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Edith Halpert, 1900-1970
Born Odessa, Ukraine
In 1926, after years working in business, Edith Halpert opened the Downtown Gallery in New York City, resolving to give new and less conventional artists a chance to show their work. She opened her exhibition space to Ben Shahn, William Zorach, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Stuart Davis, and John Marin and over the next decade became an important force in winning acceptance in the art world for various strains of modernism. At the same time, Halpert was passionately interested in long-neglected American folk art traditions. Under her guidance, several of the country's most distinguished folk art collections were formed.
Painted by Marguerite Zorach, one of the artists Halpert represented, this portrait is set in the Downtown Gallery's new "daylight gallery." Halpert and her unidentified visitor sit in swivel chairs conceived by the modernist designer Donald Deskey.
Marguerite Zorach, c 1930 |