San José Museum of Art

See what you think.

Surf Culture: The Art History of Surfing

  • A black and white photograph of surfers standing in front of their long boards at a beach. A caption reads Santa Cruz Surfing Club, June, 1941. Their names are superimposed over their surfboards, some of which are almost 3 times as tall as the surfers!

    Santa Cruz Surfing Club, 1941, Collection of Harry Mayo 

  • A black and white photograph of rows of worn out white surfboards—some long, while others short—are a bright contrast to the dark room where they are piled. It feels sterile, stagnant, quite. Not the ocean.

    Anthony Friedkin, Surfboard Blanks, 1978, gelatin silver print, 16 x 20 inches, Courtesy of the artist 

  • Rick Griffin, Tales From the Tube, 1973, comic book, 9-1/4 x 7-14 inches 

  • Margaret Kilgallen, 
    Linda Mar, 1999, 
    color sugarlift and spitbite 
    aquatint etching, 
    26 x 19 inches 

  • Ambrose Patterson, Surfriders, Honolulu, c.1915, wood block print, Collection of Randy Hild 

  • Sandow Birk, 
    North Swell (Washington Crossing the Delaware), 
    1990, oil on canvas, 
    37-1/2 x 63 inches, 
    Collection Laguna Art Museum 

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    This major exhibition surveyed the connection between the visual arts and surfing and filled the entire second floor of the Museum’s New Wing. Organized by the Orange County–based Laguna Art Museum, the exhibition was featured in the New York Times as well as numerous other national publications throughout its tour with stops in Hawaii and Virginia.

    The Mercury News and NBC-11 were media sponsors of the Surf Culture exhibition. Additional support was provided by Quiksilver.

    Sponsors

    • City of San Jose
    • National Endowment of the Arts
    • he California Arts Council
    • William Randolph Hearst Education Endowment
    • The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
    • Quiksilver
    • Mercury News and NBC-11
    • Koret Foundation
    • Hewlett-Packard Company