ART-PRESENTATION: Deadeye Dick-Richard Bellamy and His Circle
Richard Bellamy was an art dealer with the enigmatic personality of an artist, and a visionary who launched the careers of such movement-defining figures as Claes Oldenburg, Mark di Suvero and Donald Judd. But his inability to convert masterpieces to paychecks reduced his legacy to a footnote. The exhibition “Deadeye Dick: Richard Bellamy and His Circle” at Peter Freeman, Inc. is an ambitious group exhibition dedicated to Richard Bellamy and the circle of artists whose careers he launched and fostered.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Peter Freeman, Inc. Archive
Richard Bellamy might well have remained invisible if Judith E. Stein, an art historian, had not become curious to the point of obsession with documenting his life in her recently-published Bellamy biography “Eye of the Sixties”and accomplishments as the enigmatic, self-effacing éminence grise of the New York art world. On view are works from the ‘50s through the ‘90s by more than thirty artists that focus on Bellamy and his artists bring important new insights into a history of taste that is still quite relevant. Many rarely-seen and never-before-exhibited works are on view, including Alex Katz’s portrait of Bellamy, on loan from the Whitney Museum of American Art, Heizer’s portraits of Bellamy’s backers, famed collectors Robert and Ethel Scull, and a remarkable group of drawings by Lee Lozano, as well as several of her letters to Dick, one of which constituted her conceptual and official withdrawal from the art world. Richard Bellamy directed the cooperative Hansa Gallery (1955–59), where he showed Jane Wilson, Allan Kaprow, Jean Follett, Jan Müller, Myron Stout and others. His pioneering role in the developments of Pop, Minimalism, Conceptual art, and Op art started with Green Gallery, which he directed from 1960-65, and where he gave Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist and Tom Wesselmann their uptown solo debuts, along with Mark di Suvero, Lucas Samaras, and George Segal. At Green, Dick was the first to show the minimalist sculpture of Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, and Robert Morris, as well as Larry Poons’s Op art paintings. When the Green closed Bellamy moved into the Noah Goldowsky Gallery (1965–1974), where he showed artists including: Richard Serra, Bruce Nauman, Mary Corse, Jo Baer, Dan Christensen, Neil Jenney, Milet Andrejevic, Walter De Maria and many others. His next gallery was a largely private venture (very few open exhibitions) on Park Avenue South, where he laid low while focusing intensely on the career of Mark di Suvero, until moving, in 1980, to the 14th floor at 157 Chambers Street, where he opened the Oil & Steel Gallery and met the inimitable Barbara Flynn. Here he showed artists Alfred Leslie, Michael Heizer, Richard Nonas, Grégoire Müller, Peter Young, Jan Müller, David Rabinowitch and others. Because the rent tripled, Bellamy moved in 1985 to a building on a large pier on the East River in Queens, adjacent to di Suvero’s studio. One of his signatures was the decision to work closely with a very small group of artists and dedicate his energies toward the promulgation of their work. But aside from these manifested efforts, he also worked tirelessly behind the scenes to place artists with the right galleries and to facilitate artists’ special projects. Unlike many dealers, he made it a point to attend as many of his friends’ studios, openings and exhibitions as possible on a regular basis. Richard Bellamy died in 1998, at the age of 70, in his sleep. On presentation are works by: Milet Andrejevic, Jo Baer, Robert Beauchamp, Jacques Beckwith, James Lee Byars, Dan Christensen, John Cohen, Mary Corse, Emilio Cruz, Walter De Maria, Mark di Suvero, Dan Flavin, Jean Follett, Miles Forst, Robert Frank, Al Hansen, Michael Heizer, Tehching Hsieh & Linda Montano, Neil Jenney, Donald Judd, Alex Katz, Gary Kuehn, Yayoi Kusama, Tadaaki Kuwayama, Alfred Leslie, Lee Lozano, Robert Morris, Jan Müller, Bruce Nauman, Richard Nonas, Claes Oldenburg, Yoko Ono, Larry Poons, David Rabinowitch, James Rosenquist, Lucas Samaras, George Segal, Richard Serra, Myron Stout, Kunié Sugiura, Sidney Tillim, John Tweddle, Tom Wesselmann, Neil Williams, Peter Young, Daisy Youngblood and John Zinsser.
Info: Curator: Judith Stein, Peter Freeman, Inc., 140 Grand Street, (Ground Floor, between Crosby and Lafayette), New York, Duration: 12/9-28/10/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.peterfreemaninc.com
