Art galleries are to Greenwich Village as wheat fields are to Kansas: a part of the landscape. It is true that during the past decade numerous galleries, along with numerous artists, migrated from Village to more-affordable neighborhoods such as Tribeca and the Lower East Side. Nonetheless, numerous others remained or moved in—far too many to list here. Below is a sampling that shows the diversity of what is on display.
82 Gansevoort Street (between Washington Street and 11th Avenue)
A work by Ron English, one of the artists represented by Allouche Gallery. Image: RJ/Flickr
Founded by Eric Allouche in 2014, Allouche Gallery is a relative newcomer to the Village art scene. All the same, it has already developed a sizable stable of artists, many of whom began as street artists. Among those represented by the gallery are Ron English, best known for a series inspired by Picasso’s Guernica; Nick Georgiou, who uses newspapers and paperbacks to craft his sculptural pieces; and painter/performance artist Francine Spiegel, whose oil paintings are provocative despite their cheerful palettes.
100 Washington Square East (between Washington and Waverly Places)
“Marine à berck, bateaux de pêche et pêcheurs” by Édouard Manet, part of the collection of Grey Art Gallery. Image: public domain/Wikipedia
The building that houses Grey Art Gallery, New York University’s fine-arts museum, was previously home to the school’s Museum of Living Art, the first institution in the country to exhibit such groundbreaking artists as Arp, Mondrian, Mirò, and Picasso. Its permanent collection is best known for works by postwar American painters, including Romare Bearden, Helen Frankenthaler, and Robert Rauschenberg. The museum is also home to the Abby Weed Grey Collection of Modern Asian and Middle Eastern Art, which includes works from India, Iran, and Turkey. It hosts special exhibits as well. Beginning in September and running through December are “Partners in Design: Alfred H. Barr Jr. and Philip Johnson,” a look at how the International Style movement was brought to the U.S., and “NeoRealismo: The New Image in Italy, 1932-1960,” featuring more than 60 Italian photographers and artists.
675 Hudson Street, 4th floor (between West 13th and West 14th Streets)
The very first show staged at the Ivy Brown Gallery, a response to 9/11, had a clown theme. That defiant yet supportive attitude remains a hallmark of the gallery’s choice of shows and artists. The latter include photographer Cody S. Brothers, whose works include photographs of New York taken with a pinhole camera, and Harlem native and “representational abstract” artist Jamel Robinson. Beginning September 11, the gallery will host the first New York solo show of another of the artists it represents, painter Brian Neish.
325 West 11th Street (between Greenwich and Washington Streets)
Robin Rice is a photographer herself, so it is not surprising that photography is the focus of her gallery. Artists represented include Ted Adams, who takes an almost surrealistic approach to documentary photography; Pete Kelly, whose spring show, “Back in Blighty,” was a visual ode to the British countryside; and Tina West, whose moody still lives imbue quotidian objects with an otherworldly gravitas.
47 5th Avenue (at 12th Street)
Housed in an 1853 Italianate brownstone that is on the National Register of Historic Places, the Salmagundi Club was founded in 1871; members have included William Merritt Chase, Charles Dana Gibson, Childe Hassam, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and N.C. Wyeth. Its collection encompasses more than 1,500 works, and its gallery hosts exhibitions of both members—primarily realist and representational artists—and nonmembers. Of perhaps equal interest to the art is the building itself, which boasts carved marble fireplaces, vintage pool tables, ornate moldings, and other hallmarks of the Gilded Age.
55 Bethune Street (at Washington Street)
Westbeth Artists’ Housing, home to Westbeth Gallery. Image: Reading Tom/Flick
The Westbeth Gallery is located on the ground floor of Westbeth Artists’ Housing, a former site of Bell Laboratories that was converted in the late 1960s into affordable housing and studios for artists. While the gallery displays the works of residents, especially in its annual year-end show, it also offers curated shows featuring other artists. Opening September 9, for instance, is “Strange Flowers,” in which 10 artists consider the symbolism of flora, and The Quilters of Color Network of New York will be the focus of an October show.
320 West 13th Street
Established in 1970, White Columns claims to be the city’s “oldest alternative art space.” The not-for-profit gallery was among the first to show the likes of John Currin, Andres Serrano, Kiki Smith, William Wegman, and David Wojnarowicz. From September 9 through October 21, the gallery will host an exhibit of late-period works by Jack Drummer, who used industrial materials such as rubber and steel as canvases; early works by Belgian painter Walter Swennen; the first New York show of outsider artist Helen Rae; and a solo exhibition of drawings by Will Sheldon.