Edith Gregor Halpert and The Downtown Gallery downtown: 1926-1940; a study in American art patronage. (Volumes I and II).

Edith Gregor Halpert (1900-1970) opened The Downtown Gallery November 6, 1926 in Greenwich Village to make the work of living American artist available to the broadest possible public. The Downtown Gallery transformed the American art market both by adapting innovative marketing techniques from department stores and by fostering many now acclaimed American artists. Halpert soon learned that the most effective way to gain recognition and a wide audience for contemporary American art was by 'placing' it in the museums that were opening or exp and ing all over the United States. The dissertation is organized to underscore the Gallery's dependence on both artists and clients. A biography of the first twenty-six years of Halpert's life, before she opened the Gallery, examines her formative experiences, including her Russian Jewish heritage, her art education, her early marriage to the artist Samuel Halpert (1884-1930) and her career in business. Chapter III describes how the Gallery was organized when it was downtown and how it differed from other galleries. Chapter IV focuses on the Gallery's forty year interactions with Stuart Davis as a case study in order to examine the way the Gallery interacted with its artists. Individual discussions of special situations with Charles Sheeler, Ben Shahn, Jack Levine, Women artists, and "Negro" artists provide examples of other interactions. Chapter V examines how Halpert worked with clients, specifically Preston Harrison of Los Angeles and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, two devoted crusaders who worked to get modern art into museums. The subject of Chapter VI is what Halpert called "American Ancestors" and American Folk Art. The Gallery and its affiliate American Folk Art Gallery, initially with Holger Cahill's participation, developed, promoted and created a market for this art. The Gallery's response to the Depression--before Roosevelt's Presidency, with the art projects at Radio City Music Hall, and then during the New Deal with the government and independently--is the subject of Chapter VII. Chapter VIII, the Epilogue, covers 1940-1970, the last thirty years of Halpert's life when the Downtown Gallery moved uptown. The appendices include Checklists of Artists and Exhibitions. This research is based upon the rich and extensive Downtown Gallery Papers now maintained in the Archives of American Art.PhDFine artsAmerican studiesWomen's studiesBiographiesUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162255/1/8920626.pd