This is the latest installation of “South of Union Square, the Birthplace of American Modernism,” a series that explores how the area south of Union Square shaped some of the most influential American artists of the 20th century. Village Preservation’s proposed South of Union Square historic district attracted painters, writers, publishers, and radical social organizations […]
“I don’t go around looking for trouble, and yet these experiences often lead me out of sculpture to realms of danger — fantastic, literal, psychic danger.” — George Spaventa, ARTnews, September 1961 It is always exciting to find more strands of the expansive history in our neighborhoods; whether incidentally, or while following a direct lead. In this […]
Joan Mitchell (February 12, 1925 – October 30, 1992) is one of the most well-known New York Abstract Expressionist painters. Born and raised in Chicago, Mitchell moved to New York City in 1949 after graduating from the Art Institute of Chicago and completing a fellowship in France. Naturally, she settled in Greenwich Village and the […]
The neighborhood South of Union Square is a true crossroads — where art, politics, industry, commerce, the New York elite, and the working class collided to create an eclectic culture and built environment that helped shift the center of the global art world to New York City. In addition to its namesake social realist art […]
One of my favorite things about our neighborhoods is the history that is under our feet and to our side and yet unknown. Case in point is 49-51 Fifth Avenue. Here is a quiet, refined 1920s apartment building, and yet behind that genteel facade it has some really surprising and interesting history. A new building […]
Part of our blog series Why Isn’t This Landmarked?, where we look at buildings in our area we’re fighting to protect that are worthy of landmark designation, but somehow aren’t landmarked. Jackson Pollock lived a relatively short, but extremely productive artistic life. It is not a surprise that most of his prolific years were spent […]
On November 29, 1924, artist Jane Freilicher was born. Freilicher was a member of the New York School, “an informal group of American poets, painters, dancers, and musicians active in the 1950s and 1960s in New York City.” She was also a long-time Village resident and has even included her own recollections about her life […]
On Thursday evening, Village Preservation and the New School for Public Engagement hosted a lecture titled, “Jackson Pollock’s Downtown Years” given by art historian and MoMa educator Larissa Bailiff. While we can’t recount the entire amazing lecture to you (you’ll have to wait until a video of the event is available!), we can highlight some […]
