Mary Boone (born 1952) is an American art dealer and collector. As the owner and director of the Mary Boone Gallery, she played an important role in the New York art market of the 1980s. Her first two artists,

Julian Schnabel Julian Schnabel (born October 26, 1951) is an American painter and filmmaker. In the 1980s, he received international attention for his "plate paintings"—with broken ceramic plates set onto large-scale paintings. Since the 1990s, he has been a ...

and

David Salle David Salle (born September 28, 1952; last name pronounced "Sally") is an American Postmodern painter, printmaker, photographer, and stage designer. Salle was born in Norman, Oklahoma, and lives and works in East Hampton, New York. He earned a B ...

, became internationally known, and, in 1982, she was featured in a cover story on ''New York'' magazine tagged: "The New Queen of the Art Scene".(1982-04-19),"The New Queen of the Art Scene". ''New York'' Boone is credited with championing and fostering dozens of contemporary artists including

Eric Fischl Eric Fischl (born March 9, 1948) is an American painter, sculptor, printmaker, draughtsman and educator. He is known for his paintings depicting American suburbia from the 1970s and 1980s. Life Fischl was born in New York City and grew up on s ...

Ai Wei Wei Ai Weiwei ( ; , IPA: ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been o ...

Barbara Kruger Barbara Kruger (born January 26, 1945) is an American conceptual artist and collagist associated with the Pictures Generation. She is most known for her visual word art that consists of black-and-white photographs, overlaid with declarative ca ...

, Laurie Simmons,

Peter Halley Peter Halley (born 1953) is an American artist and a central figure in the Neo-Conceptualist movement of the 1980s. Known for his Day-Glo geometric paintings, Halley is also a writer, the former publisher of ''index Magazine'', and a teacher; he ...

, Ross Bleckner, and

Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved notoriety in the late 1970s as part of the graffiti ...

. Originally based in

SoHo SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

, Boone operated two galleries, one on

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

, the other in Chelsea. Following her 2019 conviction for tax evasion, she indicated the intention to close both galleries.

Early life and education

Boone moved to New York City at the age of 19 from

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pen ...

. Her parents were working class Egyptian immigrants. She studied art history at

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

and received her BFA in sculpture in 1973. Boone met sculptor

Lynda Benglis Lynda Benglis (born October 25, 1941) is an American sculptor and visual artist known especially for her wax paintings and poured latex sculptures. She maintains residences in New York City, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Kastellorizo, Greece, and Ahmedaba ...

at Hunter College and the artist introduced her to the director of Bykert Gallery, Klaus Kertess, where she would eventually work.

Career

In 1977, Boone opened the Mary Boone Gallery in

, New York City. The gallery quickly rose to prominence by exhibiting new painters associated with

neo-expressionism Neo-expressionism is a style of Late modernism, late modernist or early-Postmodern art, postmodern painting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s. Neo-expressionists were sometimes called ''Transavantgarde'', ''Junge Wilde'' or ''Neue Wild ...

such as

, and

.McGuigan, Cathleen (1985-02-85),"New Art, New Money". ''The New York Times''
New Art, New Money
/ref>Raynor, Vivien (1984-05-11),"Art: Paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat at Boone". ''The New York Times''

/ref> Boone's gallery and presence throughout the 1980s offered a departure from conceptual and minimal approaches to art by supporting a revival in painting.Cottington, David, ''Modern Art: A Very Short Introduction'', 2005, p35. Oxford University Press, In 1982, Boone was named "The New Queen of the Art Scene" by

New York magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Clay Felker and Milton Glaser in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'' a ...

.Finke, Nikki (2005-11-17),"Blame Ovitz: When Art Started Imitating Hollywood", ''LA Weekly''

/ref> A ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' critic later described her gallery's 1979 exhibition of Julian Schnabel's work as perhaps being "the key launching pad" for neo-expressionism. The Swiss art dealer and collector

Bruno Bischofberger Bruno Bischofberger (born 1940) is a Swiss art dealer and collector. Life Bischofberger was born in 1940 in Zürich. He studied art history, archaeology and ethnography (folk art) at the University of Zurich, with further studies at the univers ...

joined Boone's gallery in 1984 after his first solo show there; he partnered with the gallery and mounted early shows featuring the painter

Jean Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved notoriety in the late 1970s as part of the graffiti ...

. Basquiat . The two galleries shared a selection of artists. Boone successfully brought a neo-expressionist movement to Europe and Bischofberger situated these American painters alongside the post-war painters like

Anselm Kiefer Anselm Kiefer (born 8 March 1945) is a German painter and sculptor. He studied with Peter Dreher and Horst Antes at the end of the 1960s. His works incorporate materials such as straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac. The poems of Paul Celan h ...

and

Georg Baselitz Georg Baselitz (born 23 January 1938) is a German Painting, painter, Sculpture, sculptor and Graphic arts, graphic artist. In the 1960s he became well known for his Figurative art, figurative, expressive paintings. In 1969 he began painting his ...

. In 1988,

became the first woman to join the gallery. The gallery played a significant role in the development of the art market in the 1980s.Tittel, Cornelius (2006-05-14), "And then it went boom", ''Die Welt Am Sonntag''. Boone was one of the first dealers to require waiting lists for collectors to buy works not yet produced. The Mary Boone Gallery moved from SoHo to uptown New York in 1996. In the early 2000s, Will Cotton, Tom Sachs, and

Inka Essenhigh Inka Essenhigh (born 1969) is an American painter based in New York City. Throughout her career, Essenhigh has had solo exhibitions at galleries such as Deitch Projects, Mary Boone Gallery, 303 Gallery, Stefan Stux Gallery, and Jacob Lewis Galler ...

joined the gallery's roster.

Artists

Artists who have been represented or shown by the Mary Boone Gallery include:

Personal life

Boone was married to fellow art dealer Michael Werner, with whom she has one son. The couple later divorced. In September 2018, Boone pleaded guilty to filing false income tax returns and "agreed to pay more than $3 million in restitution for taxes she owes for 2009, 2010, and 2011." During the trial proceedings, collectors, dealers, artists Wendy White and Sheila Pepe, and art critic

Jerry Saltz Jerry Saltz (born February 19, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American art critic. Since 2006, he has been senior art critic and columnist for ''New York magazine, New York'' magazine. Formerly the senior art critic for ''The Village Voice'', ...

gave testimony to Boone's character and her lifelong dedication to the art establishment. "Mary's been a target forEVER," Pepe tweeted, "Like all the boys aren't cooking the books." On February 14, 2019, Boone was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. In a statement to ArtNews, Boone said "If I'm going to be the Martha Stewart of the art world, I would hope to do it with the same humility, humor, grace and intelligence that she did. I'm trying to be optimistic and see this as a learning experience." She was released from prison in 2020.

Representation in film and popular media

Boone was portrayed by

Parker Posey Parker Christian Posey (born November 8, 1968) is an American actress. Known for playing eccentric characters in independent films, she was named "Queen of the Indies" by ''Time'' in 1997. She has received nominations for a Primetime Emmy Awa ...

in Julian Schnabel's 1996 biographical drama ''

Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved notoriety in the late 1970s as part of the graffiti ...

'', accompanied by

Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker, photographer and visual artist. He was considered one of the key figures of New Hollywood. He earned prizes from the Cannes Film Festival and Venice Internatio ...

as Bischofberger. On March 28, 2024,

Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend are an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chr ...

released a single titled "Mary Boone" from their album '' Only God Was Above Us''. An alternate video for the single features footage of Boone from a 1986 documentary.

References

External links

Mary Boone Gallery website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boone, Mary American art dealers American women art dealers Rhode Island School of Design alumni Living people 1951 births Hunter College alumni People from Erie, Pennsylvania Businesspeople from Pennsylvania 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesswomen