POPSCENE – The New York Arts Scene 1960-1990

     Andy Warhol came onto the New York arts scene in 1952, showing his first collection of illustrations at the Hugo Gallery on Madison Avenue. The Hugo was a prestigious venue. Founded by a Rothschild, it had shown works by such modern heavyweights as Salvador Dalí and Isamu Noguchi, and helped launch the career of Belgian surrealist René Magritte. Warhol’s exhibition was not particularly well-received, though we now know that did little to slow his meteoric rise. He was in the Museum of Modern Art in just four years. Warhol would go on to help build a massive network of creatives in all disciplines over the next three decades, as did the many small artist-run galleries throughout Manhattan. The network of big and small artists and gallerists were the cogs that drove the New York arts machine, and many of these experiments and relationships would prove central to the emergence of artists that we now recognize as greats of the twentieth century.

Basquiat (left) and Haring together in the 1980’s, connected through the street art scene, New York galleries, and Warhol.

Warhol’s more well-received early shows came at the Bodley Gallery, courtesy of a continued relationship with director David Mann who came over from the Hugo Gallery. The many creative movements going on in New York during these decades allowed for new artists to get a foothold, often crossing between different artistic media. For instance, the wave of punk music crested and broke into following movements, like new wave and post-punk, exemplified by bands like Joy Division/New Order, Blondie, the Cure, and the Talking Heads. The visual aesthetics of these bands and previous punk acts influenced punk art, which intertwined with street art as graffiti took off in the 1970’s. Early hip-hop culture would emerge from these and other influences, along with famed artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat. His art was noticed by curator Diego Cortez, a figure in the post-punk scene, and featured at the MoMA. He would soon after sell his first painting to Debbie Harry, lead singer of Blondie, for $200.

Jedidiah Gallery artist JP Calabro’s Letter From The Future, reflecting many of the same Pop Art concerns as Haring.

      Though Basquiat rose from the streets of New York to the heights of Manhattan art fame, other artists like Keith Haring represented those who migrated to the city to pursue their dreams. Haring is a local artist; born in Reading and raised in Kutztown. Like Warhol, he attended school for commercial art in Pittsburgh before heading to New York for further education. There, he began his art career with chalk drawings and graffiti in the subway. There, with collaborator graffiti and street artist Angel “LA2” Ortiz, he worked his way into a solo show with the controversial gallerist Tony Shafrazi. Shafrazi had a turbulent career; he had attempted to vandalize Guernica by Picasso in 1974 as a protest, then was hired to build the Shah of Iran’s multimillion-dollar art collection, then fled after the 1979 revolution and rebuilt his name in New York. Part of this rebuilding was taking a chance on rising street artists like Basquiat and Haring, and both artists paid off extremely well. Riding his wave of success, Haring would contribute prints to Vivienne Westwood’s fashion line, which would be worn by his close friend and Basquiat’s ex-girlfriend, Madonna. Within the decade, Haring was a pop culture force, raising awareness of key social issues, and building a brand that would far outlive him.

Munchkins I, II, III (1964) by Idelle Weber.

One of the groups largely left behind by the New York Pop Art scene was women. There were many incredible women making Pop Art at the time, from provacotive wunderkinds before their time like Evelyne Axell to the Warhol-aligned but overshadowed Marisol and Marta Minujin. Since, these artists have gained some measure of the appreciation they missed out on in their time, and have been recognized as the canonical titans of Pop Art that they are. However, as in many artistic movements, the men got more press than the women. Despite Warhol working with and promoting many of these artists himself, he still ended up exemplifying the “Great Man” artistic genius trope whose blinding light outshone those standing around him. While Warhol’s rising star was a crucial guide-point for many of these rising young artists, in large part, the entire New York arts scene worked as a symbiotic environment for developing talent. While the artists brought the talent, a diverse array of smaller gallerists connected with one another, tracked down pieces, and took chances on unknown names. Without this network of galleries and local artists, we may very well not know such names as Warhol, Basquiat, and Haring.