60
41 East 57th Street, 8th Floor New York, NY 10022
This catalogue was made to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of James Goodman Gallery. 2018, New York, NY
Intro We are very pleased to be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the James Goodman Gallery. James Goodman opened his first public art gallery in Buffalo, NY in 1959, in the Park Lane Hotel. First called G Contemporary, the gallery showed works by both contemporary American artists and modern European masters. Jim moved his gallery to New York in 1967, initially operating privately at 55 East 86th Street. He then relocated the gallery in 1978 to a public space at 1020 Madison Avenue, and in 1986 to the Fuller Building, where it is currently located. The gallery handles paintings, works on paper and sculpture by the well-known, established artists from Europe and America, such as: Picasso, Matisse, Calder, Cornell, Lichtenstein, Rosenquist, Warhol, Miró, Magritte, de Kooning, Arp, Moore, Rauschenberg, and many others. As a private dealer on 86th Street, Jim only needed one assistant. After interviewing for 7 months, he hired me in October 1972. Jim likes to brag that the qualification that most impressed him was my previous experience working for a fly fisherman in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He was worried that I might not stay for too long, so I promised him I would stay for one year. In my 45 years here I have seen many iterations of the gallery, from small and private to public in the heart of Midtown. We have held many exciting exhibitions, foremost being the first American exhibition of Roy Lichtenstein drawings. I have seen some extraordinary artwork come through the gallery- one of the most famous would be Jasper Johns colored “0 through 9”, a 1961 oil painting that we sold in 1984. We participated in our first art fair in 1980 in Chicago, and since then we have shown at art fairs in New York, Palm Beach, Miami, San Francisco, and Paris. It has been a rewarding and fun experience working with Jim Goodman, the Goodman family and all the wonderful staff we have had over the years with special appreciation to the present associates- Alix Hornyan, Max Miller, Zoey Michaels and Ale Rivas Vasto. I hope you will enjoy this celebratory catalogue. Patricia H. Tompkins Vice President
James Goodman Gallery Over Time
Exhibitions in Buffalo, New York •June 8, 1960: “Collector’s Items” September 11-18, 1960: “Contemporary American Paintings” November 15-January 1, 1961: “An of exhibition of new acquisitions by European and American Artists” April 16-29, 1961: “The Early Years 1915-1921: an exhibition of Drawings by Charles Burchfield” May 4-20, 1961: “International Sculpture Show” June 8-July 1, 1961“A Group of Recent Paintings by Tony Urquhart” September 20-October 6, 1961: “The Eight and George Bellows” October 29-November 11, 1961: “A Group of Important Sculptor’s Drawings” October 8-October 25, 1961: “A Group of Recent Drawings by Harriet Greif” November 12-November 30, 1961: “Recent Oils by Robert Goodnough” December 2-December 30, 1961: “Christmas Show: Fine Art for the Fine Art of Giving” January 14-February 10, 1962: “Paul Klee-Julius Bissier” February 25-March 10, 1962: “A Group of Recent Watercolors by Morton Grossman” April 8-April 27, 1962: “The Middle Years 1922-1942: Drawings by Charles Burchfield” May 13-May 30, 1962: “A Group of Watercolors by Robert Andrew Parker” Fall 1962 Catalogue: Drawings, Paintings, Sculpture September 23-October 10, 1962: “Sculpture and Sculpture Drawings” October 21-November 3, 1962: “Joseph Stella” November 18-December 5, 1962: “Lester Johnson” December 8-December 29: “Art for Christmas” ~January 6-January 31: Karel Appel Exhibition February 10-February 27: Andre Derain Exhibition March 10-March 20: “Salon Select 63”
March 26-April 13: “Robert Goodnough Recent Paintings” Spring 1963 Catalogue: Drawings and Sculpture April 25-May 13: Charles Burchfield: A Group of Watercolors and A Birthday Tribute June 2 – June 15: “Edward Whiteman Recent Paintings” September 15-September 28: “Leonard Baskin: Sculpture, Drawings, Graphics” October 27-November 16: “Paintings by Milton Avery” December 4-December 31: “Holiday Exhibit: Drawings, Graphics, Paintings, Sculpture” January 10-January 25, 1964: “’Woman’: Drawings by Williem deKooning ~February 1-March 28: Giuseppe Macri Exhibtion April 19-May 2: “Lynn Chadwick Sculpture” Spring 1964 Catalogue: Drawings, Sculpture September 13-26: “Recent Paintings Harold Altman October 11-November 4: “Manolo: Sculpture and Drawings” Fall 1964 Catalogue ~November 1-December 1, 1964: Harvey Breverman Exhibition November 20-22: “A Select Group of Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, and Prints at the Wade Park Manor” (In Cleveland OH, associated with the Donald Morris Gallery in Detroit) January 10-January 30, 1965: “Paintings: Robert Goodnough” February 27-March 11, 1965: “Paintings: George Deem” April 13-April 30, 1965: Paintings by Cornelia Foss May 14-June 5, 1965: “Michael Ayrton: Sculpture and Drawings” Fall 1965 Catalogue October 16 – November 6, 1965: “Fernand Leger Drawings” February 16 – March 5, 1965: “Walter Prochownik Drawings” April 20– May 6, 1966: “Recent Paintings Ronald Wise”
Exhibitions in New York City
Henry Moore - Sculpture and Drawings, 1983 Roy Lichtenstein - A Drawing Retrospective, 1984 (artist’s first drawing show in America) Henri Matisse Drawings, 1985 Karel Appel - Cobra Paintings: 1948-1951, 1985 Six Artists in Three Forms, Part I and II, 1986 Part I: de Kooning, Johns, Kelly, Lichtenstein, Rauschenberg, Stella Part II: Dubuffet, Giacometti, Leger, Matisse, Miro, Picasso Cubism - Le Fauconnier, Gleizes, Kupka, Marcoussis, Metzinger, Valmier, Villon, 1989 Pop on Paper, 1990 European Sculpture & Works on Paper, 1993: Botero, Arp, Archipenko, Moore, Degas, Miro, Gonzalez, Laurens and Picasso Contemporary Sculpture & Works on Paper, 1993, Calder, Oldenburg, Lichtenstein, Rauschenberg, Hunt and Shapiro The Human Form in Twentieth Century Art, 1994: Butler, Lichtenstein, Chadwick, de Kooning, Leger, Nadelman, Degas, Maillol, Marini, Dubuffet, Matisse, Moore, Botero, Picasso, Wesselmann Fernando Botero Drawings 1964-1988, 1994 Niki de Saint Phalle: Tableaux Éclatés, 1994 Henry Moore: A Centennial Exhibition, 1998 Bruce McCall, 1999, 2001, 2005 Mid-Century Masters; Works on paper, 2003 Since the Sixties: Rosenquist, Lichtenstein and Oldenburg, 2003 Lester Johnson: Four Decades of Painting, 2004 Pop Then & Now: Lichtenstein, Thiebaud, Ruscha, Wesselmann & others, Spring 2004 Calder: Space in Play, 2014 Dubuffet: Form & Texture, 2015 Yayoi Kusama: Paintings, Sculptures and Works on Paper, 2016 Reframing the Brushstroke: Kline to Lichtenstein, Hofmann to Dine.
Est. 1958
Est. 1958
Works in Public Collections
Roy Lichtenstein Modern Head, 1974/1990 © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein Collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of Jeffrey H. Loria and James Goodman.
Roy Lichtenstein Study for Vicki!, 1964 © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein Collection of the Seattle art Museum General Acquisition Fund, 75.102.
Roy Lichtenstein Study for Greene Street Mural, 1983 © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Roy Lichtenstein Baked Potato, 1962 © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Roy Lichtenstein Study for Figures in Landscape, 1977 © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase, with funds from the Drawing Committee.
Isamu Noguchi Berenice Abott, 1929 Š Isamu Noguchi Foundation, Inc., New York Collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
Alexander Calder Untitled, 1943 Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Alexander Calder Martiques, 1966 Collection of the Currier Museum, New Hampshire.
Jim, Friends and Colleagues
Jim & Ernst Beyeler
Jim & Leo Castelli
Jim & Roy Lichtenstein
Jim & Willem de Kooning
Jim & Bob Rauschenberg
Dorothy & Roy Lichtenstein, Chieko Hasegawa & Jim
Jim & Robert Indiana
Jim & Lester Johnson
Jim & Max Lang
Jim & Richard Gray
Anecdotes
I have always been in awe of Jim’s absolute love of the art business, his uncompromising honesty, his collegial spirit, his respect for his gallery staff, and his generous mentorship of young dealers. In addition, for decades, he has advised collectors with wisdom, deep knowledge, and openheartedness. During the 42 years of our marriage, Jim and I collaborated on art sales for 35 years. It worked like this: I enjoyed and got real pleasure speaking with the clients about the art. I enjoyed much less talking “money” and closing the deal. Jim liked closing the deal. I learned so much from him as I observed him conclude a sale. I noted his joy in making it work out well for all involved, even if he personally made less profit. Jim, in addition to his honesty and warmth was not greedy. Finally, Jim has been a model of high-level behavior to his staff‑ all of whom have internalized the teaching. This has been the underlying major contributor to the gallery’s 60’s years of success. Jim often speaks to me of his enormous pride in and love of his gallery family.
Kathy Goodman One of the coolest things about knowing (and being related to) Jim/Jimmy/James Goodman is the number of people that have benefited from knowing Jim/Jimmy/James Goodman who say, to a person, “Jim/Jimmy/James/Your dad/Your father is a really good guy. He helped me with this, opened that door, organized this, made that possible -- and I couldn’t have done it without him.” Many, many congratulations on threescore!
Jill Goodman
The James Goodman Gallery has been a central part of my life for as long as I can remember. The gallery was where I went to do my homework in elementary school, where I worked for extra spending money during high school, and where I most often visited my father for a laugh or a hug. Jim was always deeply committed to his family, and he also always relished being in on the deal. When my wife and I began growing salad greens in California, Jim became a distributor, re-selling bags of salad to his colleagues and friends. When our daughter Marea was making hand painted pottery, he arranged a show for his granddaughter at his prominent gallery. My father has always been happiest in his gallery. Most everyone I encountered at the gallery felt like they were part of Jim’s extended family. Jim has worked with so many artists and colleagues who genuinely love him. He is known for his honesty and ability to orchestrate deals that benefited all parties. He has always been generous and inclusive. I am immensely proud of what my father has accomplished in his impressively long career.
Drew Goodman
Marea’s exhibition at JGG
One of my earliest childhood memories is the “treasure hunts” my parents would send me on at art fairs. I’d be tasked with a list of artist’s works to track down in the fair halls, with the goal of coming back with a list of the booths in which they were located. This was my introduction to the career my father had chosen. While it may seem like a simple task to occupy the time of a child tagging along to an art fair, it was much more than that to me. It opened the door to my appreciation of the art world and an abnormal ability to spot a Matisse before the age of 10. As an adult, I’ve had the opportunity to work these same fairs alongside my father, observing and learning from his deep passion, not only for the art itself, but for the art business as well. This is highlighted by his love of his art world “buddies”: the artists, the clients and the dealers. My father has always been a role model for me— taught me that it’s possible to find a career that is truly a passion so that “work doesn’t feel like work”. He also shared with me his passion for “making the deal”. It was amazing to see him, without fail, find a way to make it work for all the parties involved. To this day, I continue to be in awe of all he’s accomplished in the past 60 short years. I take great pride in being able to say “My dad is James Goodman” to anyone in the art business or (anywhere else for that matter), knowing it will always be returned with a compliment of what a great man he is, how much they have learned from him, how much they enjoyed working with him on deal, and universally how honest he is. I’m deeply proud to be his daughter and to be able to celebrate his amazing life accomplishments.
Laura Goodman
Always available Always cheerful Always knowledgeable Always willing to share Always a true friend
Barbara Mathes The second year of the Basel Fair, I was exhibiting and had a stand next to Ernst Beyeler. I was the first Latin American gallery and therefore something of a freak show. I brought my then teenager Margarita with me. Jim installed himself with large group of transparencies on the bench jest outside my stand. He of course did far more business than any of the nearby exhibitors except for Beyeler. Margarita at one point took her DYMO machine and printed out James Goodman Gallery which she pasted on the bench. Great uproar, and many photos later……Next year James Goodman Gallery took out an ad in one of the art magazines showing Jim on his bench in his “gallery”. Result, from then on, dealers entering the fair were searched for transparencies. Another story is that of the buying jeans and the selling jeans. Patsy will remember that. It’s hard to pick apart the professional from the personal about someone who quickly became an older brother after my father introduced us in (I think) 1968.
Rachel Adler Jim is always such a positive person with a great smile. He is always happy to share his knowledge which he has done generously from the early 70s to today.
Ronnie Greenberg
Jim and my father met quite early in their respective careers - around the time Richard entered the gallery business in 1963. They became life-long friends and frequent collaborators. The Gray Gallery archives show that Richard made purchases of works by Alexander Calder, Henry Moore and others as early as 1966 from Jim, and many deals followed, continuing to this day. Richard gleefully suggested that it was he who introduced Jim and Kathy, though I don’t know if that is apocryphal. In any case our families vacationed together frequently and I have fond memories of teaching Laura to drive on the back roads of Anguilla on one of those trips together in the mid 1980’s. For many years we spent every Thanksgiving day together as well, cooking, eating and watching the Macy’s parade from their “Heaven on Seven.” When I first entered the business in my late 20’s as a part-timer and was planning a trip to Japan (to visit a girlfriend) my dad said “you have to ask Jim Goodman for advice - he does business there.” I went to see Jim in New York and he not only arranged introductions for me, but sent me off with a stack of transparencies of Giacometti, Dubuffet, Miro and others - in his generous way, assuming I knew what to do with them. The confidence implied did quite a lot to bolster my ego and had more than a little to do with me becoming an art dealer as I think miraculously, I actually helped to sell one of those works! To Jim, Kathy, Jill, Drew and Laura, love and good wishes from the Grays. And congratulations on 60 years.
Paul Gray
The invitation to supply an anecdote in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the James Goodman Gallery immediately brings to mind two images. One is of Jim and Ernst Beyeler sitting together on a bench at Art Basel. It was always that same bench, in the very same location, year after year. I assume the stories they were telling each other changed from year to year, but for all I know, the same tales were worth retelling year after year. The other image is of two upper Madison Avenue gallery owners, whose rivalry and bitter, resentful feelings toward one another were legendary. One night, when I happened to walk down the street where the two galleries were located, I saw one of the gallery owners, flashlight in hand, practically mounting a very large crate deposited outside the entrance to his competitor’s place of business. What he was up to was immediately clear to me. If he could only find out where his rival was getting his consignments from, he could surely undercut him by going directly to the owners of works that were obviously enriching his neighbor at his own expense. I later heard that both galleries were in the habit of doing this same form of sleuthing. Eventually, their respective registrars were instructed to paint over any revealing information on discarded crates. How frustrating this must have been for the offending parties. You may very well wonder why this particular image is coming to mind on this occasion. What does this have to do with Jim or his gallery? The answer is quite simple. When I opened my gallery at 1020 Madison, Jim’s gallery was already doing business in that building for quite some time. I was well aware of his close friendship with Beyeler and the frequency with which they were doing business together. Jim often sourced works for Ernst in the US and elsewhere, and Ernst would happily consign works to Jim. Crates routinely went back and forth between Basel and New York, although I doubt that many of the consignments to Jim ever had to be returned to Basel. We all know what a wizard he has been at making sales. For the opening exhibition of my gallery I received a number of consignments of Picasso drawings and paintings from Jan Krugier’s Geneva gallery. No need to explore here how Ernst and
Jan got along. When Jim came upstairs to visit he immediately recognized the source of these works in my opening show. With a big smile he announced that our Madison Avenue building should be renamed the Swiss Pavilion. Finally, thinking again about that landmark bench at Art Basel, I think it should have a plaque mounted to it, bearing the names Ernst Beyeler and James Goodman, along with the words “Go with the Flow.”
Jeffrey Hoffeld After graduating college, I started working for William Pall Gallery as an assistant and Jim was working out of his 86th Street apartment at the time. Jim and Bill would talk at least once a day, every day. After Bill’s untimely death in 1997, Jim was beyond supportive to me, as I continued running the William Pall Gallery. Jim was and is, the most knowledgeable, fair, art dealer with the best eye for recognizing great art, and the nicest person as well.
Laura Carr Jim and I met through Allan Stone more than forty years ago, and throughout this time our friendship never stopped. Although Jim had a reputation as a great art dealer, to me he has always been just a wonderful friend. We’ve had so many lunches and dinners together, but the real treat is always enjoying the Thanksgiving Day parade together with a touch of Zabar’s.
Jeffrey Haber
I never meant to be an art dealer. I took a job at the front desk of the James Goodman Gallery in November 2000 with a newly minted MFA in Sculpture. I knew nothing of the gallery’s reputation or place in the art world. I thought it would be an interesting job “for the time being” while I set up my studio. Patsy taught me the ropes and made me feel at home. Jim and I, for some odd reason, hit it off. I had no desire to sell art but enjoyed talking about the artists’ process and how each work functions in the great scheme of the art historical canon. Somehow these conversations resulted in sales, which Jim found hilarious. He enjoyed being the closer. I moved from registrar to director and we fell comfortably into this pattern that lasted for over a decade. In the process, I learned so much from Jim about business, art, and human nature. He was never guarded about sharing his experience or wisdom. I grew to understand that he was an innovator in forging relationships among his colleagues. He valued honestly and fairness in the trade, and his clients (dealers and collectors alike) understood how important that is. He mentored me with real generosity despite my protests (I don’t want to be an art dealer!) and is still there for me when I need advice. The gallery is a family. From Jim’s office over 14 years I watched the art world become more complicated and less sophisticated, more informed and a bit less passionate, but most important—more open to fresh voices than it has ever been. I have a montage of powerful memories surrounding the gallery, but the clearest is Jim’s explosive, booming laugh, which I heard through the high times of 2005 and in the dry days of 2009. That laugh put things into perspective and was an audible reminder of how truly lucky we all are to do this kind of work, be surrounded by these objects of beauty and power that shape our culture. I am pretty certain that laugh is the reason that I am, in fact, still an art dealer.
Tiffany Matula
It was 33 years ago, when I was a very young assistant registrar at Andre Emmerich where I first met Jimmy. Our first meeting came with a knock at the back/kitchen door of the gallery. It was a very distinguished looking, tall, very tan gentlemen with a great smile, asking for a diet coke. He explained that Andre had no problem with him borrowing them. At first, it was a daily hand off and very soon we were sitting in the kitchen, enjoying our diet cokes and discussing art, the world and life. These conversations continue to this day. Our friendship continued over the next three decades, even when I left New York for four years. When I returned to the city to direct Gerald Peters Gallery, we saw each other almost weekly working on selling some amazing works of art, trying to find young associates employment, etc. Jim Goodman is one of the most generous human beings I have been fortunate to know. Always willing to give advice, a shoulder to cry on, urging you to keep going. He really is my “art godfather,� I am blessed to know him and to have worked with him for over 30 years!
Lily Downing Not only have Jim and I been friends for over 60 years, but I was among the first group of people to buy from him in his days in the Park Lane in Buffalo where he had his first gallery. It has been an absolutely wonderful business relationship and personal friendship all along the way.
Sheldon Berlow
Wow 60 years. Well I have known Jim for at least 54 of those years. Such friendly collegiality, Sports conversations, great lunches and dinners, always good advice, and oh yes, a lot of business. The years passed by so quickly but knowing Jim, Patsy and the changing gallery staff always made coming in to the gallery extremely enjoyable.
Manny Silverman
41 East 57th Street, 8th Floor New York, NY 10022 2018