Thu 18 Nov 2021 to Thu 30 Dec 2021
521 W 26th Street, 1st & 2nd Floor, NY 10001 Wild and Brilliant: The Martha Jackson Gallery and Post-War Art
Tue-Sat 11am-5pm
Hollis Taggart presents the first major exhibition about the trailblazing collector and gallerist Martha Jackson to take place in New York City. From 1953 to 1969, New York’s Martha Jackson Gallery displayed the work of many young, emerging artists who would go on to become internationally renowned household names, including Grace Hartigan, Alfred Jensen, Willem de Kooning, Louise Nevelson, and Bob Thompson.
Untitled, 1959
Watercolor on paper
508.0 × 762.0 mm
© 2021 Sam Francis FoundaLon, California / ArLsts Rights Society (ARS), NY
Tun, 1959
Oil on canvas
1016.0 × 1168.0 mm
© 2021 Estate of Alfred Jensen / ArLsts Rights Society (ARS), New York
Fusion, circa 1965
Copper and glass
571.0 × 216.0 × 365.0 mm
© The Falkenstein FoundaLon; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
Composition, circa 1960
Acrylic on canvas
552.0 × 464.0 mm
© 2021 Karel Appel FoundaLon / ArLsts Rights Society (ARS), New York / c/o Pictoright Amsterdam
Acrylic on canvas
838.0 × 864.0 mm
Signed lower right: "Paul Jenkins" © Estate of Paul Jenkins 2021 / licensed by ADAGP
Oil on canvas
508.0 × 914.0 mm
© The Estate of Josephine Johnson; Courtesy of steven harvey fine art projects
Oil on canvas
356.0 × 457.0 mm
Courtesy of The Estate of Fritz Bultman / © The Estate of Fritz Bultman
Cascade, circa 1955
Oil on canvas
1372.0 × 1880.0 mm
Courtesy of Benedict and Jacob Carton
Bronze, mounted on painted steel base
635.0 × 1409.7 × 215.9 mm
Edition of 2© Copyright 2021 Arnaldo Pomodoro Catalogue Raisonné. All rights reserved. / Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro
Oil on canvas construction
1092.0 × 2337.0 × 152.0 mm
Courtesy of the artist; © Sven Lukin
Acrylic on canvas
559.0 × 559.0 mm
© Julian Stanczak; Courtesy of the arLst and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York
Gouache and ink on paper
914.0 × 610.0 mm
Signed upper center: "JIM DINE" © 2021 Jim Dine / ArLsts Rights Society (ARS), New York
Oil and paper collage on canvas
762.0 × 711.0 mm
Signed and dated verso: "Goldberg '63" © Estate of Michael Goldberg; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
Cloud Drama, 1962
Oil on canvas
991.0 × 1270.0 mm
Signed, dated, and titled verso: "John Hultberg / 1962 / CLOUD-DRAME" © Estate of John Hultberg
Collage, 1974
Black paint, paper, and cardboard on wood board
610.0 × 927.0 × 25.0 mm
© 2021 Estate of Louise Nevelson / ArLsts Rights Society (ARS), New York
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Wild and Brilliant: The Martha Jackson Gallery and Post-War Art features over twenty works that were either exhibited at The Martha Jackson Gallery or which are similar to works that were shown there. The exhibition also includes archival materials, such as letters, photographs, and exhibition catalogues, from the Martha Jackson Gallery Archives at the University at Buffalo Anderson Gallery.
Martha Jackson (1907-1969) was born Martha Kellogg in Buffalo, New York. In 1940, she married attorney David Jackson, with whom she moved to Baltimore during the war. While there, Jackson studied art history at John Hopkins University and the Baltimore Museum of Art before returning to Buffalo and being appointed to the advisory council of the Albright Art Gallery (now the Albright-Knox Art Gallery). In 1949, newly divorced, she moved to New York City, where she became the student and friend of the artist and teacher Hans Hofmann, who encouraged her to open a gallery. In 1953, the Martha Jackson Gallery opened at 22 East 66th Street. Jackson quickly became known for her artist-centered approach, exceptional eye, and embrace of experimental and international perspectives.
Jackson’s exhibition program challenged the national and stylistic boundaries that shaped the art world during the mid-twentieth century. In her autobiography, Jackson wrote, “My basic objective for the gallery was to create a place where artists of similar vitality and creativeness from diverse countries and working in a diversity of personal idioms could be brought together.” Promoting an understanding of post-war art as shaped by cultural crosscurrents, Jackson brought together artists from around the world, offering New York debuts to artists such as Karel Appel, Sam Francis, Alfred Jensen, Louise Nevelson, and Bob Thompson. The Martha Jackson Gallery was also instrumental in promoting Abstract Expressionism, exhibiting the work of Norman Bluhm, Willem de Kooning, Michael Goldberg, and Adolph Gottlieb, among others.
“Over the past decade, through both the artists we choose to represent and the exhibitions we organize, the gallery team and I have been striving to tell a more comprehensive story of post-war art movements, including Abstract Expressionism, Pop art, and Op art,” said Hollis Taggart. “We’re thrilled to continue this with Wild and Brilliant, which illuminates the contributions of a trailblazing female gallerist, who, despite her seminal role in shaping art history, remains less well-known than her male contemporaries.” Curated by art historian and former Director of Exhibitions at Hollis Taggart, Jillian Russo, Wild and Brilliant brings together works by a number of artists Hollis Taggart has worked with or exhibited before, including Norman Bluhm, Sam Francis, Grace Hartigan, Hans Hofmann, and Sven Lukin, among others.
Works featured in Wild and Brilliant that were displayed in exhibitions at the Martha Jackson Gallery include: John Hultberg’s Cloud Drama (from 1962; displayed at Martha Jackson in 1964), Grace Hartigan’s Parson Brown, and Sven Lukin’s Broken Heart, Open Form (both from 1962; both displayed in solo shows at Martha Jackson that same year). Following Jackson’s death in 1969, her son, David Anderson, donated her collection to the Albright Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., who celebrated her legacy in exhibitions in 1975 and 1985. Wild and Brilliant is the first major exhibition about Martha Jackson’s work and legacy in New York City.