Back in 1982, Mary Boone was celebrated on the cover New York Magazine as the “New Queen of The Art Scene.” But in 2019 her career abruptly ended when she was forced to close her gallery, and serve six months in prison for tax fraud. Now Boone has returned, serving as the celebrity co-curator (along with Brett Gorvy) of the excellent exhibition Downtown/Uptown: New York in the Eighties at the Lévy Gorvy Dayan gallery.
Boone certainly knows 1980s art. The gallery she opened in 1977 is credited with helping to define the decade with a series of exhibitions by then largely unknown artists who quickly achieved wide acclaim. These artists — Julian Schnabel, David Salle, Ross Bleckner, Francesco Clemente, Eric Fischl and Jean Michel Basquiat— are now a prominent part of the Lévy Gorvy Dayan exhibition. Joining these “Neo-Expressionist” painters in the exhibition, are photographers and conceptual artists mostly associated with Metro Pictures Gallery and the Pictures Generation movement.
Gallery 98 has a large collection of Mary Boone Gallery ephemera. Below are early cards and posters connected to Schnabel, Salle, Bleckner, Clemente, Basquiat, and Fischl. Visit our Mary Boone collection page to learn more about her gallery’s full history.
Mary Boone Gallery: A History in Art Ephemera
Ross Bleckner
Ross Bleckner, Mary Boone Gallery, Card, 1979. Size: 4.25 x 5 inches — Available to Purchase
Ross Bleckner was one of the first artists to show with Mary Boone. He remained with her over the years, with a total of 16 solo exhibitions.
Julian Schnabel
Julian Schnabel, Mary Boone Gallery, Card, 1979. Size: 4.25 x 5 inches — Available for Purchase
Boone launched her gallery in a tiny ground-floor space at 420 West Broadway in Soho’s most prestigious building. Her gallery was small, but it brought her and her artists into proximity with some of the art world’s top dealers.
Julian Schnabel, Leo Castelli Gallery & Mary Boone Gallery, Poster, 1981. Size: 18 x 36 inches — Available for Purchase
Julian Schnabel’s dual exhibition at the Boone Gallery and Leo Castelli Gallery in 1981, was a major event that not only launched Schnabel’s career and Boone’s gallery, it also publicized “Neo-Expressionism” as a prominent new 80s art style.
David Salle
David Salle, Photo by Robert Cumming, Mary Boone Gallery, Folded Card, 1981. Size: 5 x 7 inches — Available for Purchase
David Salle’s paintings juxtapose assorted images and unusual materials in evocative ways. Many of his early works included female nudes.
David Salle, Leo Castelli Gallery & Mary Boone Gallery, Poster, 1982. Size: 27.5 x 37 inches — Available for Purchase
Salle’s two-gallery exhibition in 1982 marked the second successful collaboration between Boone and Castelli.
Moving From 420 West Broadway to 417 West Broadway
Group Exhibitions marking her move to 417 West Broadway, Photo by Alan Zindman, Mary Boone Gallery, Folded Card, 1981. Size: 5 x 7 inches
The Mary Boone Gallery secured its place in the art world when it moved across the street from 420 to 417 West Broadway, transforming a large garage space into an elegant minimalist gallery.
Francesco Clemente
Francesco Clemente, Sperone Westwater & Mary Boone Gallery, Card, 1983. Size: 9.25 x 12.25 inches — Available for Purchase
The revival of figurative painting was not just an American phenomenon, but also a prominent trend in European art in the 1980s. Boone showed many German artists, as well as, the popular Italian artist Francesco Clemente.
Francesco Clemente, Mary Boone Gallery, Card and Envelope, 1983. Size: 7 x 5 inches — Available for Purchase
Clemente had many solo exhibitions at the Boone Gallery right through the early years of the 21st century.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Mary Boone & Michael Werner Gallery, Card, March 1985. Size: 5 x 7 inches
By the mid-1980s the Mary Boone Gallery was widely recognized as one of New York’s top art venues with its choice of artists: Jean-Michel Basquiat had solo exhibitions there in 1984 and 1985.
Eric Fischl
Eric Fischl, Mary Boone Gallery & Michael Werner Gallery, Folded Card, 1987. Size: 7 x 10 inches — Available for Purchase
Eric Fischl started showing with Boone in the early 1980s, and continued his association with her gallery for over 30 years.
Eric Fischl, Holy Man, Mary Boone Gallery, Folded Card, 1990. Size: 6 x 8.25 inches — Available for Purchase
While many of Boone’s artists juxtaposed discordant imagery and materials in paintings reminiscent of collages, Fischl favored visually unified scenes ripe with sexuality and voyeurism.
