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Henry Geldzahler | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1935-07-09)July 9, 1935 Antwerp, Belgium |
| Died | August 16, 1994(1994-08-16) (aged 59) Southampton, New York, U.S. |
| Resting place | Green River Cemetery |
| Alma mater | Yale University Harvard University |
| Occupation(s) | Curator, art historian, art critic |
Henry Geldzahler (July 9, 1935 – August 16, 1994) was a Belgian-born Americancurator ofcontemporary art in the late 20th century, as well as ahistorian andcritic ofmodern art. He is best known for his work at theMetropolitan Museum of Art and as New York City Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, and for his social role in the art world with a close relationship with contemporary artists.
He has been described as "the most powerful and controversial art curator alive" and the art critic ofThe New Yorker magazine Calvin Tomkins said "If you were involved in any way in the [cultural] world, you met Henry".[1]
Born inAntwerp, Belgium, Geldzahler's Jewish family emigrated to theUnited States in 1940.[2] He graduated fromYale University in 1957, where he was a member ofManuscript Society.[3] After graduating from Yale, he began work on a doctorate in art history atHarvard University.[4]
In 1960, Geldzahler left Harvard to join the staff of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.[4] He became the Curator for American Art there, and later the first Curator for 20th Century Art.
Among his closest friends were artist Andy Warhol andDavid Hockney.[1][5] Geldzahler is the subject of the underground Warhol filmHenry Geldzahler (1964), which features him smoking a cigar.[6]
His time at the Met is most known for his landmark 1969 exhibition,New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940-1970,[7] which included his favorite contemporary work and became the talk of the town.[8][4][9] It was the Museum's first exhibition of contemporary American art and marked both the inauguration of the newly established department of Contemporary Arts and the100th anniversary of the Museum.[10] The exhibition featured 408 works in 35 galleries, by 43 artists includingArshile Gorky,Jackson Pollock,Frank Stella,David Smith,Jasper Johns,Mark Rothko,Andy Warhol, andRobert Rauschenberg.[11] "My guiding principles in deciding which artists to include in the exhibition have been the extent to which their work has commanded critical attention or significantly deflected the course of recent art", said Geldzahler in the press release of the exhibition.[1]
In 1966, he was the United States commissioner to theVenice Biennale, for which he selected the American artists to be exhibited.[4]
In 1966 he took a temporary leave from the Met to become the first director of the visual arts program of theNational Endowment for the Arts, where he initiated a program of museum grants for the purchase of art made by living American artists.
Geldzahler is depicted in portraits by several of his artist friends, including a famous 1969 double portrait byDavid Hockney of Geldzahler with his then-partner, painter Christopher Scott.[12] Other artists who painted his portrait includeAndy Warhol,Frank Stella, andAlice Neel. "There are lots of pictures of Henry. He didn’t have many mirrors in his home. He knew what he looked like just by asking people to make portraits of him.’ Hockney said.[1]
Geldzahler appeared, as himself, in the David Hockney biopic,A Bigger Splash (1974).[13]
In 1978 Geldzahler left the Met and was succeeded in his role there byThomas B. Hess.[14] He was then appointed the Commissioner of Cultural Affairs forNew York City byMayorEdward I. Koch.
As an openly gay man who was part of the Koch administration and the conservative Metropolitan Museum of Art, Geldzahler contributed significant time and effort toAIDS-related causes. Raymond Foye, publisher ofHanuman Books, was his companion for many years.[15]
After leaving his New York City government cultural post, he continued to write on art, and acted as an independent curator, working at the alternative spaceP.S. 1 and the austere high modernistDia Art Foundation.
Geldzahler died ofliver cancer on August 16, 1994, at his home inSouthampton, New York. He was 59 years old.[4][16][17]
He is buried inGreen River Cemetery inSprings, New York.[18]
Geldzahler wrote, among other works:
In the song "Forever Changed" from the albumSongs for Drella (1990),Lou Reed andJohn Cale, speaking and singing in the first person, as Andy Warhol, mention Geldzahler as one of the people who'd "seen [Warhol] through."
Thedocumentary filmWho Gets to Call It Art? (2006) by Peter Rosen explores the life of Geldzahler.[19]
