Cheim & Read: Twenty-One

CHEIM & READ 21

TWENTY CHEIM & READ ONE

TWENTY CHEIM & READ ONE

NE W YOR K 2 019

“Chelsea Passage,” Charles Gandee, Vogue Magazine, April 1997, Photo: Todd Eberle

“When I was sick they moved me to a room with a window and suddenly through the window I

saw two fir trees in a park, and the grey sky, and the beautiful grey rain, and I was so happy. It

has something to do with being alive. I could see the pine trees, and I felt I could paint. If I could see them, I felt I would paint a painting.”

—Joan Mitchell We first met as art students at the Rhode Island School of Design in the mid-1970s. At that time, RISD had become something of a factory or breeding ground for the New York art world: many graduates wound up in the city in some capacity, as academics, artists, or working in art galleries and auction houses. Both of us saw ourselves as artists who would live and work in New York, and we came to the conclusion that finding a job at an art gallery would be a good way to have more access to contemporary art than being alone in the studio every day.

By the late 1970s we were both working at Robert Miller, where we introduced a number of artists to the gallery, including Louise Bourgeois, William Eggleston, Joan Mitchell, and Alice Neel. We developed significant relationships with this core group of artists, and in turn they gave us the encouragement to start our own gallery in 1997.

The concept that would define the new gallery was

the commitment to work with a very small stable of artists with whom we would develop comprehensive relationships, like a family, managing big careers on an intimate scale. As the momentum carried forward, we expanded and grew, along with everyone else in Chelsea. The gallery’s program flourished and we moved from 23rd Street to a standalone building on 25th Street designed by architect Richard Gluckman.

The new gallery allowed us to attract an international stable of artists.

There has always been a coherent aesthetic to the artists we represent. A lot of that comes from a love

of painting. That is what connects Bill Jensen to Joan Mitchell to Louise Fishman, to name a few. Even William Eggleston paints, and that painterly approach informs his photographs.

The gallery became known for championing women artists. John has said, “That was not by design. We did not set out to support women. I was not attracted to Alice Neel or Louise Bourgeois or Joan Mitchell or

Lynda Benglis because they were women. I just liked their art, and it happened that a number of these people were women. And I think that most of these were people I thought were being overlooked, and not appreciated and presented in a thoughtful way. And I guess that was maybe because they were women.�

Herewith is an edited visual diary of our efforts from the past twenty-one years.

John Cheim and Howard Read

T WENT Y- ONE YEARS OF E XHIBITIONS

19 9 7

A Juxtaposition:

Louise Bourgeois: Spider 1996 and

Jenny Holzer: The Living Series 1980–82 14 February – 4 April 1997

Louise Bourgeois, Spider, 1996, steel,

128 1/2 x 298 x 278 in, 326.4 x 756.9 x 706.1 cm

A Juxtaposition:

Louise Bourgeois: Spider 1996 and Jenny Holzer: The Living Series 1980–82 14 February – 4 April 1997

Jenny Holzer, The Living Series, 1980–82, series of 78 plaques, enamel on metal, 21 x 23 in, 53.3 x 58.4 cm (each)

Juan Uslé: Luz Aislada 11 April – 31 May 1997

Limbo Activo, 1997, vinyl, dispersion and pigment on canvas, 78 x 44 in, 198.1 x 111.8 cm

Juan Uslé: Luz Aislada 11 April – 31 May 1997

Bath (From Luz Aislada Portfolio), 1996, cibachrome photograph, 22 1/2 x 16 in, 57 x 40.6 cm

Lynda Benglis Adam Fuss David Salle Serge Spitzer

5 June – 31 July 1997

Richmond Burton: New Paintings 8 September – 11 October 1997

Everything Is Early (For Peter), 1997, oil on canvas, 90 x 102 in, 228.6 x 259.1 cm

Cy Twombly

18 October – 15 November 1997

Cy Twombly

18 October – 15 November 1997 Night Watch, 1966, oil-based house paint and wax crayon on canvas, 74 3/4 x 78 3/4 in, 189.9 x 200 cm

Joan Mitchell & John Chamberlain: A Juxtaposition 19 November 1997 – 10 January 1998

Joan Mitchell & John Chamberlain: A Juxtaposition 19 November 1997 – 10 January 1998

1998

Ingo Meller

14 January – 28 February 1998

A Juxtaposition:

Alice Neel: Men in Suits and August Sander: Photographs from the 1920s and 1930s of businessmen, entrepreneurs and industrialists 4 March – 25 April 1998

A Juxtaposition:

Alice Neel: Men in Suits and August Sander: Photographs from the 1920s and 1930s of businessmen, entrepreneurs and industrialists 4 March – 25 April 1998

Alice Neel, David Bourdon and Gregory Battcock, 1970, oil on canvas, 59 3/4 x 56 1/8 in, 151.8 x 142.4 cm

A Juxtaposition:

Alice Neel: Men in Suits and August Sander: Photographs from the 1920s and 1930s of businessmen, entrepreneurs and industrialists 4 March – 25 April 1998

Installation view, August Sander

Three Catholics: Warhol, Ruscha & Mapplethorpe 29 April – 27 June 1998

Three Catholics: Warhol, Ruscha & Mapplethorpe 29 April – 27 June 1998

Small Paintings – Hand Painted Pictures

Featuring work of Lynda Benglis, Richmond Burton, Louise Fishman, Mary Heilmann, Eva Hesse, Bill Jensen, Ingo Meller, Joan Mitchell, Dona Nelson, Jack Pierson, Philippe Richard, Juan Uslé 1 July – 31 July 1998

Jack Pierson, Untitled, 1988, acrylic on vellum, stretched over board, 10 x 8 in, 25.4 x 20.3 cm

Lynda Benglis: Recent Sculpture and a Screening of “Female Sensibility” from 1973 12 September – 10 October 1998

Female Sensibility, 1973, video tape loop, 14 minutes

Lynda Benglis: Recent Sculpture and a Screening of “Female Sensibility” from 1973 12 September – 10 October 1998

Ghost Dance / Pedmarks, 1998, bronze with gold leaf, 84 x 36 x 25 in, 213.4 x 91.4 x 63.5 cm

Louise Fishman: Recent Paintings and Drawings 14 October – 14 November 1998

19 9 9

Francis Bacon Louise Bourgeois Franz Xaver Messerschmidt

Curated by Jean Clair, historian and director of the MusÊe Picasso 18 November 1998 – 9 January 1999

Louise Bourgeois, Cell (Hands and Mirror) (detail), 1995, marble, painted metal and mirror, 63 x 48 x 45 in, 160 x 121.9 x 114.3 cm

Francis Bacon Louise Bourgeois Franz Xaver Messerschmidt

Curated by Jean Clair, historian and director of the Musée Picasso 18 November 1998 – 9 January 1999

Francis Bacon Louise Bourgeois Franz Xaver Messerschmidt

Curated by Jean Clair, historian and director of the Musée Picasso 18 November 1998 – 9 January 1999

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, Character Head (A Childish Weeper), 1771–83, tin-lead alloy, 17 3/4 x 8 1/2 x 9 3/4 in, 45 x 22 x 25 cm

William Eggleston: Photographs 1966–1971 13 January – 20 February 1999

Untitled (From Cadillac Portfolio), 1966–71,

chromogenic color photograph, 30 x 24 in, 76.2 x 61 cm

William Eggleston: Photographs 1966–1971 13 January – 20 February 1999

Untitled (From Cadillac Portfolio), 1966–71,

chromogenic color photograph, 30 x 24 in, 76.2 x 61 cm

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TWENTY CHEIM & READ ONE