Alex Gelfand spent the spring semester processing the exhibition records of NYU’s Grey Art Gallery, which have been deposited in the University Archives, which houses the historical records of New York University. Here, he reflects on the history of the Grey:
Peter Rabbit had disobeyed his mother once more and leaving his sisters, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail, sneaked into Mr. McGregor’s garden. Suddenly he was transported into a deep dark forest where Peter saw a Frank Lloyd Wright house and decided to enter. Finding a key under the welcome mat, he easily managed to open the elaborate but antique Persian lock hanging awkwardly on the door. Inside, images of Audubon’s wildlife, Picasso’s cubes and Frida Kahlo’s expressive portraits, along with hundreds of lesser known faces, starred down upon him, while a myriad of statues on the floor invited a closer inspection. Going out the back, Peter found himself in Washington Square Park. Running around the square, the rabbit finally entered Bobst Library where he proceeded up to the 10th floor, to the University Archives, where he jumped inside one of the open boxes, joining the subjects of the other exhibitions he had briefly glanced along the way.
For over thirty years since its foundation, the Grey Art Gallery has been regaling its visitors with exhibitions of local, national and international interest. Inaugurated on April 9, 1975 at 33 Washington Place (today 100 Washington Square East), the gallery has inherited a rich cultural legacy. Located on the site of the original NYU building, it was here that the University professor and erstwhile inventor of the telegraph Samuel Morse headed the nation’s first art department. In 1927, Albert E. Gallatin, son of an NYU chemistry professor, established what is considered to be the first museum of modern art in the United States. Called The Gallery of Living Art, the collection consisted of contemporary paintings and drawings by creative and progressive artists.
The museum was a great success until its closure in 1943 by the University for economic reasons. However, the university was not left devoid of art for long. In 1958 NYU acquired its first permanent art works beginning what was to become known as the New York University Art Collection. Over the next decade the number of artworks was continuously augmented with the help of alumni and well-wishers. By the middle of the 1970s, the collection consisted of nearly 2000 individual pieces of art which included paintings by Picasso, Klee and Hofmann. Due to the fact that there was no permanent space available, most of the art work was kept in storage when not part of a special exhibition.
In 1974 Abby Weed Grey, the head of Ben and Abby Grey Foundation in St. Paul Minnesota, decided to contribute one million dollars to NYU for the construction of the Grey Gallery and Study Center. Mrs. Grey had been looking for a dynamic place to display her large collection of Asian and Middle Eastern art and New York City fit the bill perfectly. Mrs. Grey’s art donation, combined with the NYU Art Collection in the newly renovated building became the permanent collection for the new gallery.
Today, the Grey Art Gallery continues to advance the legacy left from its predecessors to inform and educate the wider public. In 2011, trying to open up its records for wider research, over thirty years of exhibition records of the University Art Collection and Grey Art Gallery were given NYU University Archives. Once fully processed, this rich resource will be made available for all future researchers and enthusiasts of art in all its forms.
The author notes: So far I have processed about 20 percent of the records which I have divided into an exhibition files series containing photographs, slides and negatives from previous exhibits (these have been moved to the general University Photo Collection to make access easier), floor plans, exhibit item lists, research materials from other museums and galleries, promotional publication materials, catalogs, press releases, scripts, correspondence with artists, donors, patrons (including Abby Grey), posters, postcards, invitations as well as other kinds of materials.A second series is composed of administrative files which includes grant applications, loan agreements, lender information, various receipts and financial information, insurance certificates, appeals for funding, etc.
-- Written by Alex Gelfand, M.A. Candidate in Archives and Public History, NYU
This post originally appeared on May 6, 2012, on the NYU Archives and Public History Digital blog, and is reposted here by permission of Alex Gelfand and NYU's M.A. Program in Archives and Public History.