Wells Street Gallery
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{{Short description, Former art gallery in Chicago, Illinois The Wells Street Gallery (1957–1959) was one of
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
's vanguard galleries of the late 1950s.


History

In the summer of 1957, a group of artists led by painter Robert Natkin opened a co-operative gallery at an old storefront at 1359 North Wells Street, Chicago. The gallery was tagged "an avant-garde exhibition place filled with the most advanced abstractions in town," by the Chicago Sunday Tribune. The Wells Street Gallery played a major role in granting young artists like sculptor John Chamberlain and painter Robert Natkin their first one-person exhibitions at a time when too few galleries in Chicago, or elsewhere for that matter, where interested in the work of abstract artists. The gallery closed after only two years, but made a historic contribution in advancing abstract art in Chicago.


Artists

Artist associated with the Wells Street Gallery include: Richard Bogart, Ernest Dieringer, Judith Dolnick, Robert Natkin, Ronald Slowinski, Naomi Tatum, Gerald van de Wiele, Donald Vlack, sculptor John Chamberlain, and photographer
Aaron Siskind Aaron Siskind (December 4, 1903 – February 8, 1991) was an American photographer whose work focuses on the details of things, presented as flat surfaces to create a new image independent of the original subject. He was closely involved with, if ...
.


Sources


The Wells Street Gallery Revisited: Now and Then
at ArtCat Defunct art museums and galleries in the United States Defunct companies based in Chicago Art museums and galleries established in 1957 Art museums and galleries disestablished in 1959 1957 establishments in Illinois 1959 disestablishments in Illinois