9th Street Art Exhibition

The 9th Street Art Exhibition,[1] otherwise known as the 9th St. Show or Ninth Street Show was held on May 21-June 10, 1951. This was a historical, ground-breaking exhibition, gathering of a number of notable artists, and it was the stepping-out of the post war New York avant-garde, collectively known as the New York School. The show was hung by Leo Castelli, as he was liked by most of the artists and thought of as someone who would hang the exhibition without favoritism.[2] The opening of the show was a great success. According to the critic, historian, and curator Bruce Altshuler, "It appeared as though a line had been crossed, a step into a larger art world whose future was bright with possibility."[3]

Organization

Several artists who served in World War II did not have the attention of the Art critics of the post-World War II era. Their studios were located in lower Manhattan in the area bounded by 8th and 12th street between First and Sixth Avenues during the late 1940s and early 1950s. The artists who occupied these studios were called the Downtown Group.[4] In 1949 the Downtown Group founded an artists' club, named "The Club" located at 39 East 8th Street. The members, with few exceptions, were mostly war veterans, 40 years old, men, and professional artists.[5]

Their weekly discussions in The Club led to the idea of organizing an exhibition. A linoleum cut poster was created by Franz Kline to promote the show.[1][6] The show was located at 60 East 9th Street[7] in the first floor and the basement of a building that was about to be demolished.

Artists

Art exhibited

Each artist could enter one artwork. Some of the pieces exhibited included[8]

  • Jackson Pollock Number 1, 1949[9]
  • William de Kooning by Woman (1949-50)[10]
  • Franz Kline : Study for Ninth Street (1951)[11]
  • Peter Busa, Beauty and the Beast II, c.1949.[12]
  • Michael Goldberg, Untitled, 1949.[12]
  • Albert Kotin, Predators, 1951.[12]
  • Joan Mitchell, Untitled, 1950, Oil on canvas, 69 x 72 inches.[12]
  • Robert Richenburg, Untitled, 1951, Oil on canvas, 40 x 49 inches.[12]
  • Joe Stefanelli, Untitled, 1951, Oil on canvas,25 x 30 1/8 inches.[12]
  • Jack Tworkov, The Sirens, 1951, Oil on canvas, 45 x 40 inches.[12]

Legacy

Altshuler writes that, "The artists celebrated not only the appearance of the dealers, collectors and museum people on the 9th Street, and the consequent exposure of their work but they celebrated the creation and the strength of a living community of significant dimensions.[3][13]

Aaron Siskind, who himself was a member of the New York School, documented the exhibition with a series of photographs.[14][15]

In spite of the public interest exhibited toward the "Ninth Street" Show, there were few galleries that were willing to accept the work of the New York School artists who were unknown to the new art criticism. A converted horse stable called The Stable Gallery, located at 924 7th Avenue and 58th Street in New York City continued to host the New York Painting and Sculpture Annuals from 1953 to 1957, exhibiting works by some of the participants at the "Ninth Street Show".[16] The poster of the second New York Painting and Sculpture Annual, which was held at The Stable Gallery in 1953, included an introduction by Clement Greenberg.[17] The poster declared:

This exhibition was conceived and organized by artists, the event rightly to be considered the precedent for this one was the famous "Ninth Street" show held in the spring of 1951 on the ground floor of a vacated store, on East 9th St. Like this one, that exhibition was organized, and its participants named and invited, by artists themselves, and a range of the liveliest tendencies within the mainstream of advanced painting and sculpture was presented. I don't think the reverberations of that show have died away yet..."[18]

In 2006, Findlay Fine Art Gallery in New York City had a well-researched exhibition honoring the lesser known artists that were included in the 9th Street Art Exhibition.[19]

Notes and references
  1. "9th St." Show Poster Archived 2012-02-05 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Marika Herskovic, New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists, (New York School Press, 2000.) ISBN 0-9677994-0-6 p.11-12
  3. Bruce Altshuler, Avant-Garde In Exhibition: New Art in the 20th Century, (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994) ISBN 0-8109-3637-2
  4. Harold Rosenberg, "Tenth Street: A Geography of Modern Art," Art News Annual XXVIII, 1959, New York: Art Foundation Press, Inc. pp.120-143
  5. New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists, (New York School Press, 2000.) ISBN 0-9677994-0-6 p.11-12
  6. New York Cultural Capital of the World 1940-1965 ed. Leonard Wallock, Rizzoli, New York 1988 ISBN 0-8478-0990-0 p.146
  7. "Prolific Years: Exhibitions and Alcoholism". de Kooning Experts. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2015-12-28.
  8. "The exhibition that pushed NYC to the art world's centre | Art | Agenda". Phaidon. Retrieved 2020-02-23.
  9. "Abstract Expressionism 1951". warholstars.org. Retrieved 2020-02-23.
  10. "Abstract Expressionism 1951". warholstars.org. Retrieved 2020-02-23.
  11. "Bonhams : Franz Kline (American, 1910-1962) Study for Ninth Street 1951". www.bonhams.com. Retrieved 2020-02-23.
  12. "Some of the paintings exhibited at the 9th St. Show May 21 to June 10, 1951 - Blog of a New York Collector". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2020-02-23.
  13. Bruce Altshuler, Avant-Garde In Exhibition New Art in the 20th Century, (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994) ISBN 0-8109-3637-2 Chapter 9, pp.156-173
  14. New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists, (New York School Press, 2000.) ISBN 0-9677994-0-6 pp.13-14
  15. Bruce Altshuler, Avant-Garde In Exhibition New Art in the 20th Century, (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994) ISBN 0-8109-3637-2 Chapter 9, pp.168-169.
  16. ’’Interview with Nicolas Carone’’ (New York School Press, 2000.) ISBN 0-9677994-0-6 p.19
  17. New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists, (New York School Press, 2000.) ISBN 0-9677994-0-6 pp.20-21
  18. Stable Gallery 1953 Poster’’ Archived 2012-02-05 at the Wayback Machine
  19. "Uptown gallery revisits Ninth St. exhibit". thevillager.com. Archived from the original on 2013-09-01. Retrieved 2015-12-28.

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