Here at Village Preservation we strive to highlight the lives and contributions of the many artists who lived, dreamed, and created profound works of art in our neighborhoods. Now, we’re excited to partner with On This Spot, a nonprofit digital mapping project, to do just that! On This Spot shares the inspiring stories of a […]
108, 110, 112, and 114 Waverly Place are a curious collection of houses. They are all that remain of nine houses built in 1826 for city comptroller Thomas R. Mercein. What were originally federal style houses have all been extensively altered throughout the years, resulting in a diverse spread of architectural styles. Maybe this eclecticism […]
Birthed by cultural curator Alana Heiss during the early ‘70s, the Alternative Spaces Movement aligns closely with the Historic Preservation Movement here in New York City. It sought to adaptively reuse abandoned and under-utilized spaces around the city, and it began in and around our neighborhoods in Lower Manhattan. It existed as a counterculture movement, […]
As we close the chapter on yet another wild and successful of year of public programs at Village Preservation, we wanted to take the time to reflect and highlight some of 2021’s best moments. Despite the twists and turns of this year’s ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, we’ve hosted 80 different educational lectures, book talks, and walking […]
The area of Greenwich Village and the East Village south of Union Square, for which Village Preservation has been advocating landmark protections, is the center of an amazing and dynamic collection of histories. Village Preservation’s South of Union Square Map+Tours is an online interactive tool that allows users to journey back in time to explore and […]
Harlem Renaissance painter Beauford Delaney was known for his colorful modernist compositions and unique approach to figuration. One of the most important African-American artists of the early 20th century, he often painted portraits of prominent black figures, street scenes, and abstract paintings. Delaney spent a good portion of his career in Greenwich Village, with many […]
Art is in the DNA of New York City. It’s not only found in the many museums and galleries our city has to offer, but on the sidewalks under our feet, on walls, in parks, and all throughout our streets. The East Village has a particularly long and vital history of creating art that can […]
“A long time ago in the 1960s, a young white girl from Ohio committed herself to being a revolutionary,” begins a short feature documentary about Patti Astor and her FUN Gallery (see within). FUN Gallery opened originally in the tiny basement storefront at 229 East 11th Street in 1981, later moving to 254 East 10th […]
When the days are finally seeming longer than they used to be, the beautiful details of the Village begin to reveal themselves in new ways. Today, I’m thinking about public art, and a special spot in the Greenwich Village Historic District. Bleecker Street Park is a place to chat on the phone, eat a cupcake […]
Villager and photographer Rose Hartman has, since the 1970s, been known for her candid portraits of the world’s celebrities and non-celebrities as they pass through New York City. Ms. Hartman, who’s lived on Charles Street in the West Village, is a former high school teacher who took the leap into photography in her thirties. Hartman’s photography […]
The New York City subway system is messy, crowded, unreliable, full of musicians, and generally teeming with folks who will bowl you over if you’re not careful. It’s also full of art. Graffiti and advertisements, yes, but that’s not the kind of art we’re talking about. The stations themselves were built with art. The tiles may be […]
GVSHP took a trip to the Whitney Museum’s exhibition called “David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night,” and learned about this incredible Villager, artist, poet, and activist. His work from the 1990s, before his death of complications from AIDS, agitated for change and strove for visibility, supporting and nurturing a community of artists through hard […]
GVSHP is excited to share our oral history collection with the public, highlighting some of the people and stories that make Greenwich Village and the East Village such unique and vibrant neighborhoods. Each of these histories includes the experiences and insights of long-time residents, usually active in the arts, culture, preservation, business, or civic life. […]
This weekend I went to the Whitney Museum, and as I was wandering around on the 7th Floor I found images of the Village that are familiar, nostalgic, bright, and utterly unique. Identifiable from a distance, Edward Hopper’s paintings live in moments of light, clear and still, while also evoking movement like film stills, eerie […]
Who would have thought that the basement of a Catholic church would serve as a crucible of creativity in the East Village in the early Reagan era? One did, however, and it is the subject of an upcoming exhibition at the Museum of Modern art called “Club 57: Film, Performance, and Art in the East Village, […]
Didn’t make it to a recent GVSHP program? Visit our website to see photos, videos, and sometimes even presentation materials from recent programs. Photos and video from Saturday’s Basquiat and NoHo panel are now online! This past Saturday, just two doors down from Jean-Michel Basquiat’s last home and studio, GVSHP and Ayanna Jessica Legros presented a panel exploring the artist, his identity, and […]
From the Center for An Urban Future Report Greenwich Village has long enjoyed a reputation as a mecca for artists. The same can be said of nearby NoHo and SoHo, though the reputation for those neighborhoods is slightly newer (about fifty years, as opposed to well over a hundred for the Village). The list of […]
If you’re walking down the sidewalk and see someone with a small notebook, staring up at a historic building as he jots down a charming sketch of an architectural detail, then you just might have stumbled upon artist Nick Golebiewski. And you might never guess that what Nick’s doing is actually creating content for an […]
The final pieces of the renovation of Astor Place will be unveiled and dedicated tomorrow. Thanks to the creative verve of Jim Power, aka the Mosaic Man, and the support of the Village Alliance Business Improvement District and City Lore, and many more, GVSHP is excited to participate in the unveiling of the Astor Place […]
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s life and work are synonymous with the East Village/NoHo art scene of the 1980’s. From his early years as a burgeoning young artist while studying at City-as-School, a progressive high school Village Preservation proposed for historic district designation which operates on the principles of John Dewey’s theory that students learn by doing, Basquiat was […]
Influential Abstract Expressionist painter Paul Jackson Pollock was born on January 28, 1912 in Cody, Wyoming. With his father, a farmer and government surveyor, mother and four brothers, Pollock grew up in Arizona and Chico, California. While living in California, he enrolled at Los Angeles’ Manual Arts High School, from which he was expelled, after […]
In 1985 the MTA founded what was then called Arts for Transit and Urban Design (now called Arts & Design) as part of an ambitious capital improvement program meant to reverse years of subway system decline. At that time, MTA leadership determined that original and engaging art was a vital part of the rebuilding effort, […]
New York City is known as one of the art capitals of the world. Art is all around us – from the Museum Mile on the Upper East Side to the galleries of Chelsea and beyond. We are often told to look up as to not miss any of the magnificent architecture above our heads. […]
The Whitney Museum of American Art opened its doors at its new location—99 Gansevoort Street—on May 1, 2015. Founded by sculpture and arts patron Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, the museum famous for twentieth-century and contemporary art of the United States, first opened on West Eighth Street in 1931. The Whitney later moved uptown and beginning in 1966 […]
Marvel Duchamp was born in France on July 28, 1887, trained as a painter in Paris until 1905, and spent much of his adult life living in Paris and New York City. His early work was Post-Impressionist, but in 1914, Duchamp introduced his readymades. These common objects, sometimes altered, presented as works of art, had […]
Perhaps the most well-known art movement associated with Greenwich Village is Abstract Expressionism (also known as the New York School). Abstract Expressionism, which focused on the portrayal of emotions rather than objects, originated in the Village during the mid-1940s, and artists of the movement echoed Surrealism (think Salvador Dali’s dreamlike paintings) and/or European Modernism (think […]
Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — and we need your help selecting the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo: just click here to vote for your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with […]
(This post is part of a series called Village People: A Who’s Who of Greenwich Village, which will explore some of this intern’s favorite Village people and stories.) Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney was a prominent art collector, born into the Vanderbilt family, and married into the Whitney family, whose fortune had been amassed beginning with Eli […]
(This post is part of a series called Village People: A Who’s Who of Greenwich Village, which will explore some of this intern’s favorite Village people and stories.) Frederic Church, born in Hartford, CT in 1826, became a central figure of the Hudson River School, and a great American landscape painter. He studied under Thomas […]
As part of GVSHP’s ongoing programming, native New Yorker and world renowned artist Frederick Brosen will give a free talk and slideshow at Theater 80 on Tuesday, December 9th at 6:30pm. Brosen’s presentation will feature his selected watercolor works of locations in New York City, including paintings featured in GVSHP’s book Greenwich Village Stories. For his […]
With the refreshingly spring-like weather making us long for a walk in the park today, we thought we’d take a look (via GVSHP’s archives) at some artists working en plein air in the Village. The following photos are from GVSHP’s Preservation Archive and Oral History Project, specifically a part of the Nat Kaufman Collection. The Nat […]
