The Sonya Rapoport Legacy Trust has compiled this list of exhibitions and recognitions to highlight selected important events in Rapoport’s career, including a complete record of her solo exhibitions. A Bibliography section is forthcoming. Additional primary source documents are available via our Resources for Researchers page.
SONYA RAPOPORT
Née Goldberg. Born 1923, Brookline, MA. Died 2015, Berkeley, CA.
Sonya Rapoport Legacy Trust: sonyarapoport.org
Original Web Art Site: users.lmi.net/sonyarap/
Original Blog: sonyarapartblog.blogspot.com
Education
1949 – MA, Painting: University of California, Berkeley, CA
1946 – BA, Labor Economics: New York University, New York, NY
1946 – Corcoran School of Art, Washington, DC
1946 – Art Students League, New York, NY: Painting with Reginald Marsh
1943-1944 – Boston University, Boston, pursued MA in Biology
1942 – Columbia University, New York, NY: with John Dewey
1941-1942 – Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA
Solo Exhibitions
2024 – Digital Mudra, Bibeau Krueger, New York, NY
2023 – Sonya Rapoport: Force Fields, Casemore Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2022 – Sonya Rapoport: Fabric Paintings, Casemore Kirkeby, San Francisco, CA
2020 – Sonya Rapoport: biorhythm, San José Museum of Art, San José, CA
2020 – Frieze Art Fair, Spotlight, with Casemore Kirkeby Gallery, New York, NY
2019 – Sonya Rapoport: An Aesthetic Response, Casemore Kirkeby Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2018 – Rapoport Remembered, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
2015 – Sonya Rapoport: Final Works, Krowswork, Oakland, CA
2013 – ImPossible Conversations?, Fresno Museum of Art, Fresno, CA
2013 – Data Gathering Event, Martina }{ Johnston Gallery, Berkeley CA
2012 – The Nuclear Family in the Atomic Age, Zero1 Biennial, Performance Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
2012 – Spaces of Life: The Art of Sonya Rapoport, Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, CA
2011 – Sonya Rapoport: Pairings of Polarities, KALA Institute, Berkeley, CA
2007 – (in)AUTHENTIC: Woman, War, Jew, with Robert Edgar, Web Art
2004 – Kabbalah/Kabul: Sending Emanations to the Aliens, Web Art: users.lmi.net/sonyarap/, Berkeley, CA
2001 – Redeeming the Gene, Molding the Golem, Folding the Protein, Web Art: users.lmi.net/sonyarap/, Berkeley, CA
1999 – Make Me a Jewish Man, Web Art: users.lmi.net/sonyarap/, Berkeley, CA
1998 – Digital Mudra, Web Art: users.lmi.net/sonyarap/, Berkeley, CA
1998 – Arbor Erecta, Web Art: users.lmi.net/sonyarap/, Berkeley, CA
1997 – Make Me a Man, Web Art: users.lmi.net/sonyarap/, Berkeley, CA
1996 – Objective Connections, Web Art: users.lmi.net/sonyarap/, Berkeley, CA
1996 – Brutal Myths, Web Art: users.lmi.net/sonyarap/, Berkeley, CA
1995 – Smell Your Destiny, Web Art: users.lmi.net/sonyarap/, Berkeley, CA
1994 – The Transgenic Bagel, Web Art: users.lmi.net/sonyarap/, Berkeley, CA
1992 – Vuorovaekutus (Interaction), Kuopio Art Museum, Kuopio, Finland
1992 – The Animated Soul, Takada Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
1991 – The Animated Soul, Ghia Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1990 – Interactive Shoe-Field, Cadence Design Systems, San Jose, CA
1988 – Digital Mudra, Hearst Art Gallery, Saint Mary’s College of California, Moraga, CA
1987 – Digital Mudra, KALA Institute, Berkeley, CA
1986 – Shoe-Field, MEDIA, San Francisco, CA
1984 – Coping with Sexual Jealousy, ASUC Studio / Heller Gallery, University of California, Berkeley, CA
1984 – Shared Dynamics, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY
1984 – Paintings, Young Gallery, San Jose, CA
1983 – Back to Nature, Humboldt State University, Arcada, CA
1983 – Biorhythm: How Do You Feel?, WORKS, San Jose, CA
1982 – Biorhythm, Graduate School of Business Administration, New York University, New York, NY
1982 – A Shoe-In, Berkeley Computer Systems, Berkeley, CA
1982 – 20th Century Portrait, +LOCUS+, Los Angeles, CA
1982 – The Object Connection, Q Novelties, San Francisco, CA
1981 – Shared Dynamics, Artist Space; New York, NY
1981 – Shared Dynamics, New School for Social Research, New York, NY
1980 – Psycho-Aesthetic Dynamics, 80 Langton Street, San Francisco, CA
1979 – Pictorial Linguistics, Franklin Furnace, New York, NY
1979 – Bonito-Rapoport Shoes, Donnell Library Center, New York Public Library, New York, NY
1979 – Interaction: Art and Science, Truman Gallery, New York, NY
1978 – Sonya Rapoport, An Aesthetic Response, Union Gallery, San José State University, San José, CA
1976 – An Aesthetic Response, Tozzer Library, Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
1976 – An Aesthetic Response, Lonny Gans Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1975 – Sonya Rapoport: New Works, ADI Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1975 – Sonya Rapoport, Baxter Art Gallery, California Institute of Technology, Ventura, CA
1974 – Sonya Rapoport: Recent Drawings, E.B. Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, CA
1974 – Sonya Rapoport: Paintings, San José Museum of Art, San José, CA
1974 – Recent Work, Zara Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1974 – Small Paintings, Ames Gallery, Berkeley, CA
1974 – Mendocino County Library, Ukiah CA
1973 – Sonya Rapoport, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
1972 – Sonya Rapoport, John Bolles Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1970 – Recent Paintings, John Bolles Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1969 – Drawings and Paintings by Sonya Rapoport, Valley Art Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
1968 – Sonya Rapoport: Paintings and Drawings, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
1967 – Sonya Rapoport, John Bolles Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1965 – College of the Holy Names’ James D. Kennedy Memorial Art Center, Oakland, CA
1964 – Sonya Rapoport: Contrasts, John Bolles Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1963 – Sonya Rapoport Paintings and Drawings, The California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA
1961 – Berkeley Public Library, Berkeley CA
1958 – Sonya Rapoport, East West Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Group Exhibitions, Selected
2024 – Art Basel Miami Beach: “Survey” with Julie Casemore Gallery, Miami Beach Convention Center, FL
2024 – Radical Software: Women, Art & Computing. 1960–1991, MUDAM, Luxembourg
2024 – Digital Capture: Southern California and the Origins of the Pixel-Based Image World, UCR ARTS, Riverside, CA
2024 – Reshaping the Narrative: California Perspectives, Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, CA
2024 – Seeding the Frontier, The Bass School at UT Dallas and online
2023 – Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age, 1952-1982, LACMA, Los Angeles, CA
2023 – Ghost in the Machine, di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, Napa, CA
2023 – Portals, STARS Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2023 – More Than Meets AI, Worth Ryder Art Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2023 – West Coast Women of Abstract Expressionism, Barry Campbell Gallery, New York, NY
2022 – Untitled Art Fair, Miami Beach, with Casemore Gallery, Miami, FL
2020 – The Computer Pays its Debt: Women, Textiles, and Technology, 1965-1985, Center for Craft, Asheville, NC
2020 – Shifting Terrain – Works on Paper from the Collection, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA
2019 – Refiguring the Future, Hunter College Art Gallery, New York, NY
2018 – Chance and Control: Art in the Age of Computers, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
2018 – Way Bay, Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley CA
2017 – Hippie Modernism, Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA
2012 – Zero1 Biennial, Performance Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
2011 – Women of the Book: Jewish Artists / Jewish Themes, Park School of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD
2010 – Exhibition of Portraits and Self-Portraits, Meridian Gallery. San Francisco, CA
2009 – Venice Biennale, WikipediaArt Remix Project, Padiglione Internet, Venice, Italy
2008 – In Transition: Russia 2008, NeMe, National Centre for Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
2008 – Imaging by Numbers: A Historical View of the Computer Print, Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
2007 – BIOS 4: Arte Biotecnológico Y Ambiental, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Seville, Spain
2007, 06 – 4th International Symposium of Interactive Media, Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey
2006 – Whitney Biennial: included in The Tower by Mark di Suvero, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
2005 – 30 Years of Innovation, Center for Book Arts, New York, NY
2005 – Carcel de Amor: Violencia sin Cuerpos, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
2004 – San Francisco and the Second Wave, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
2003 – SETI Workshop: Encoding Altruism: Interstellar Messaging, Paris, France
2003, 02, 1999, 98, 94, 91 – Der Prix Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria and others
2002 – Bienal de Arte, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2000 – High Touch/High Tech, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
1999, 96, 95, 93 – ISEA (International Symposium on Electronic Art), São Paulo, Brazil and others
1999, 98, 97, 96, 95 – Digital Salon, Triennale di Milano, Italy and others
1998 – Out West: The Artist’s Book in California, Center for Book Arts, New York, NY
1998 – Boundless: Liberating the Book Form, San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, CA
1998, 95 – SIGGRAPH: Touchware, Orlando, FL; Los Angeles. CA
1997 – Mill Valley Film Festival, Mill Valley, CA
1997 – Fotofeis 97, Biennale Festival, Glasgow, Scotland
1996 – Annual Benefit Exhibition, Capp Street Project, San Francisco, CA
1996 – Generations: Lineage of Influence–Bay Area Art, Richmond Art Center, CA
1992 – Digital Concepts and Expressions, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, NY
1991 – Cross <+> Currents: Bookworks from the Edge of the Pacific, (traveling exhibition)
1990-95 – Book Arts in the United States, US Information Service, (traveling exhibition)
1990 – Interactive Installation (Shoe-Field), Cadence Design Systems, San José, CA
1990 – National Museum of Women, Washington, DC
1989 – A Video/Art Festival, The Multi Media Arts Gallery, New York
1989 – Revealing Conversations: Art and Technology in the Bay Area, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
1988 – Book Arts Exhibition, Cooper Union Gallery, New York, NY
1988 – Digital Concepts and Expressions, An Exhibition of Art Software, Tisch Art Gallery, New York University, New York, NY
1988 – Visual Poetry, Centro Cultural Center, São Paulo, Brazil
1987 – Documenta 8: Art Com – Digital Concepts, Kassel, West Germany
1987 – Jewish Themes/Northern California Artists, Judah L. Magnes Museum, San Francisco, CA
1985, 84 – SF/SF San Francisco/Science Fiction, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, CA
1985 – Future Histories: The Impact of Changing Technology, Anderson Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia
1984 – The First Decade, Center for Book Arts, New York Public Library, New York, NY
1983 – CADRE Exhibition & Conference, Foothill College and San José State University, CA
1982 – Libros de Artistas, Paseo de Recoletos, Madrid, Spain
1982 – Exhibition in Print / JOURNAL, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
1982 – Artists’ Books: From the Traditional to the Avant-Garde, Alexander Library, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
1982 – Bookworks: New Approaches to Artists Books, Franklin Furnace, New York, NY
1981 – Word/Image, Heller Gallery, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
1980 – Lucy Lippard Curates Women Artists’ Books, A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY
1980 – Point of Departure / R.S.V.P., moon gallery, Berry College, Mt. Berry, GA
1980 – Painting and Sculpture Today 1980, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
1980 – Art Documentation ‘80, Gallery Maki, Tokyo, Japan
1979 – Art and Technology, Center for the Visual Arts, Oakland, CA
1979 – Electronic Editions, Union Gallery, San José State University, San José, CA
1978 – Jock Truman Selects, Drew University, Madison, NJ
1978 – Artists Soap Box Derby, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
1977 – New Talent, Truman Gallery, New York, NY
1977 – Drawings, Union Gallery, San José State University, San José, CA
1977 – The Works, Lonny Gans, Los Angeles, CA
1977 – A Feminist Point of View, Sacramento State University, CA
1976 – Vance Martin & Co., Triangle Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1975 – California Landscape: A Metaview, Oakland Art Museum, Oakland, CA
1975 – Interstices, San José Museum of Art, CA & Cranbrook Academy of Art, MI
1974 – San Francisco Scene, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
1974 – San Francisco Artists, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MA
1973 – 15th Anniversary, Bolles Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1973 – Sonya Rapoport & Esther Hammerman, Aimes Gallery, Berkeley, CA
1972 – Painting Show, College of Marin, Kentfield, CA
1972 – Anhalt Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1972 – Adam Gallery, New York, NY
1971 – Serigraphs, Pagent Gallery, Miami, FL
1970 – Ward-Nasse Gallery, Boston, MA
1969 – American Graphics, College of the Pacific, Stockton, CA
1967 – Women Prize Painters, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
1967 – The Art of Collage, Junior Center of Arts, Oakland, CA
1965 – 100 American Drawings, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
1965, 64, 63, 60, 58, 57, 50, 49 – San Francisco Women Artists, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
1965 – Salon des Refuses from 80th San Francisco Museum of Art Painting Annual, Bolles Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1965 – The Jew in Art, Temple Rodef Sholom, Santa Venetia, CA
1965 – L’Exposition D’Artistes, Oakland Jewish Community Center, Oakland, CA
1965 – From the West Exhibition, Art Bank of the San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
1964 – New Images of San Francisco, M.H. de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
1964 – Arts of San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
1963 – Major Group Show, Bolles Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1963 – Fourth Winter Invitational, Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA
1963, 62, 61 – Abstract Expressionism in the West, (traveling exhibition)
1963, 62, 61, 60, 58, 56, 51, 50 – San Francisco Art Institute Drawing and Printing Annuals, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA
1962 – Artists for Free Speech, Berkeley Gallery, Berkeley, CA
1962 – Contemporary Trends, Valley Art Center, Moraga, CA
1957, 56, 55, 53 – SF Art Institute Watercolor Annuals, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA
1955 – San Francisco Art Festival, Civic Center, San Francisco, CA
1954 – Western Painter’s Annual Exhibition, Oakland Art Museum, Oakland, CA
1953 – The Twenty-Five, Lucien Labaudt Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1950 – Annual Exhibition: Oil Paintings and Sculpture, Oakland Art Museum, Oakland, CA
1949 – State Wide Exhibit, Fresno State College, Fresno, CA
1949 – Seventeenth Annual Exhibition: Water Colors, Pastels, Drawings and Prints, Oakland Art Gallery, Oakland, CA
1949 – San Francisco Women Artists: Twenty-Fourth Annual Exhibition, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA
Lectures, Selected
2004 – Art, Technology and Culture Colloquium, University of California, Berkeley, CA
2004 – San Francisco Art Institute, Digital Studies Program, San Francisco, CA
2000 – Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
2000 – High Touch / High Tech, ALA Institute, Berkeley, CA
1989 – Artists Turning Process Into Pattern, Lecture, YLEM Forum, Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA
1989 – Women Humanizing Technology, Lecture, Women’s Caucus for Art, San Francisco, CA
1987 – Is There a Jewish Art?, Panel Discussion, Judah Magnes Museum, Berkeley, CA
1984 – My Work Using the Computer, Lecture, Sarah Lawrence College, NY
1981 – In the New York Art World, Lecture, New School for Social Research, New York, NY
1980 – My Work in a Technological Age, Lecture, SF Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
1980 – Interdisciplinary Concepts for Aesthetic Expression, Oakland Art Association, CA
Grants, Commissions, Awards
1995 – Festival of Independent Audio/Visual Arts Online
1995 – Finalist, Voyager Competition
1988 – California Art Council Grant, ACEN Telecommunication Project
1985 – Eyes and Ears Foundation
1979 – San José State University Foundation Commission, Union Gallery
1976 – Painting Commission, City of Hayward Hall of Justice
1967 – San Francisco Art Commission Purchase Award, SF Arts Festival
1966, 59 – Jurors Award, Richmond Art Center
1965, 63, 61, 58 – San Francisco Women Artist Awards
Collections
3M Corporation
Amax Aluminum
Arthur Young & Company
Arduro Biotech
B. Clyde Cohen Collection
Bake’n Joy Foods, Inc
Bank of Japan
Berkeley Art Museum, University of California
The Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University
Cadence Design Systems
City of San Francisco Art Commission
College of Arts and Crafts Alumni Fund
Columbia Motion Pictures
Computer Election Systems
Crocker Art Museum of California
University of Cincinnati, Artists’ Book collection
David Keaton Collection
Dean Witter and Company
Mrs. Ferdinand Smith Collection
First National Bank, Sunset Blvd.
Fluor Corporation
Franklin Furnace Archives
George Blair Collection
Getty Research Institute
Grey Art Gallery, New York University
Hall of Justice, Hayward California
Indianapolis Museum of Art
Jock Truman and Eric Green Collection
John Bolles Collection
Kaiser Industries
Kala Art Institute
Langsam Library, University of Cincinnati
Lloyd Bank
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Lucy Lippard Collection of Artists Books
Lytton Savings & Loan, European American Bank
Mills College Art Museum
New York Museum of Modern Art
Oakland Museum of California
Peter Huttinger Collection
Philadelphia Museum of Art Library
Prudential Life Insurance
Quenza Collection, USA
Rene di Rosa Preserve
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
San José Museum of Art
San José State University Foundation
Sanwa Bank
Simpson Lee Paper Company
Staatliche Museen, Berlin
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Richard Candida-Smith Collection
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
United States Information Service
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Vintage House