Inventing Downtown: Artist-Run Galleries in New York City, 1952–1965

Alex Katz, Ada Ada, 1959. Oil on canvas, 49 x 50 in. Grey Art Gallery, New York University Art Collection. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Golden, 1963.13. Art © Alex Katz/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

“Inventing Downtown” at the Grey Art Gallery is a densely-packed, archival-based group show that charts the beginning of artist-run galleries in New York City following World War II. The exhibition opens in 1952, a murky year when American Abstract Expressionism continued its decade-long mainstream popularity while gradually on the wane from public interest. Moreover the…