New York’s 1980’s art world, then chock a block with Warhol’s infamous Factory, along with regular sightings of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Cindy Sherman on the prowl, is now somewhat clouded by today’s hipster galleries that dominate Chelsea. Yet that particular chapter in history can be relived in all its glory via the photographer Jeanette Montgomery Barron’s scrapbook-like tome, My Years in the 1980s New York Art Scene, which is packed with her snaps, shot in the studios of Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and other now notable artists, as well as gallery posters and Village Voice reviews.
'I was fortunate to be in the center of it all,' says Barron who now resides in Kent, Connecticut, where her husband heads up James Barron Art. At the tender age of 24, Barron was introduced by the prominent Zurich dealer Bruno Bischofberger to a wide range of artists in the Big Apple. From there, armed with her Hassleblad much like Robert Mapplethorpe, she captured the lower Manhattan art scene. In between hitting gallery openings and countless dinner parties, Barron also modeled for both painter Alex Katz and fashion photographer David Seidner. Both of their works are included in her latest book.
Despite the intimate photo-documentation of Andy Warhol’s tête à têtes with Jean-Michel Basquiat, and captures of David Salle and others in their studios, Barron is far from just a social photographer. Not only have more than 30 of her images been acquired by the Max Mara private museum Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia, her work is also included in the permanent collections of Houston Museum of Fine Arts and the Andy Warhol Museum.
‘I was fortunate to be in the center of it all,’ says Barron who now resides in Kent, Connecticut
Katherine Bigelow
1980
Willem Dafoe
New York, 1980
In between hitting gallery openings and countless dinner parties, Barron also modeled for both painter Alex Katz and fashion photographer David Seidner. Both of their works are included in her book
Boy George, Bianca Jagger, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Quentin Crisp
Jeannette Montgomery Barron’s Cannes Festival pass, 1988
Boy George and Marylin (Peter Robinson)
The Factory, New York, 1984
INFORMATION
’My Years in the 1980s New York Art Scene’ is published by Collezione Maramotti and Silvana Editoriale. Available at Amazon and Glenn Horowitz Bookseller
ADDRESS
Glenn Horowitz Bookseller
17 West 54th Street
New York, NY
-
Inside the fantastical world of performance artist, Darrell ThornePerformance artist Darrell Thorne straddles multiple worlds, telling stories through transformation, reinvention and theatrical excess
-
Mostly armless: life with the Roborock Saros S70 and taking a (shallow) step into the futureThe arm-equipped Roborock Saros Z70 robot vacuum dusts, mops and even cleans up your messy household. So why did it feel like adding a demanding new family member?
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekSummer holidays are here, with Wallpaper* editors jetting off to some exceptional destinations, including highly recommended Mérida in Mexico. Then it’s back to work, or, for one editor, back to school…
-
Architect Erin Besler is reframing the American tradition of barn raisingAt Art Omi sculpture and architecture park, NY, Besler turns barn raising into an inclusive project that challenges conventional notions of architecture
-
The dynamic young gallerists reinvigorating America's art scene'Hugging has replaced air kissing' in this new wave of galleries with craft and community at their core
-
Meet the New York-based artists destabilising the boundaries of societyA new show in London presents seven young New York-based artists who are pushing against the borders between refined aesthetics and primal materiality
-
Cindy Sherman in Menorca: ‘She's decades ahead of social media and the construction of identity for the camera’‘Cindy Sherman: The Women’, its title a nod to an image-conscious 1930s Broadway hit, takes the American artist's carefully constructed, highly performative works to Hauser & Wirth Menorca
-
‘Her pictures looked like pictures everybody knew were the truth’: Diane Arbus at the ArmoryMatthieu Humery curates more than 400 of Arbus’ photographs at New York’s Park Avenue Armory – every picture she was known to have printed
-
Mystic, feminine and erotic: the power of Penny Slinger’s bodies as landscapeArtist Penny Slinger continues her exploration of the sacred, surreal feminine in a Santa Monica exhibition, ‘Meeting at the Horizon’
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekIt was a jam-packed week for the Wallpaper* staff, entailing furniture, tech and music launches and lots of good food – from afternoon tea to omakase
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been up to this weekThis week saw the Wallpaper* team jet-setting to Jordan and New York; those of us left in London had to make do with being transported via the power of music at rooftop bars, live sets and hologram performances
