Kudos to our client, the Yolanda López Legacy Trust, on the acquisition by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery of one of Yolanda López’s paintings to display in its Washington, D.C., gallery. The work is titled Runner: Mandeville Center, from the series ¿A Donde Vas, Chicana? Getting through College. It depicts her running as an act of rebellion during her MFA studies at the University of California San Diego, where she felt isolated as a Chicana artist. Procopio’s Brooke Oliver facilitated the acquisition on behalf of the Trust.

The acquisition comes after Jill Dawsey, Senior Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCA), excavated López’s work from the artist’s archives. That led to a traveling exhibition that went to four California museums.

This is the latest acquisition of the late painter, printmaker, educator, film producer and activist. Other acquiring institutions include MCA, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the San Jose Museum of Art.

López passed away in San Francisco in 2021 at the age of 78. Tey Marianna Nunn, PhD, Director of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative, posted a memorial to the artist after her passing.