The Bodley Gallery was an

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

in New York City, from the late 1940s through the early 1980s. The Bodley specialized in

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

and

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

. David Mann was director of the gallery during its heyday and Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Braun (a.k.a. Georgie Duffee), were the owners.

Artists

Several of

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

's earliest exhibitions in New York were at the Bodley during the 1950s, starting with two in 1956.

Max Ernst Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealis ...

had a major solo exhibition at the Bodley Gallery in 1961, after his works were exhibited together with those of

Yves Tanguy Raymond Georges Yves Tanguy (January 5, 1900 – January 15, 1955), known as just Yves Tanguy (, ), was a French surrealist painter. Biography Tanguy, the son of a retired navy captain, was born January 5, 1900, at the Ministry of Naval Aff ...

in a 1960 Bodley Gallery show. Also in 1960,

Roberto Matta Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren (; November 11, 1911 – November 23, 2002), better known as Roberto Matta, was one of Chile's best-known painters and a seminal figure in 20th century abstract expressionist and surrealist art. Bio ...

had a solo show at the Bodley, entitled "Matta, from 1942 to 1957". Other artists who exhibited at the Bodley under Mann's directorship include

Victor Brauner Victor Brauner (, also spelled Viktor Brauner; 15 June 1903 – 12 March 1966) was a Romanian painter and sculptor of the surrealist movement. Early life He was born in Piatra Neamț, Romania, the son of a Jewish timber manufacturer who subsequen ...

, Charles Bunnell, Clarence Holbrook Carter, Thomas Chimes, Louis Delsarte,

Jane Frank Jane Schenthal Frank (born Jane Babette Schenthal) (July 25, 1918 – May 31, 1986) was an American multidisciplinary artist, known as a painter, sculptor, mixed media artist, illustrator, and textile artist. Her landscape-like, mixed-media ab ...

, Charlotte Gilbertson,

Eugenio Granell Eugenio Fernández Granell (28 November 1912 – 24 October 2001), recognised as the last Spanish Surrealist, was an artist, professor, musician and writer. As a political activist in the early 20th century, Granell was characterised by his ...

, Shirley Hendrick, Hank Laventhol,

Mina Loy Mina Loy (born Mina Gertrude Löwy; 27 December 1882 – 25 September 1966) was a British-born artist, writer, poet, playwright, novelist, painter, designer of lamps, and bohemian. She was one of the last of the first-generation modernists to ...

Larry Rivers Larry Rivers (born Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg) (1923 – 2002) was an American artist, musician, filmmaker, and occasional actor. Considered by many scholars to be the "Godfather" and "Grandfather" of Pop art, he was one of the first artists ...

, Onni Saari, Ethel Schwabacher,

Bettina Shaw-Lawrence Bettina Shaw-Lawrence (29 July 1921 – 12 September 2018), also known as Betty Shaw-Lawrence, was an English figurative artist. Shaw studied painting and drawing under Fernand Léger, Cedric Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines, though she was mainly ...

, Thomas Sills, and

Ahmed Yacoubi Ahmed ben Driss el Yacoubi (1928–1985) was a Moroccan painter and storyteller. He was born in Fez, Morocco. Career Yacoubi met the American composer and writer Paul Bowles in Fez in 1947, and later in Tangier. Yacoubi then began doing trans ...

. Although the gallery emphasized the work of living artists, exhibits were not limited to such works—as evidenced by its showing of paintings by Tanguy in 1960, and a 1970 show including works of

René Magritte René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature and bound ...

. A 1971 exhibition entitled "Modern Master Drawings" included works by

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented ...

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as " tubism") which he gradually modified into a more figurative, p ...

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primar ...

, and

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

. The Bodley exhibition record shows a general preponderance of surrealists (including Jorge Noceda Sanchez).

Early Warhol exhibitions at the Bodley Gallery

*"Drawings for a Boy-Book" : February 14 - March 3, 1956 *"The Golden Slipper Show or Shoes Shoe in America" : December 3–22, 1956 *"A Show of Golden Pictures" : December 2–24, 1957 *"Wild Raspberries" : December 1–24, 1959

Director

Apparently David Mann was not the first director of the Bodley Gallery, which seems to have existed already in the late 1940s. According to at least one source, Mann was still director of the Bodley as late as 1981.

Location

According to many sources (including warholstars.com and the 1961 Max Ernst exhibition catalogue listed below), the Bodley Gallery was located (through the 1950s and until at least November 1963, according to the catalogue for a 1963 Jane Frank show) at 223 East 60th Street, in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

's wealthy

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the we ...

neighborhood. This would place it between Second and Third Avenues. Presently the storefront is occupied by Dejavu Boutique & Gallery, a luxury fashion boutique selling mostly European clothing. To acknowledge the building's past, the boutique preserved the 2nd floor of the space as an Art Gallery to showcase artwork by established artists and the interior is lined with décor by Mackenzie-Childs. As of no later than April 1964, the Bodley Gallery had relocated to 787

Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Str ...

(an ad on page 15 of the April 1964 issue of ''

Art in America ''Art in America'' is an illustrated monthly, international magazine concentrating on the contemporary art world in the United States, including profiles of artists and genres, updates about art movements, show reviews and event schedules. It is ...

'' gives this address). This put it in an even more exclusive section of the Upper East Side, at Madison and 67th Street. That is now the address of Jacadi, which sells upscale children's clothing. A third address, 1063 Madison Avenue (at 80th Street), seems to have been in effect by about 1975, if not earlier (but no earlier than 1967). 1063 Madison is now the address of a women's fashion boutique called Agnes B.

References

General references

Books

''Art in America''
Vol. 52, no. 2, April 1964. (advertisement on page 15 gives the second of the three known addresses: 787 Madison Avenue) *Bodley Gallery (New York, N.Y.
Max Ernst : paintings, collages, drawings, sculpture : October 30-November 25, 1961 : Bodley Gallery, 223 East 60, New York
(exhibition catalogue and commentary; published by the gallery, 1961)

OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It wa ...

54157692 *Bodley Gallery (New York, N.Y.
''Modern master drawings 1971 : [exhibition] February 16-March 6, 1971''
(New York, N.Y. : The Gallery, 1971) OCLC: 37498294 *Bodley Gallery (New York, N.Y.
''Thomas Sills: February 29 -March 11, 1972''
* Bodley Gallery (New York, N.Y.
''Matta, from 1942 to 1957''
(New York : Bodley Gallery, 1960)

78760494 *Bodley Gallery (New York, N.Y.
''Granell''
(New York : The Gallery, 1965)

78760528 *Victor Brauner : paintings, encaustics, drawings ; 1932 - 1959 / Bodley Gallery New York, 1961. – 2 Faltbl. : zahlr. Ill. (See "external links" for electronic record of this catalog in German archive.) *Carter, Clarence Holbrook;

James A. Michener James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and ...

; Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer (New York, N.Y.); Bodley Gallery (New York, N.Y.
''Clarence Carter : a joint exhibition 30 April through 1 June, 1974 Gimpel & Weitzenhiffer Gallery ... and Bodley Gallery''
(New York : Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer) * Ernst, Max;

; Bodley Gallery (New York, N.Y.
''Max Ernst, Magritte : February 17-March 14, 1970''
(New York : Bodley Gallery)

: 18858894 * Frank, Jane
''Jane Frank''
(pub. New York, N.Y. : Bodley Gallery, 1963) ives address as 223 East 60th street, with exhibition dates given as Oct. 22 - Nov. 9th

80892120 (Also available at MICA: see 'External links' for access help.) * Gilbertson, Charlotte; Bodley Gallery (New York, N.Y.)
Charlotte Gilbertson (exhibition): Bodley Gallery, New York City
(New York : The Gallery, 1971)

10480617 * Hausman, Fred
Hausman, the human pattern II : (exhibition), Bodley Gallery, 787 Madison Avenue, New York City, October 24-November 5, 1966
(New York : The Gallery, 1966) OCLC: 14274993 *Loy, Mina; and

Julien Levy Julien Levy (1906–1981) was an art dealer and owner of Julien Levy Gallery in New York City, important as a venue for Surrealists, avant-garde artists, and American photographers in the 1930s and 1940s. Biography Levy was born in New York. Aft ...

Constructions, April 14-25, 1959
(New York : Bodley Gallery, 1959)

: 11251843 * Perutz, Dolly; Bodley Gallery (New York, N.Y.)
Dolly Perutz : (1908-1979) : the last 25 years of her work : sculpture·graphics·encaustics : January 27 through February 14, 1981 : Bodley Gallery.
(New York : The Gallery, 1981)

80195043 * Schwabacher, Ethel; Jeanne Reynal; Bodley Gallery (New York, N.Y.
''Of people : Ethel Schwabacher, pastels : Jeanne Reynal, mosaics.''
(New York : Bodley Gallery, 1976) OCLC: 48706042 *Stanton, Phoebe B.

(A.S. Barnes:

South Brunswick, New Jersey South Brunswick is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The township is centrally located within the Raritan Valley region and is an outer-ring suburb of New York City in the New York metropolitan area. As of th2020 ...

, and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, 1968) (The book lists two exhibitions for

at the Bodley Gallery, in 1963 and 1967). *"Goings On About Town." ''The New Yorker'' Vol. 51, May 5, 1975, p. 8a; listing exhibition "through May 17th" and shows the gallery's location at 1063 Madison Ave at 80th.)

Other

*"What's New in Art", ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''; Sunday, April 2, 1967; listing art openings for Monday (April 3) including "JANE FRANK - Bodley Gallery, 787

. Paintings. To April 21." (This verifies that the gallery was still located at 787 Madison Avenue as late as April 1967.) {{coord, 40.76191, -73.96491, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NY, display=title Contemporary art galleries in the United States Cultural history of New York City Defunct art museums and galleries in Manhattan