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.
One document suggests that in 2001, Epstein donated a work of software art by John F. Simon Jr. to the museum’s permanent collection under a rare “fractional ownership” 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.
“I want to express my deep appreciation for your continued support in building our collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,” Neal Benezra, the museum’s director at the time, wrote to Epstein in 2009. “Your wonderful generosity has, indeed, contributed to making SFMOMA one of the premier venues for modern and contemporary art. It is our community’s shared dedication to art and its capacity to enrich lives that has grounded this enterprise for 75 years.”…