Founded in 1947 by a diverse group of American artists banding together, post WPA, to fend for themselves and their fledgling colleagues, New York Artists Equity Association (NYAE) forges on as an inclusive community for aspirant artists and makers, particularly those from underserved groups, seeking access to the greater art ecosystem.  

“1947: Creating an American Scene” pays tribute to NYAE’s forerunners, some famous, others lesser known, who had the radical foresight to establish an openly diverse artists association accessible to women, people of color, recent immigrants, and the LGBTQ+ community.  “1947” will showcase works by founding NYAE members including Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Chaim Gross, Reginald Marsh, Louise Nevelson and Yasuo Kuniyoshi, the latter a Japanese immigrant who was the association’s first president.  A preview sample of “1947” works will be displayed at the Salmagundi fundraising event and the full exhibition will run through the month of December at Equity Gallery.  In addition to these historical works, the fundraising event will offer a sale of monotypes created and donated by current NYAE artist members.  

Karen Wilkin will be the fundraiser’s honored guest. Wilkin is a New York–based independent curator and art critic specializing in 20th-century modernism. Karen Wilkin will be the fundraiser’s honored guest. Wilkin is a New York–based independent curator and art critic specializing in 20th-century modernism. Ms. Wilkin is a New York-based curator and critic. Educated at Barnard College and Columbia University, she is the author of monographs on Stuart Davis, David Smith, Anthony Caro, Isaac Witkin, Kenneth Noland, Helen Frankenthaler, Giorgio Morandi, Georges Braque, and Hans Hofmann, and has organized exhibitions of their work internationally. She was a juror for the American Pavilion of the 2009 Venice Biennale and a contributing editor of the Stuart Davis and Hans Hofmann Paintings Catalogues Raisonné. The Contributing Editor for Art for the Hudson Review and a regular contributor to The New Criterion , Hopkins Review, and the Wall Street Journal, Ms. Wilkin teaches in the New York Studio School’s MFA program. Recent projects include “A Controlled Moment of Light: the 1970s,” a section of “Poons,” the first monograph on Larry Poons, published by Abbeville Press, 2023, and the exhibition “Stephen Antonakos Drawings: Geometry and Space,” New York Studio School Gallery, 2023.

Loans for the exhibition are generously provided by the Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation and the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum. The Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation preserves and interprets the historic home, studio, and art collections of renowned American sculptor Chaim Gross (1902-91) and his wife Renee (1909-2005). The Foundation’s mission is to further the legacy of Chaim Gross through high-quality research, exhibitions, and educational activities around the Foundation’s historic building and art collections for audiences in New York City and beyond. Since its founding in 1919, the Woodstock Artists Association & Museum has been committed to exhibiting, collecting and supporting artists and art education and in sustaining the tradition of Woodstock as a “Colony of the Arts.” Located in the center of the village of Woodstock, New York, the WAAM functions as a cultural center as well as a repository for the work of American artists associated with the Art Colony. Each year, the WAAM presents a full schedule of group, solo and historic exhibitions of regional artists throughout its five spacious galleries.

For further information about “1947: Creating an American Scene” or NYAE contact Michael Gormley, NYAE Executive Director at michael@nyartistsequity.org 

Image Credit: Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1889 – 1953)
“Checked Cloth (Fruit in Basket)”, lithographic ink on printing paper, 10-1/4 x 15-1/4 in. (image)
16-5/16 x 21-5/16 inches (framed), signed lower right, courtesy Woodstock Artist Association and Museum Permanent Collection