{"id":166106,"date":"2026-02-06T03:02:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T03:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/166106\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T03:02:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T03:02:23","slug":"jeffrey-epsteins-hidden-ties-to-san-franciscos-museum-of-modern-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/166106\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s hidden ties to San Francisco\u2019s Museum of Modern Art"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years, rumors have swirled that disgraced financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein contributed a work of art to the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Those rumors seemed to be confirmed Friday, when the Justice Department released a fresh tranche of about 3 million documents relating to Epstein.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One document suggests that in 2001, Epstein donated a work of software art by John F. Simon Jr. to the museum\u2019s permanent collection under a rare \u201cfractional ownership\u201d agreement, in which Epstein and the museum shared the title. Another email suggests that Epstein may have financially supported work by former MIT professor Neri Oxman, a project that was later shown at the museum.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to express my deep appreciation for your continued support in building our collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,\u201d Neal Benezra, the museum\u2019s director at the time, wrote to Epstein in 2009. \u201cYour wonderful generosity has, indeed, contributed to making SFMOMA one of the premier venues for modern and contemporary art. It is our community\u2019s shared dedication to art and its capacity to enrich lives that has grounded this enterprise for 75 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benezra encouraged Epstein to contact the museum\u2019s media art curator, Rudolf Frieling, with any questions.<\/p>\n

Benezra and Frieling, both of whom joined the museum after the acquisition of the Simon work, did not respond to requests for comment. Benezra resigned in 2021.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Information on the artwork attached in Benezra\u2019s letter suggests that SFMOMA acquired Simon\u2019s \u201cComplexCity\u201d in 2001 under the directorship of David A. Ross, an art writer and curator. Ross resigned Wednesday as department chair at New York\u2019s School of Visual Arts after his decades-long friendship with Epstein came to light (opens in new tab)<\/a>. Ross served as director of SFMOMA from 1998 until 2001, resigning due to economic constraints (opens in new tab)<\/a>, according to reports at the time.<\/p>\n

An email in the Justice Department files released Friday indicates that Epstein attempted to reach Ross through his old SFMOMA email address as late as 2015.<\/p>\n

\"AComplexCity by John F. Simon Jr., 2000, software, Apple PowerBook G3, and acrylic. <\/p>\n

The letter described \u201cComplexCity\u201d as a \u201cfractional and promised gift of Jeffrey Epstein,\u201d with SFMOMA holding a 20% ownership interest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The value of the artwork is not known, but another Simon piece from the same year sold at Christie\u2019s (opens in new tab)<\/a> for $3,000 in 2017.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Standard spoke in September and October with former employees of SFMOMA who said the mutually owned \u201cComplexCity\u201d had been the subject of gossip inside the museum for years, though none could confirm details on it or whether it remained in the collection.<\/p>\n

In light of the newly released emails, a spokesperson for SFMOMA characterized Benezra\u2019s letter as a standard form communication containing general donor language, adding that the museum has no records indicating Epstein provided support after 2001. The spokesperson said \u201cComplexCity\u201d\u00a0 was deaccessioned in October 2019 \u2014 two months after Epstein was found dead in his jail cell \u2014 and the museum\u2019s interest transferred back to the artist. The work was never exhibited at SFMOMA, and the deaccession did not result in a financial loss for the museum, the spokesperson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The death masks<\/p>\n

Epstein came into SFMOMA\u2019s orbit in other ways, too, according to newly unearthed emails from 2017.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oxman, the Israeli designer and wife to billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, thanked Epstein in a June 2017 email for his support of her series of experimental \u201cdeath masks (opens in new tab)<\/a>,\u201d writing that the collection would travel to MoMA in New York and SFMOMA in the coming years.<\/p>\n

Two months later, Oxman sent a series of emails to Epstein soliciting additional funding for another project involving the masks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to pick your brain and see if you\u2019d like to help support another Death Mask-like collection,\u201d she wrote. \u201cVespers would have not come to life without you,\u201d she continued, referring to her series of masks (opens in new tab)<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In December 2017, one month after Epstein\u2019s assistant, Lelsey Groff, and Oxman coordinated a dinner with Woody Allen and his wife at Epstein\u2019s home, the correspondence became even more specific.<\/p>\n

Oxman wrote that while she had raised money for a new project \u201cbased off of the death masks, moving to architectural scales,\u201d they were looking for an additional $25,000 to $50,000. She asked Epstein directly if he could contribute.<\/p>\n

\u201c25k,\u201d Epstein responded affirmatively, and quickly. \u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oxman replied with enthusiasm: \u201cWow that would be amazing. Thank you so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oxman\u2019s next work with the death masks, \u201cVespers II\u201d was included in her 2022 SFMOMA show \u201cNature x Humanity (opens in new tab)<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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