Cheap Rents... and de Kooning: The downtown art world New York, 1957-63

Description

Cheap rents ...and de Kooning revisits the New York downtown art scene between 1957 and 1963, when the 10th Street galleries were the center of the art world and inexpensive lofts were still available. Living in this dynamic neighborhood, John Cohen photographed a series of its famous and infamous artists' haunts-among them the legendary Cedar Bar, the Artists' Club and the Tanager Gallery-creating a definitive impression of a hell-bent, headstrong era. De Kooning's studio was in the midst of this avant-garde bloc, where Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Performance Art and Happenings all ambitiously made their mark alongside the Beat Generation.

Cheap rents ... and de Kooning revisits the New York downtown art scene between 1957 and 1963, when the 10th Street galleries were the center of the art world and inexpensive lofts were still available. Living in this dynamic neighborhood, John Cohen photographed a series of its famous and infamous artists' haunts-among them the legendary Cedar Bar, the Artists' Club and the Tanager Gallery-creating a definitive impression of a hell-bent, headstrong era. De Kooning's studio was in the midst of this avant-garde bloc, where Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Performance Art and Happenings all ambitiously made their mark alongside the Beat Generation.

Cheap Rents is ...an artistic record of a place and a time when people were truly alive, very much in the world, living for art, and pushing ideas to their limits - together.--Simon Bowcock "1000 Words"