Edith Halpert
Encyclopedia
Edith Halpert or Edith Gregor Halpert (née Edith Gregor Fiviosioovitch (Fein)) (1900–1970) was a pioneering New York City
dealer
of Modern art
. Halpert brought recognition and market success to many avant-garde
American artists over her forty year career from 1926 through the 1960's. Her establishment The Downtown Gallery, one of the first in Greenwich Village
, introduced or showcased such modern art luminaries as Stuart Davis
, Georgia O'Keeffe
, Arthur Dove
, Jacob Lawrence
, Charles Sheeler
, David Fredenthal, Yasuo Kuniyoshi
, Ben Shahn
, Jack Levine
, Marguerite
and William Zorach
, and many others. Halpert arrived in the U.S. as a penniless Russian Jewish immigrant, transformed the landscape of Modern art, and died at age 70 a multimillionaire. Sotheby's
credited her with having put modernist painting auctions on the map with the posthumous sale of her collection for $3.6 million in 1973.
to Gregor and Frances Fiviosioovitch. She emigrated in 1906 with her mother and sister Sonia, but without her father as he had died around her fourth birthday of tuberculosis
. They initially settled on the west side of Harlem
.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
dealer
Art dealer
An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art. Art dealers' professional associations serve to set high standards for accreditation or membership and to support art exhibitions and shows.-Role:...
of Modern art
Modern art
Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...
. Halpert brought recognition and market success to many avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
American artists over her forty year career from 1926 through the 1960's. Her establishment The Downtown Gallery, one of the first in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
, introduced or showcased such modern art luminaries as Stuart Davis
Stuart Davis
Stuart Davis or Davies may refer to:* Stuart Davis * Stuart Davis , or his album, Stuart Davis * Stuart Davis , Australian rugby league footballer* Stuart Davies, Welsh rugby union fotballer...
, Georgia O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
Georgia Totto O'Keeffe was an American artist.Born near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, O'Keeffe first came to the attention of the New York art community in 1916, several decades before women had gained access to art training in America’s colleges and universities, and before any of its women artists...
, Arthur Dove
Arthur Dove
Arthur Garfield Dove was an American artist. An early American modernist, he is often considered the first American abstract painter.-Youth and education:...
, Jacob Lawrence
Jacob Lawrence
Jacob Lawrence was an American painter; he was married to fellow artist Gwendolyn Knight. Lawrence referred to his style as "dynamic cubism", though by his own account the primary influence was not so much French art as the shapes and colors of Harlem.Lawrence is among the best-known twentieth...
, Charles Sheeler
Charles Sheeler
Charles Rettew Sheeler, Jr. was an American artist. He is recognized as one of the founders of American modernism and one of the master photographers of the 20th century.-Early life and career:...
, David Fredenthal, Yasuo Kuniyoshi
Yasuo Kuniyoshi
was an American painter, photographer and printmaker born in Okayama, Japan.He migrated to America in 1906, a year later began studying at the Los Angeles School of Art and Design. In 1935 he was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship. He taught at the Art Students League of New York in New York City...
, Ben Shahn
Ben Shahn
Ben Shahn was a Lithuanian-born American artist. He is best known for his works of social realism, his left-wing political views, and his series of lectures published as The Shape of Content.-Biography:...
, Jack Levine
Jack Levine
Jack Levine was an American Social Realist painter and printmaker best known for his satires on modern life, political corruption, and biblical narratives.-Biography:...
, Marguerite
Marguerite Zorach
Marguerite Zorach was an American fauvist painter, textile artist, and graphic designer and was an early exponent of modernism in America. She won the 1920 Logan Medal of the Arts.-Life:...
and William Zorach
William Zorach
William Zorach was a Lithuanian-born American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and writer. He won the Logan Medal of the arts.-Life and career:...
, and many others. Halpert arrived in the U.S. as a penniless Russian Jewish immigrant, transformed the landscape of Modern art, and died at age 70 a multimillionaire. Sotheby's
Sotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
credited her with having put modernist painting auctions on the map with the posthumous sale of her collection for $3.6 million in 1973.
Early years
Halpert was born April 25 in OdessaOdessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
to Gregor and Frances Fiviosioovitch. She emigrated in 1906 with her mother and sister Sonia, but without her father as he had died around her fourth birthday of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. They initially settled on the west side of Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
.
See also
- Art dealerArt dealerAn art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art. Art dealers' professional associations serve to set high standards for accreditation or membership and to support art exhibitions and shows.-Role:...
- Art galleryArt galleryAn art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
- Modern artModern artModern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...
- 20th century art20th century art20th-century art and what it became known as — modern art — really began with modernism in the late 19th century. Nineteenth-century movements of Post Impressionism and Art Nouveau led to the first twentieth-century art movements of Fauvism in France and Die Brücke in Germany. Fauvism in Paris...
- Samuel HalpertSamuel HalpertSamuel Halpert was born in 1884 in Białystok, Russia and he died in 1930 in Detroit, Michigan. He was an American painter.-Early days:Samuel Halpert was born on December 25, 1884 in Białystok, Russia, where his friend Max Weber had been born three years earlier. His family immigrated to New York...
- Art business
Further reading
- Tepfer, Diane, "Edith Gregor Halpert and the Downtown Gallery Downtown (1926-1940); a Study in American Art Patronage", Ph.D. Dissertation, History of Art, University of Michigan, 1989.
- Sadik, Marvis, Edith Halpert & The Downtown Gallery, Museum of Art, Univ. Of Connecticut, Storrs, 1968.
- Halpert, Edith Gregor and The Poses Institute of Fine Arts, American Modernism: The First Wave - Painting from 1903 to 1933 / October 4 through November 10, 1963, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis Univ.
- Sotheby Parke Bernet, The Edith G. Halpert Collection of American Paintings, 1973.
- Sotheby Parke Bernet, Highly Important 19th and 20th Century American Paintings, ... from the Estate of the late Edith Gregor Halpert...Sale #3484, 1973.
- Halpert, Edith Gregor, The Downtown Gallery: American Art, 1936.
- Halpert, Edith Gregor, A Catalogue of the American Folk Art Collection of Colonial Williamsburg Collected and Presented by Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Colonial Williamsburg, 1947.