Charles Desmarais has spent a long career in the visual arts, most recently as the San Francisco Chronicle’s Art Critic, a position from which he retired in 2020. Since coming to San Francisco in 2011 as President of the San Francisco Art Institute, he’s been deeply engaged in the Bay Area scene. Prior to his move here, he was Deputy Director for Art at the Brooklyn Museum from 2004 to 2011, where he oversaw 10 curatorial departments, as well as the museum’s education, exhibitions, conservation and library activities. As a museum director, Desmarais has served at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati (1995-2004); the Laguna Art Museum (1988-1994); and the California Museum of Photography at the University of California, Riverside (1981-1988). His extensive experience as an art writer and critic includes articles and essays in Afterimage, American Art, Art in America, California magazine, Exposure, Grand Street, and elsewhere. He authored a regular column, “On Art,” for the Riverside Press-Enterprise from 1987 to 1988. Desmarais is a recipient of the 2017 Rabkin Prize for Visual Arts Journalism, and was awarded an Art Critic’s Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1979. He has spent the years between as an avid lover of art, friend of artists and leader of arts institutions.