Articles

New York

Illustration by Bobby Evans

RA Exhibitions

< 8 years ago

“We didn’t think it was a movement” – meet the 1940s critics of Abstract Expressionism

Seeking advice as she co-curated our Abstract Expressionism exhibition, Edith Devaney went to New York to meet Dore Ashton and Irving Sandler – two commentators who championed the likes of Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning, and entertained them in their kitchens.
Willem de Kooning (centre with light hair) talks to author Noel Clad and his wife on East 10th Street, next door to the Tanager Gallery, 1959

RA Exhibitions

8 years ago

New York nights: the Manhattan of the Abstract Expressionists

New York’s legendary Cedar Tavern and the surrounding galleries became the hub of the New York art scene in the 1940s and ‘50s. Morgan Falconer walks the streets where reputations were on the line.

RA Exhibitions

8 years ago

Ten 1950s artist hangouts to visit in New York

The fabled Cedar Tavern might be long gone, but there are still plenty of Greenwich Village spots where you can grab a coffee, or something stronger, in the New York of Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and friends.
Detail of a letter from Dorothea Tanning to Joseph Cornell, 1945-1965, undated

RA Exhibitions

> 9 years ago

From Dalí to Warhol: Joseph Cornell’s artist friends

Often misunderstood as an outsider, Cornell’s contacts read like a Who’s Who of the New York art scene. The curator of our exhibition introduces the gang.