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| Established | 1959 |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | 1961 |
| Location | 61 Fourth Avenue, New York |
| Type | Art Gallery |
| Founder | Anita Rubin |
Reuben Gallery was an artist-run gallery in downtown Manhattan that operated from 1959 to 1961.[1] It became a seminal venue for experimental painting, assemblage, and performance art, particularly the Happenings.[2] The gallery presented artists including Allan Kaprow, Claes Oldenburg, Jim Dine, Robert Whitman, Red Grooms, George Brecht, Martha Edelheit, Renée E. Rubin Miller, Rosalyn Drexler, and George Segal.[3] Its exhibitions and performances helped connect the downtown art scene's interest in found materials, urban life, improvisation, and expanding artistic environments with emergent Pop art.[4]
History
[edit]Anita Rubin established the Reuben Gallery in 1959 after securing a least for a loft at 61 Fourth Avenue, with her husband Max Baker also involved in directing the gallery and Allan Kaprow helping shape its artistic program.[4] [5] Rubin chose to use the biblical spelling "Reuben" for the gallery rather than her own surname.[4]
The gallery developed within a network of artist-run spaces in downtown New York such as the Judson Gallery, City Gallery, and Delancey Street Museum.[6] It followed the Hansa Gallery, an artist cooperative associated with Allan Kaprow and George Segal. Galleries like the Reuben provided alternatives to commercial exhibition spaces, and during its first season, the gallery presented multiple solo exhibitions, group shows, and performance events.[7] The exhibition schedule included George Brecht's one-person show,[8] Lucas Samaras's paintings and pastels,[9] Robert Whitman's work,[10] a Red Grooms exhibition,[11] a group exhibition titled Below Zero,[12] and later exhibitions of artists including Rosalyn Drexler,[13] Jim Dine,[14] and Renée E. Rubin Miller.[15] These shows were all marked by a mixture of painting, sculpture, collage, found objects, and installations.[16]
The Reuben Gallery's inaugural program was Allan Kaprow's 18 Happenings in 6 Parts in 1959.[1] The event was Kaprow's first Happening and was foundational in the development of the art form.[7] Dick Higgins later described Kaprow's early experiments as part of a broader late-1950s movement toward the fusion of the avant-garde arts.[17] Happenings were staged in object-filled spaces where participants handled materials and performed movements in conjunction with sounds, words, music, and other sensory elements.[2]
After Anita Rubin ended her managerial role at the close of the first season, a group of artists continued the gallery at 44 East Third Street. The second season was organized around performance rather than a conventional exhibition schedule.[1] The Reuben Gallery closed in May 1961.
Legacy
[edit]The Reuben Gallery's influence extended beyond its brief operation. In 1965, cirtic Lawrence Alloway organized Eleven from the Reuben Gallery at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, presenting the gallery's artists as representatives of a new direction in postwar American art.[3][16] Several artists associated with the Reuben, such as Kaprow, Dine, Oldenburg, and Whitman, went on to sustain major careers in American art. Later accounts, such as the 2017 retrospective at NYU's Grey Art Gallery, Inventing Downtown: Artist-Run Galleries in New York City, 1952-1965, have also emphasized the role of underrepresented female Reuben artists such as Martha Edelheit, Rosalyn Drexler, and Renée E. Rubin Miller.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Gene Friedman: 3 Dances" (PDF). MoMa.
- ^ a b Sontag, Susan. "Happenings: an art of radical juxtaposition" (PDF).
- ^ a b "Eleven from the Reuben Gallery - Specific Object". Specific Object. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
- ^ a b c d Rachleff, Melissa (2017). Inventing Downtown: Artist-Run Galleries in New York City, 1952-1965. Grey Art Gallery, New York University; DelMonico Books/Prestel. p. 101-131
- ^ Kaprow, Allan (1966). Assemblages, Environments and Happenings. Harry N. Abrams. p. 156
- ^ Bernstein, Roslyn (2017-02-09). "Cranky, Creative, and Controversial". Guernica. Archived from the original on 2026-02-15. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
- ^ a b Winchell, Louisa (2021-04-08). "#SouthofUnionSquare: Home to (even more) Trailblazing Artists, Dancers, Labor Leaders, and Birth Control Advocates - Village Preservation". Retrieved 2026-07-22.
- ^ Hölling, Hanna B. "Unpacking the Score: Notes on the Material Legacy of Intermediality - ONCURATING". www.on-curating.org. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
- ^ "Remembering Lucas Samaras: 1936 – 2024 | Pace Gallery". www.pacegallery.com. 2025-04-01. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
- ^ Kennedy, Randy (2024-01-20). "Robert Whitman, Cutting-Edge Performance Artist, Dies at 88". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
- ^ "Oral history interview with Red Grooms, 1974 Mar. 4-18 | Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution". www.aaa.si.edu. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
- ^ "MoMA.org | Interactives | Exhibitions | Please Come to the Show". www.moma.org. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
- ^ "rosalyn-drexler". RAPHAEL RUBINSTEIN. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
- ^ "Jim Dine: Walking Memory, 1959 - 1969". pastexhibitions.guggenheim.org. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
- ^ Chun, Emily. "Renée Miller: The Devil's Snare". Issuu. Hollis Taggart. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
- ^ a b Alloway, Lawrence (1965). Eleven from the Reuben Gallery (exhibition pamphlet). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
The first season of the Reuben Gallery was a series of extraordinary exhibitions and happenings, packed with artists whose futures were beginning. The second season was devoted to further happenings, in which the dispersive and throwaway properties of sculpture, paintings, and drawings were expanded.
- ^ Higgins, Dick. “The Origin of Happening.” American Speech, vol. 51, no. 3/4, 1976, pp. 268–71. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/454975. Accessed 22 July 2026.
Category:Artist-run centres Category:Art & Language Category:American artist groups and collectives Category:New York City