Martha Jackson (; January 17, 1907 – July 4, 1969) was an American

art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationsh ...

gallery owner An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells Work of art, works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and build ...

, and collector. Her

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

based Martha Jackson Gallery, founded in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

, was groundbreaking in its representation of women and international artists, and in establishing the

op art Op art, short for optical art, is a style of visual art that uses distorted or manipulated geometrical patterns, often to create optical illusions. It began in the early 20th century, and was especially popular from the 1960s on, the term "Op ...

movement.

Biography

Jackson was born Martha Kellogg on January 17, 1907, in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

. She was born into two prominent Buffalo families, the daughter of Cyrena (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Case; 1884-1931) and Howard Kellogg (1881-1969). She had two brothers, Spencer Kellogg II and Howard Kellogg, Jr. Jackson's mother's family founded and operated W. A. Case & Son Manufacturing Company which was eventually purchased in 1952 by what is now

Covanta Reworld, formerly Covanta (legal name; Reworld Holding Corporation), is a private energy-from-waste and industrial waste management services company headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey. Most of its revenue comes from operating incineration ...

. Jackson's father was president of Spencer Kellogg & Sons, Inc., a

linseed oil Linseed oil, also known as flaxseed oil or flax oil (in its edible form), is a colorless to yellowish oil obtained from the dried, ripened seeds of the flax plant (''Linum usitatissimum''). The oil is obtained by pressing, sometimes followed by ...

firm founded by his father, which became a division of

Textron Textron Inc. is an American industrial Conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in Providence, Rhode Island. Textron's subsidiaries include Arctic Cat, Bell Textron, Kautex, Textron Aviation (which itself includes the Beechcraft and Cessna b ...

in 1961. Jackson attended

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

from 1925 to 1928 where she studied

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

. She moved to

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

during the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

where she studied

art history Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

and the

Baltimore Museum of Art The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) in Baltimore, Maryland, is an art museum that was founded in 1914. The BMA's collection of 95,000 objects encompasses more than 1,000 works by Henri Matisse anchored by the Cone Collection of modern art, ...

. In 1949, following her interest in making art, Jackson moved to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

to attend the

Hans Hofmann Hans Hofmann (March 21, 1880 – February 17, 1966) was a German-born American painter, renowned as both an artist and teacher. His career spanned two generations and two continents, and is considered to have both preceded and influenced Abstrac ...

School of Art. Already an art collector, she took Hoffman's advice to become an art dealer, using sales from her personal collections to fund her gallery. Jackson was married to John Anderson of Buffalo with whom she had two children, Cyrena (1934-1939) and David (1935-2009). The marriage ended in divorce. She was married a second time to attorney David Jackson of Buffalo from 1940 to 1949. Martha Jackson died at age 62 at her

Mandeville Canyon Brentwood is a suburban neighborhood in the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. History General Modern development began after the establishment of the Pacific Branch of the National Home for Disabled Soldiers and Sailors in the ...

home in

Brentwood, Los Angeles Brentwood is a suburban neighborhood in the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. History General Modern development began after the establishment of the Pacific Branch of the National Home for Disabled Soldiers and Sailors in the ...

on July 4, 1969, after suffering a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

while swimming in her pool. She is interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery in

Buffalo, NY Buffalo is a city in the U.S. state of New York and county seat of Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River on the Canadian border. With a population of 278,349 according to ...

Martha Jackson Gallery

In 1953 Jackson opened the Martha Jackson Gallery in a brownstone on East 66th street in Manhattan. In 1955 the gallery moved to East 69th street, where it remained open until Jackson's death in 1969. Working with the assistance of her son, David Anderson, Jackson's gallery was known as an artist-friendly establishment that represented an international roster of artist from the US, England, Holland, France, Spain, Israel, Japan, and Canada. Among those in her stable were

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental Bronze sculpture, bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore ...

Louise Nevelson Louise Nevelson (September 23, 1899 – April 17, 1988) was an American sculptor known for her monumental, monochromatic, wooden wall pieces and outdoor sculptures. Born in the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Kyiv Oblast, ...

Lynn Chadwick Lynn Russell Chadwick, (24 November 1914 – 25 April 2003) was an English sculptor and artist. Much of his work is semi-abstract sculpture in bronze or steel. His work is in the collections of MoMA in New York, the Tate in London and th ...

Norman Carton Norman Carton (January 7, 1908 – February 14, 1980) was an American artist and educator known for abstract expressionist art. He was born in Ukraine, at the time part of the Russian Empire and moved to the United States in 1922 where he spent ...

Philip Pavia Philip Pavia (1911-2005) was a culturally influential American artist of Italian descent, known for his scatter sculpture and figurative abstractions, and the debate he fostered among many of the 20th century's most important art thinkers. A foun ...

Zoltán Kemény Zoltán Kemény (21 March 1907 – 14 June 1965) was a Hungarian Sculpture, sculptor. Biography Kemény was born in Bănița, Austria-Hungary (present-day Romania). He was the only Hungarians, Hungarian to win a prize at the Venice Biennale. He ...

Sam Francis Samuel Lewis Francis (June 25, 1923 – November 4, 1994) was an American painter and printmaker. Early life Sam Francis was born in San Mateo, California,

Grace Hartigan Grace Hartigan (March 28, 1922 – November 15, 2008) was an American abstract expressionist painter and a significant member of the vibrant New York School of the 1950s and 1960s. Her circle of friends, who frequently inspired one another in t ...

, Paul Jenkins, Lester Johnson,

Frank Lobdell Frank Lobdell (1921–2013) was an American painter, often associated with the Bay Area Figurative Movement and Bay Area Abstract Expressionism. Life and career Frank Lobdell was born on August 23, 1921, in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised in ...

Yaacov Agam Yaacov Agam (; born 11 May 1928) is an Israeli sculptor and experimental artist widely known for his contributions to optical and kinetic art. Early life, family and education Yaacov Gibstein (later Agam) was born in Mandate Palestine. His fat ...

Karel Appel Christiaan Karel Appel (; 25 April 1921 – 3 May 2006) was a Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet. He started painting at the age of fourteen and studied at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in the 1940s. He was one of the founders of the avant-gard ...

Alan Davie James Alan Davie (28 September 1920 – 5 April 2014) was a Scottish painter and musician. Biography Davie was born in Grangemouth, Scotland in 1920, the son of Elizabeth (née Turnbull) and James William Davie, an art teacher and painter who ...

, William Scott, Yves Gaucher,

Jean McEwen Jean Albert McEwen (December 14, 1923 – January 9, 1999) was a Canadian painter known for his lyrical abstraction. Early life McEwen was born in 1923 Montreal to a Scottish father and French-Canadian mother. He began his working life as a pha ...

, Philippe Hosiasson, and

Antoni Tàpies Antoni Tàpies i Puig, 1st Marquess of Tápies, Marquess of Tàpies (; 13 December 1923 – 6 February 2012) was a Catalans, Catalan painter, sculptor, and art theorist. Life The son of Josep Tàpies i Mestre and Maria Puig i Guerra, Antoni T ...

— who had his New York solo debut at the gallery. The gallery also exhibited works by

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...

and Marino Marini, New York School painters like

Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning ( , ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. Born in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, he moved to the United States in 1926, becoming a US citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married pa ...

, and

Adolph Gottlieb Adolph Gottlieb (March 14, 1903 – March 4, 1974) was an American abstract expressionist painterChilvers, Ian & Claves-Smith, John eds., ''Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. pp. 282-283 who also m ...

, deceased Americans

Milton Avery Milton Clark Avery (; March 7, 1885 – January 3, 1965Haskell, B. (2003). "Avery, Milton". Grove Art Online.) was an American Modern art, modern painter. Born in Altmar, New York, he moved to Connecticut in 1898 and later to New York City. He wa ...

Alexander Calder Alexander "Sandy" Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobile (sculpture), mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, hi ...

Arshile Gorky Arshile Gorky ( ; born Vostanik Manoug Adoian, ; April 15, 1904 – July 21, 1948) was an Armenian Americans, Armenian-American painter who had a seminal influence on Abstract Expressionism. He spent the last years of his life as a national of the ...

, and

Marsden Hartley Marsden Hartley (January 4, 1877 – September 2, 1943) was an American Modernist painter, poet, and essayist. Hartley developed his painting abilities by observing Cubist artists in Paris and Berlin. Early life and education Hartley was bor ...

, and emerging artists Lawrence Calcagno,

John Hultberg John Hultberg (February 8, 1922 – April 15, 2005) was an American Abstract expressionist and Abstract realist painter. Early in his career he was related to the Bay Area Figurative Movement; he was also a lecturer and playwright. Early life a ...

Lee Krasner Lenore "Lee" Krasner (born Lena Krassner; October 27, 1908 – June 19, 1984) was an American painter and visual artist active primarily in New York whose work has been associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement. She received her ear ...

, and Norman Bluhm The gallery was the first in the US to exhibit

Gutai The was a Japanese avant-garde artist group founded in the Hanshin region by young artists under the leadership of the painter Jirō Yoshihara in Ashiya, Japan, in 1954. It operated until shortly after Yoshihara's death in 1972. The group, toda ...

, the Japanese postwar collective, and also one of the first to represent women. In addition to representing Louise Nevelson, Jackson worked with

Alma Thomas Alma Woodsey Thomas (September 22, 1891 – February 24, 1978) was an African-American artist and art teacher who lived and worked in Washington, D.C., and is now recognized as a major American painter of the 20th century. She is the first Afric ...

— who became the first African American woman to mount a solo show at the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

in New York —

, Marisol (Escobar),

Barbara Hepworth Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth (10 January 1903 – 20 May 1975) was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a leadin ...

, and

. She also championed American artist from beyond the New York region, like

Morris Louis Morris Louis Bernstein (November 28, 1912 – September 7, 1962), known professionally as Morris Louis, was an American painter. During the 1950s he became one of the earliest exponents of Color Field painting. While living in Washington, D ...

in the 1950s, and

Ed McGowin Ed McGowin (born 1938) is an American painter and sculptor based in New York City. Throughout his career, McGowin has produced works in a wide variety of media that have been installed and exhibited in galleries, museums and public spaces. He ha ...

in the 1960s. In the summer of 1960 Jackson mounted the proto-Pop ''New Forms — New Media'' exhibition, a subversive show featuring 72 works of art in the Dadaist tradition. The crowded exhibition, dubbed "wild and wacky" and "

Neo-Dada Neo-Dada was an art movement with audio, visual and literary manifestations that had similarities in method or intent with earlier Dada artwork. It sought to close the gap between art and daily life, and was a combination of playfulness, iconoclas ...

" by John Canday in the New York Times, featured both historic and contemporary examples of mixed-media assemblage, high and low found objects that were both groundbreaking yet easily mistaken as household junk. The exhibition included works by

Hans Arp Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp (; ; 16 September 1886 – 7 June 1966), better known as Jean Arp in English, was a German-French sculptor, painter and poet. He was known as a Dadaist and an abstract artist. Early life Arp was born Hans Peter Wilhelm Ar ...

Kurt Schwitters Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) was a German artist. He was born in Hanover, Germany, but lived in exile from 1937. Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including Dadaism, Constructivism (a ...

Joseph Cornell Joseph Cornell (December 24, 1903 – December 29, 1972) was an American visual artist and filmmaker, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage. Influenced by the Surrealists, he was also an avant-garde experimental filmma ...

Jean Dubuffet Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet (; 31 July 1901 – 12 May 1985) was a French Painting, painter and sculpture, sculptor of the School of Paris, École de Paris (School of Paris). His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so-called "low art" a ...

Robert Mallary Robert W. Mallary (December 2, 1917 – February 10, 1997) was an American abstract expressionist sculptor and pioneer in computer art. In the 1950s and 1960s, he was renowned for his Neo-Dada or "junk art" sculpture, created from found materia ...

, Wilfred Zogbaum,

Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" or "Bob" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combine painting, Combines (1954� ...

Bruce Conner Bruce Conner (November 18, 1933 – July 7, 2008) was an American artist who worked with assemblage, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography. Biography Bruce Conner was born November 18, 1933, in McPherson, Kansas. His w ...

, and

Enrico Donati Enrico Donati (February 19, 1909 – April 25, 2008) was an Italian-American Surrealist painter and sculptor. Life and work Son of Federico Donati and Marianna Vita, nephew of Angelo Donati, born in Milan in 1909, Enrico Donati studied economics ...

s that pushed against the social limits of art; interactive artworks that invited audience participation and blurred the boundaries between painting and sculpture. In the fall of 1960, the gallery launched a second installment of the exhibit, ''New Forms New Media II, which'' ran from September 22- October 22. In 1961 Jackson opened ''Environments, Situations, Spaces'', a follow-up to the ''New Forms — New Media'' shows. This exhibition consisted of site-specific and interactive works including ''Spring Cabinet,'' room of drippy paint buckets by

Jim Dine Jim Dine (born June 16, 1935) is an American artist. Dine's work includes painting, drawing, printmaking (in many forms including lithographs, etchings, gravure, intaglio, woodcuts, letterpress, and linocuts), sculpture, and photography. Educ ...

; ''Yard'', a courtyard full of salvaged tires by

Allan Kaprow Allan Kaprow (August 23, 1927 – April 5, 2006) was an American performance artist, installation artist, painter, and assemblagist . He helped to develop the " Environment" and "Happening" in the late 1950s and 1960s, as well as their theory. ...

; as well as a recreation of

Claes Oldenburg Claes Oldenburg (January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022) was a Swedish-born American sculptor best known for his public art installations, typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions ...

's ''Store''. Jackson worked with

Julian Stanczak Julian Stanczak ( ; November 5, 1928 – March 25, 2017) was a Polish Americans, Polish-born American Painting, painter and printmaker who is considered a central figure of the Op art movement in the U.S. during the 1960s and 1970s. Described as ...

, and the gallery's 1964 exhibition of his paintings led to the coining of the term " Op Art" by

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps as ''TIME'') is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York Cit ...

. Around the same time, Jackson established Red Parrot Films, a production company that made documentaries on art and artists. Their film "The Ivory Knife," on Paul Jenkins, was awarded a prize at the Venice Biennale in the mid 1960s. The gallery was also a leader in the publishing and marketing of artist prints, and ephemera. Jackson and Anderson worked with

Sam Francis Samuel Lewis Francis (June 25, 1923 – November 4, 1994) was an American painter and printmaker. Early life Sam Francis was born in San Mateo, California,

, and

on limited editions. Martha Jackson remained connected to her home town of Buffalo, NY and worked with Seymour Knox Jr., to enter works by

Sam Francis Samuel Lewis Francis (June 25, 1923 – November 4, 1994) was an American painter and printmaker. Early life Sam Francis was born in San Mateo, California,

, and

into the Albright Knox collection.

Collection and legacy

Following her death in 1969, works from Jackson's personal collection were donated to the Albright Knox Gallery in Buffalo, NY. The gift includes works by

Richard Diebenkorn Richard Diebenkorn (April 22, 1922 – March 30, 1993) was an American painter and printmaker. His early work is associated with abstract expressionism and the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In the late 1960s he began ...

Alfred Jensen Alfred Julio Jensen (11 December 1903 – 4 April 1981) was an abstract painter. His paintings are often characterized by grids of brightly colored triangles, circles or squares, painted in thick impasto. Conveying a complex web of ideas, often ...

Piero Manzoni Piero Manzoni di Chiosca e Poggiolo (July 13, 1933 – February 6, 1963) was an Italian artist best known for his ironic approach to avant-garde art. Often compared to the work of Yves Klein, his own work anticipated, and directly influenced ...

, and

Robert Motherwell Robert Motherwell (January 24, 1915 – July 16, 1991) was an American Abstract Expressionism, abstract expressionist Painting, painter, printmaker, and editor of ''The Dada Painters and Poets: an Anthology''. He was one of the youngest of th ...

. Artworks from the Martha Jackson Collection were exhibited at the

National Museum of American Art The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

in 1985. The show featured 127 paintings and sculptures by Americans in Jackson's collection, including works by

Joan Mitchell Joan Mitchell (February 12, 1925 – October 30, 1992) was an American artist who worked primarily in painting and printmaking, and also used pastel and made other works on paper. She was an active participant in the New York School of artis ...

, Michael Goldberg,

Eldzier Cortor Eldzier Cortor (January 10, 1916 – November 26, 2015) was an African-American artist and printmaker. His work typically features elongated nude figures in intimate settings, influenced by both traditional African art and European surrealism. ...

, Marisol,

Sam Francis Samuel Lewis Francis (June 25, 1923 – November 4, 1994) was an American painter and printmaker. Early life Sam Francis was born in San Mateo, California,

, James Brooks,

, and

Alex Katz Alex Katz (born July 24, 1927) is an American figurative artist known for his paintings, sculptures, and printmaking, prints. Since 1951, Katz's work has been the subject of more than 200 solo exhibitions and nearly 500 group exhibitions through ...

's sets for

Kenneth Koch Kenneth Koch ( ; February 27, 1925 – July 6, 2002) was an American poet, playwright, and professor, active from the 1950s until his death at age 77.) He was a prominent poet of the New York School of poetry. This was a loose group of poets inc ...

's 1962 play, "George Washington Crossing the Delaware." All of the works in the exhibition had been donated to the museum in 1980 by Jackson's son, David Anderson. Prints from Martha Jackson's collection were exhibited in "Martha Jackson Graphics" at the University of Buffalo Anderson Gallery in 2015. In 2021 the Hollis Taggart gallery presented the exhibit ''Wild and Brilliant: The Martha Jackson Gallery and Post-War Art''. The exhibition was organized by independent curator Jillian Russo, accompanied by an eponymous essay and catalog. Martha Jackson is portrayed in the 2022 Geraldine Brooks best seller historic novel, Horse, based upon the life of the race horse Lexington.

References

External links

Thomas B. Hess' review of New Forms — New Media
featured i
''Pop Art: A Critical History,'' edited by Steven Henry Madoff (University of California Press, 1997)
*Th
Martha Jackson Collection
at th
Albright-Knox, Buffalo, NY
*UB Art Gallerie
Martha Jackson Gallery Archives
*Archives of American Ar
Martha Jackson Gallery records, 1954-1964
*Albright-Kno
Martha Kellogg Jackson BiographyThe Martha Jackson Memorial Collection
June 21, 1985 – September 15, 1985, Smithsonian American Art Museum *David K Anderso

Buffalo News, 2009 *
Wild and Brilliant: The Martha Jackson Gallery and Post-War Art
'' curated by Jillian Russo at Hollis Taggart Gallery, New York, NY, 2021 {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Martha Kellogg 1907 births 1969 deaths People from Buffalo, New York American art dealers