Jefferson Place Gallery
| Company type | Cooperative (initially), later private ownership |
|---|---|
| Industry | Art gallery |
| Founded | 1957 |
| Founder | William Howard Calfee, Robert Franklin Gates, Helene Herzbrun, Mary Ryan Orwen, Ben Summerford |
| Defunct | 1974 |
| Fate | Closed |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C. , United States |
Key people | Alice Denney (first director), Nesta Dorrance (owner and director from 1961 to closure) |
| Products | Exhibitions of contemporary art, including Washington Color School artists |
The Jefferson Place Gallery was an art gallery situated in Washington, D.C., established in 1957 and ceasing operations in 1974. Its address was 1216 Connecticut Street, NW, and it maintained a strong connection with artists from the Washington Color School.
History
The gallery originated in 1957 as a cooperative effort led by five American University art faculty members—William Howard Calfee, Robert Franklin Gates, Helene Herzbrun, Mary Ryan Orwen, and Ben Summerford. Alice Denney served as the inaugural director during its launch. Additional founding cooperative participants included George Bayliss, Lothar Brabanski, Colin Greenly, Leonard Maurer, Kenneth Noland, and Baltimore-based artist Shelby Shackelford.
In 1961, Nesta Dorrance took ownership of the gallery from Denney, who departed to establish the Washington Gallery of Modern Art. Dorrance directed Jefferson Place Gallery until its shutdown in October 1974.
Legacy
The gallery was known for presenting "cutting-edge art," prominently featuring styles linked to the Washington Color School such as color field, post-painterly abstraction, and lyrical abstraction. It played a pivotal role as a venue supporting these artistic movements within Washington.
Among its contemporaries were competing art spaces like Henri Gallery (run by Henrietta Ersham), Pyramid Gallery (managed by Ramon Osuna and Luis Lastra), and later Protetch-Rivkin Gallery (operated by Max Protetch and Harold Rivkin).
Artists
Prominent artists who exhibited at Jefferson Place included Antoinette Pinchot Bradlee, William Christenberry, Gene Davis, Willem De Looper, William Eggleston, Sam Gilliam, John Gossage, Valerie Hollister, Sheila Isham, Jennie Lea Knight, Rockne Krebs, Blaine Larson, Howard Mehring, Mary Pinchot Meyer, David Moy, Roberto Polo, V. V. Rankine, Paul Reed (artist), Eric Rudd, Yuri Schwebler, Roy Slade, D. Jack Solomon, David Staton, Elliot Thompson, Hilda Shapiro Thorpe, Frederic Matys Thursz, Franklin White, John P. Wise, Mary Orwen, Carroll Sockwell, and Ed Zerne.
Further reading
- Washington Art, exhibition catalog from State University College at Potsdam, NY & State University of New York at Albany, 1971, with an introduction by Renato G. Danese; printed by Regal Art Press, Troy NY.
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