 1977; and From an Antique Land, published in 1979 by Green Gates Press. His work is represented in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Oakland Art Museum, the Richmond Art Center, the Crocker Art Museum, the Fogg Museum at Harvard University, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Martin continued to teach until his retirement in 2016. He passed away at his home in Berkeley, California on October 8, 2022.