Left to right: Soho News, Featuring a Map of Soho Galleries, Issue #1, 1973. SOHO Con/Fidential, John Wilcock’s zine-like news handout, No. 3, 1976. Art Now Soho Guide, Cover with Ivan Karp, 27-Page Publication, 1984. All of these items are available for sale.
Over time, New York’s art districts have moved from neighborhood to neighborhood. Perhaps the most successful of these districts was SoHo, a gallery center that emerged in the early 1970s, and remained vital through the early 2000s.
When a few venturesome artists first moved into the area in the 1960s it was a desolate, uninhabited area of onetime factories and warehouses. The low rents and large spaces that brought in these pioneering artists also attracted galleries, which began moving into the area in the late 60s and early 70s. Already by 1975 there were 85 galleries; by 1980 there were over 100; and the number went on growing.
While uptown galleries in wealthy neighborhoods could be intimidating to some, the SoHo galleries with their clean, open spaces seemed welcoming. The appreciation of art, an activity previously reserved for the enjoyment of the elite, now became a popular pastime enjoyed by large, diverse audiences. SoHo became a destination, especially on Saturdays — the day new exhibitions traditionally opened. Soon galleries were joined by bars, restaurants, and boutiques, and Soho was transformed into one of New York’s most fashionable neighborhoods.
Gallery 98 has selected below art ephemera connected to some of the first SoHo galleries. Needless to say, there is much more to be found in our inventory, so please stay alert to the links. Future newsletters will explore other art districts like Tribeca, East Village and Chelsea.
Paula Cooper Gallery – 96 Prince Street – 1968
Christopher Wilmarth, Sculpture, Paula Cooper Gallery, Flyer, 1971. Flyer Size: 9 x 11 inches — Available for Purchase. This flyer features a photograph of the artist with the staff of Fanelli Cafe, one of the few bars then operating in Soho.
Lyndia Benglis, “For Darkness”, Card, Paula Cooper Gallery, 1971. Card Size: 6.75 Inches x 9.25 inches — Available for Purchase
Paula Cooper is credited with opening the first commercial gallery in SoHo after her initial exposure to the neighborhood while working for a downtown artist co-operative gallery. As many of the artists she first represented were sculptors, she was drawn by the large spaces.
See more ephemera from Paula Cooper Gallery
OK Harris Gallery – 465 West Broadway – 1969
Robert Bechtle, OK Harris Gallery, Folded Poster, 1971. Poster Size: 21.5 x 27.5 inches — Available for Purchase
Stephen Posen, OK Harris Gallery, Card, Early 1970s. Card Size: 6.25 x 8 Inches — Available for Purchase
Ivan Karp had worked with New York’s preeminent art dealer Leo Castelli for ten years before opening his own gallery OK Harris in SoHo in 1969. The gallery’s early specialty was Photorealism, a style that greatly appealed to the lay audiences “gallery hopping” in SoHo on Saturdays.
See more ephemera from OK Harris
The Gallery Building – 420 West Broadway – 1971
Fred W. McDarrah (photographer), gallery goers crowd The Gallery Building at 420 West Broadway on the occasion of four simultaneous openings, 1971.
The opening of the gallery building 420 West Broadway in 1971 signaled the assent of SoHo as a major art district. Although Paula Cooper and Ivan Karp can be credited with opening the first galleries in Soho, they were also fledgling dealers representing young artists just beginning to be established. The 420 galleries were run by top-tier gallerists like Leo Castelli and Andre Emmerich who exhibited some of the most successful artists of the 1960s.
Leo Castelli Gallery – 420 West Broadway – First Floor
Robert Rauschenberg, Hoarfrost Series, Poster, Castelli Gallery & Sonnabend Gallery, 1974. Poster Size: 10.5 x 21 inches — Available for Purchase
Roy Lichtenstein, The Artist’s Studio, 3-Fold Card with multiple illustrations, Leo Castelli Gallery, 1974. Card Size: 7.5 x 9.5 Inches — Available for Purchase
Before moving to SoHo, Leo Castelli operated out of an elegant Upper East Side townhouse best suited for modestly sized paintings. His gallery in SoHo allowed artists like Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein to dramatically increase the scale of their works.
See more ephemera from Leo Castelli Gallery
Sonnabend Gallery – 420 West Broadway – Second Floor
Mel Bochner, 7 Properties of Between, Card, Sonnabend Gallery, 1972. Card Size: 5 x 9 Inches — Available for Purchase
Piero Manzoni, Sonnabend Gallery, Card, 1972. Card Size: 5.5 x 7 inches. — Available for Purchase. The photograph shows Manzoni with one of his inflatable sculptures containing “The Artist’s Breath.”
Ileana Sonnabend, who had run a gallery in Paris, was married to Leo Castelli. Often the two dealers worked together mounting large, ambitious, two gallery exhibitions. Sonnabend favored European artists and those working at the most challenging edges of minimalism and conceptual art.
See more from Sonnabend Gallery
John Weber Gallery – 420 West Broadway – Third Floor
Hans Haacke, Visitor’s Profile: Results, Card, John Weber Gallery, 1973 — Available for Purchase
Daniel Buren, To Place, works in situ done in gallery window, John Weber Gallery, Card, 1976. Card Size: 4 x 7 inches — Available for Purchase
John Weber had worked with the Virginia Dwan Gallery in Los Angeles and New York before opening his own gallery in the high profile 420 building. His stable of minimal and conceptual artists was just as extreme as those shown at Sonnabend.
See more from John Weber Gallery
John Gibson Gallery – 392 West Broadway – 1972
Joseph Beuys, Collected Editions II: New Additions to the Largest Collection of Beuys’ Multiple Objects, Prints, Posters, Books and Catalogues, John Gibson Gallery, Card, 1974. Card Size: 4 x 6 inches — Available for Purchase
James Collins, John Gibson Gallery, Card with Handwritten Inscription by Collins to the Art Writer Alan Moore on Reverse Side, 1975. Card Size: 4 x 6 inches — Available for Purchase
John Gibson specialized in “body art,” “narrative art,” “performance art” and other modes of conceptualism. Originally located on the Upper East Side his gallery moved to West Broadway soon after the opening of the 420 galleries nearby.
See more from John Gibson Gallery
Holly Solomon Gallery – 392 West Broadway – 1975
George Schneeman, Fresco Paintings, Card, Holly Solomon Gallery, 1979. Card Size: 5.5 x 8 inches — Available for Purchase
Kim MacConnel, Furnishings, Holly Solomon Gallery, Card, 1977. Tag Size: 2.75 x 5.25 Inches — Available for Purchase
The Holly Solomon Gallery was part of a second wave of gallery openings in SoHo in the mid-1970s. Already well known as the subject of a famous Andy Warhol portrait, Solomon was a flamboyant presence who exhibited a wide diversity of art before becoming a leading proponent of the Pattern and Decoration movement.
See more from Holly Solomon Gallery
SoHo News, Greetings From SoHo, Summer, Card, c. 1980s. Card Size: 5.5 x 7.5 inches — Available for Purchase
