{{Short description|American contemporary art gallerist (1928–2026)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2015}} {{Infobox artist | name = Marian Goodman | birth_name = Marian Ruth Geller | birth_date = {{birth date|1928|6|15}} | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2026|1|22|1928|6|15}} | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | education = Little Red School House<br>Emerson College<br>Columbia University | known_for = Founder and owner of Marian Goodman Gallery | occupation = {{hlist|Art dealer|gallerist}} | parents = Maurice P. Geller and Stella (Freulicht) Geller | awards = Leo Award (2016) | children = Michael Goodman and Amy Goodman Kiefer | spouse = William Goodman }}
'''Marian Goodman''' (born '''Marian Ruth Geller'''; June 15, 1928 – January 22, 2026) was an American contemporary art gallerist. She was the founder and owner of the Marian Goodman Gallery, a contemporary art gallery that opened in Manhattan, New York, in 1977.<ref name="newyorker.com">{{cite magazine |last=Schjeldahl |first=Peter |title=Dealership |magazine=The New Yorker |date=26 January 2004 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/02/02/dealership |access-date=17 March 2018}}</ref> Considered one of the most influential gallerists in contemporary art, Goodman is known for introducing European artists such as Gerhard Richter, Joseph Beuys, and Marcel Broodthaers to the United States.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |last=Day |first=Elizabeth |title=Marian Goodman: gallerist with the golden touch |website=The Guardian |date=11 October 2014 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/oct/12/marian-goodman-gallerist-golden-touch |access-date=17 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Randy |title=Marian Goodman, Art’s Quiet Matriarch, Hopes the Market Cools |work=The New York Times |date=16 December 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/arts/design/marian-goodman-arts-quiet-matriarch-hopes-the-market-cools.html |access-date=18 January 2025 |quote=Marian Goodman, one of the most revered art dealers in the world}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite news |last=Struth |first=Thomas |title=The Accidental Art Mogul |work=Newsweek |date=21 November 2011 |url=https://www.newsweek.com/marian-goodman-accidental-art-mogul-66259 |access-date=17 March 2018}}</ref>
Goodman gained prominence in the art world in the 1970s and 1980s, a time when few women worked in this sector.<ref>{{cite news |last=Scarisbrick |first=Sean |title=Marian Goodman: A Life Devoted To Art |work=Culture Trip |url=https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/new-york/articles/marian-goodman-a-life-devoted-to-art/ |access-date=17 March 2018}}</ref> Her gallery has represented a number of artists including Steve McQueen, Thomas Struth, Pierre Huyghe, Thomas Schütte, Lothar Baumgarten, Tony Cragg, Richard Deacon, Tacita Dean, Christian Boltanski, Annette Messager, Chantal Akerman, Niele Toroni, Gabriel Orozco, Maurizio Cattelan, Giuseppe Penone, Giovanni Anselmo, Jeff Wall, Rineke Dijkstra, and William Kentridge.<ref name="newyorker.com" />
==Early beginnings== Born Marian Ruth Geller in New York City on June 15, 1928,<ref name="newyorker.com" /><ref name="nyt obit" /> Goodman grew up on the Upper West Side and attended the Little Red School House and Emerson College.<ref name="Marian Goodman">{{Cite web |last=Belcove |first=Julie L. |date=November 2007 |title=Marian Goodman |url=https://www.wmagazine.com/artdesign/2007/11/marian_goodman |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921224524/https://www.wmagazine.com/artdesign/2007/11/marian_goodman#ixzz1v2yUZU5p |archive-date=September 21, 2008 |website=W}}</ref><ref name="Marian Goodman's New London Gallery">Carol Kino (August 5, 2014), [https://online.wsj.com/articles/marian-goodmans-new-london-gallery-1407263341?mod=WSJ._Magazine_newsreel_4 Marian Goodman's New London Gallery] ''Wall Street Journal''.</ref> In 1956, Goodman was one of a group of mothers who successfully battled Robert Moses when he tried to expand the parking lot at Tavern on the Green, forcing him to build a playground instead.<ref name="Marian Goodman's New London Gallery" />
Her father, Maurice P. Geller, a first-generation Hungarian-American accountant,<ref name="Marian Goodman's New London Gallery" /> collected art, particularly that of Milton Avery. Goodman became an art dealer as a new divorcée who needed to support herself and two children.<ref name=":0" /> In 1962, she organized a book of cheap prints of New York paintings to raise funds for the Walden School, where her children were students.<ref name="Marian Goodman's New London Gallery"/><ref name="Space women">Ed Pilkington (October 12, 2006), [https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2006/oct/12/art.gender Space women] ''The Guardian''.</ref> In 1963, Goodman attended graduate school in art history at Columbia University. She was the only woman in her class.<ref name="newyorker.com"/>
Goodman and partners opened Multiples, dealing in artists’ editions, in 1965.<ref name="Marian Goodman"/> Multiples published prints, multiples, and books by American artists, such as Richard Artschwager, John Baldessari, Dan Graham, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Smithson, and Andy Warhol. In 1970, the year Multiples exhibited for the first time at Art Basel, Goodman published ''Artists and Photographs'', a 19-piece portfolio exploring the way artists such as Ed Ruscha, Christo, and Bruce Nauman were incorporating photography into their work.<ref name="Marian Goodman's New London Gallery"/>
From 1968 to 1975, Multiples worked with European artists, introducing early editions by Joseph Beuys, Marcel Broodthaers, Blinky Palermo, and Gerhard Richter to American audiences.<ref>[http://www.mariangoodman.com/exhibitions/2007-10-23_30-40-part-ii/ 30/40 Part II. A Selection of Forty Artists from Thirty Years at Marian Goodman Gallery, October 23 – November 24, 2007] Marian Goodman Gallery, New York.</ref> Multiples also operated a space on La Cienega Boulevard on the Westside of Los Angeles for two years in the 1970s.<ref name=":2" />
==Marian Goodman Gallery== Goodman's failure to secure Broodthaers an outlet in New York was the impetus behind her decision to open her own gallery featuring his work as the initial exhibition. Goodman opened the Marian Goodman Gallery on 38 East 57th Street in 1977.<ref name="newyorker.com"/> (Unfortunately, Broodthaers died before the opening).<ref name="Space women"/> In 1984, she moved the gallery to its present quarters, at 24 West Fifty-seventh Street. She later discovered Lothar Baumgarten when she hired him to hang the gallery's display at a Düsseldorf art fair.<ref name=":1" />
Marian Goodman Gallery opened its first space in Paris in 1995. In 1999, a permanent exhibition space was opened inside the Hôtel de Montmor, a 17th-century hotel particulier in the Marais district.<ref>Dan Duray (September 23, 2016), [https://theartnewspaper.com/market/art-market-news/marian-goodman-to-open-second-paris-space-with-work-by-annette-messager/ Marian Goodman to open second Paris space with work by Annette Messager] ''The Art Newspaper''.</ref>
In 2014, the gallery opened an outpost in London, located in an {{convert|11000|sqft|m2|abbr=on|disp=flip}} space over two floors inside a former factory warehouse at Golden Square; the architect David Adjaye renovated the space.<ref>Melanie Gerlis (April 10, 2014), [http://theartnewspaper.com/articles/Friendly-face-for-Goodman-in-London/32338 Friendly face for Goodman in London] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413150034/http://theartnewspaper.com/articles/Friendly-face-for-Goodman-in-London/32338 |date=April 13, 2014 }} ''The Art Newspaper''.</ref> At the end of 2020, Goodman announced the London space would close due to the impacts of Brexit and COVID-19 and be replaced by a new initiative, Marian Goodman Projects, that has been conducting exhibits at other locations throughout the city since 2021.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/marian-goodman-london-gallery-closing-1234574760/|title=Marian Goodman gallery to close London space, institute new exhibition model|last=Douglas|first=Sarah|publisher=Penske Business Media|website=ARTnews|date=October 22, 2020|access-date=October 23, 2020}}</ref>
In 2018, Goodman celebrated her 90th birthday at the palace and gardens of Versailles.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Douglas |first=Sarah |date=2023-10-31 |title=Marian Goodman Gallery's New Leaders Prepare for the Future by Honoring Its Founder's Legacy |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/market/marian-goodman-gallery-succession-plan-case-study-1234681308/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |website=ARTnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2021, Goodman appointed Rose Lord, Junette Teng, Emily-Jane Kirwan, Leslie Nolen and Philipp Kaiser as partners in the Marian Goodman Gallery. The gallery also established an advisory committee of five longtime staff members to support the partners.<ref>Zachary Small (July 29, 2021), [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/29/arts/design/marian-goodman-partners.html Marian Goodman Appoints Five Partners] ''New York Times''.</ref> Philipp Kaiser exited in May 2025. Also in 2022, the gallery announced that it would expand to Los Angeles by 2023, taking over a {{convert|13000|sqft|m2|abbr=on|disp=flip}} warehouse campus from the 1920s in Hollywood, designed by architectural firm Johnston Marklee & Associates and located at 1120 Seward Street.<ref name=":2" />
In 2023, the gallery announced to relocate its New York space to 385 Broadway, occupying two floors of gallery space totalling {{convert|30000|sqft|m2|abbr=on|disp=flip}}.<ref>Alex Greenberger (23 February 2023), [https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/marian-goodman-gallery-tribeca-move-1234658693/ New York’s Marian Goodman Gallery to Move to Tribeca After 46 Years in Midtown] ''ARTnews''.</ref> Renovated by the architecture firm StudioMDA, the site include two floors of public exhibition space, one floor of private viewing rooms, a library and an archive in addition to art storage and office space.<ref>Tim Schneider (11 July 2024), [https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/07/11/marian-goodman-gallery-sets-opening-date-and-programme-for-new-tribeca-flagship Marian Goodman Gallery sets opening date and programme for new Tribeca flagship] ''The Art Newspaper''.</ref>
===Artists=== Goodman has stated that she believes a dealer should be committed to working with an artist for fifteen to twenty years.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}} As of 2023, the gallery mostly represents non-American artists, including: * Eija-Liisa Ahtila * Giovanni Anselmo * Maurizio Cattelan<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=2012-09-07 |title=Which New York Gallery Represents the Most Warhol-ian Artists? |url=https://observer.com/2012/09/which-new-york-gallery-represents-the-most-warhol-ian-artists/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |website=Observer |language=en-US}}</ref> * James Coleman * Tony Cragg * Richard Deacon * Tacita Dean * Edith Dekyndt * Rineke Dijkstra * Pierre Huyghe<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> * Amar Kanwar<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |date=2012-05-25 |title=Marian Goodman Well Represented at Documenta |url=https://observer.com/2012/05/marian-goodman-to-be-well-represented-at-documenta/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |website=Observer |language=en-US}}</ref> * Steve McQueen * Annette Messager * Delcy Morelos<ref>{{Cite web |last=Greenberger |first=Alex |date=2023-10-03 |title=Sculptor Delcy Morelos Gets Gallery Representation with Marian Goodman Ahead of Dia Show |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/delcy-morelos-marian-goodman-gallery-representation-1234681019/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |website=ARTnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref> * Gabriel Orozco * Giuseppe Penone * Anri Sala<ref name=":5" /> * Tino Sehgal<ref name=":5" /> * Tavares Strachan<ref>Tim Schneider (11 July 2024), [https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/07/11/marian-goodman-gallery-sets-opening-date-and-programme-for-new-tribeca-flagship Marian Goodman Gallery sets opening date and programme for new Tribeca flagship] ''The Art Newspaper''.</ref> * Thomas Struth * Niele Toroni * Adrián Villar Rojas<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lunch with the FT: Marian Goodman |url=https://www.ft.com/content/120af340-65f9-11e5-97d0-1456a776a4f5 |access-date=2024-02-15 |website=www.ft.com|date=October 2, 2015 |last1=Wullschläger |first1=Jackie }}</ref> * Danh Vo<ref>Andrew Russeth (March 15, 2012), [https://observer.com/2012/03/danh-vo-to-marian-goodman/ Danh Vo to Marian Goodman] ''New York Observer''.</ref>
Kentridge, Struth and Orozco, like most of Goodman's artists, joined her relatively early in their careers. One exception is Richter, who had three exhibitions with Sperone Westwater before deciding to show simultaneously there and with Goodman. After several years of this joint arrangement, he dropped the original gallery.<ref name="Marian Goodman"/>
Goodman also represented American artists, including: * Andrea Fraser (since 2022)<ref name=":3" /> * Julie Mehretu<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Durón |first=Maximilíano |date=2022-06-08 |title=Marian Goodman Gallery Becomes Latest to Expand to Los Angeles |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/marian-goodman-gallery-los-angeles-expansion-1234631111/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |website=ARTnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref> * Maria Nordman<ref name=":2" /> * Paul Sietsema<ref name=":2" />
In addition to living artists, Marian Goodman Gallery handles the estates of the following: * Chantal Akerman * Lothar Baumgarten * Christian Boltanski * Dan Graham<ref name=":2" /> * Robert Smithson (since 2020)<ref name=":3" /> * Lawrence Weiner
Marian Goodman Gallery also formerly represented the following artists:
* John Baldessari <ref name="newyorker.com" /> * Nan Goldin (2018–2023)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-09-28 |title=Nan Goldin signs up with Marian Goodman Gallery |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2018/09/28/nan-goldin-signs-up-with-marian-goodman-gallery |access-date=2024-02-15 |website=The Art Newspaper - International art news and events}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Cassady |first=Daniel |date=2023-03-29 |title=Photographer Nan Goldin Joins Gagosian, Departs Marian Goodman Gallery |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/nan-goldin-gagosian-departs-marian-goodman-1234662661/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |website=ARTnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref> * Cristina Iglesias (until 2025)<ref>Maximilíano Durón (3 June 2025), [https://www.artnews.com/art-news/market/cristina-iglesias-hauser-and-wirth-gallery-representation-1234744108/ Hauser & Wirth Now Represents Cristina Iglesias, Spanish Sculptor Known for Transformative Site-Specific Installations] ''ARTnews''.</ref> * William Kentridge (1999–2024)<ref>Sarah Douglas (7 March 2024), [https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/william-kentridge-joins-hauser-and-wirth-departs-marian-goodman-gallery-1234699059/ William Kentridge Joins Hauser & Wirth, Departing Longtime Dealer Marian Goodman] ''ARTnews''.</ref> * Anselm Kiefer<ref name="newyorker.com" /> * Allan McCollum (1980–1984)<ref>Thomas Lawson, September 1983, [http://allanmccollum.net/allanmcnyc/thomaslawson.html Allan McCollum at Marian Goodman Gallery] ''Artforum''.</ref><ref>Craig Owens, September 1983, [http://allanmccollum.net/allanmcnyc/Craig_Owens.html Allan McCollum: Repetition and Difference] ''Art in America''.</ref> * Juan Muñoz (1990–2020)<ref>Claire Selvin (July 9, 2020), [https://www.artnews.com/art-news/market/estate-juan-munoz-david-zwirner-leaves-marian-goodman-1202693854/ Juan Muñoz Estate Departs Marian Goodman Gallery After 30 Years, Joins David Zwirner] ''ARTnews''.</ref> * Gerhard Richter (1985<ref name="newyorker.com" /><ref name=":4" />–2022)<ref>Alex Greenberger (December 7, 2022), [https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/gerhard-richter-david-zwirner-representation-1234649452/ Legendary Painter Gerhard Richter Gets Exclusive Representation with David Zwirner] ''ARTnews''.</ref> * Hiroshi Sugimoto (until 2024)<ref>Melanie Gerlis (25 January 2024), [https://www.ft.com/content/c92dfe39-8559-4f11-9a0e-bb9624e2c4af Hockney’s early California dream makes a winter splash] ''Financial Times''.</ref> * Allen Ruppersberg * Jeff Wall (until 2016)<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |date=2016-07-28 |title=From Bruce Nauman, More Contrapposto Studies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/29/arts/design/from-bruce-nauman-more-contrapposto-studies.html |access-date=2024-02-15 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> * Francesca Woodman<ref name=":3" />
==Reputation== In an article in the ''New Yorker'', art critic Peter Schjeldahl said "Goodman may be the most respected contemporary dealer in New York, for her taste, standards, and loyalty to her artists." Schjeldahl quotes Goodman's friend, the theorist and critic Benjamin H. D. Buchloh: "Her judgment is ultimately aesthetic, but she has a broad understanding of what a privileged existence allows and requires one to do. Her gallery has a certain subtle social horizon of responsibility."<ref name="newyorker.com" /> In Texte zur Kunst, critic Harmon Siegel wrote that she approaches art-dealing with "a sense that critique starts at home, that any art aspiring to confront social problems must also be ''self''-critical, challenging the enterprise of the avant-garde itself."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Siegel |first=Harmon |date=February 21, 2025 |title=Amber or Chrysalis, or, What's Next for Marian Goodman? |url=https://www.textezurkunst.de/de/articles/harmon-siegel-on-your-patience-is-appreciated-an-inaugural-show-at-marian-goodman-gallery/ |url-status=live |work=Texte zur Kunst}}</ref> Michael Govan, director of Dia Art Foundation, describes her as one of the most powerful and influential dealers of the 20th century.
Described by Artnet as a "very private dealer",<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/marian-goodman-40th-anniversary-1182434|title=On Her 40th Anniversary, Artists Share How Marian Goodman Became the Art World's Least Pretentious Power Broker - December 2017|date=December 20, 2017}}</ref> Marian Goodman was ranked 22 in ArtReview's guide to the 100 most powerful figures in contemporary art: Power 100, 2010.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.artreview100.com/people/672/ |title=22. Marian Goodman - the ArtReview Power 100 |accessdate=2011-07-15 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110913160955/http://www.artreview100.com/people/672/ |archivedate=September 13, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> She was ranked 5th on the list of America's Most Powerful Art Dealers, according to Forbes magazine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/pictures/mgg45egdg/5-marian-goodman-84/|title=5. Marian Goodman, 84|website=Forbes|access-date=2018-09-20}}</ref>
==Later life== In 2012, Goodman received an honorary degree from the CUNY Graduate Center.<ref>[http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2012/05/03/cuny-commencements-2012/ 2012 Commencements] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120605032040/http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2012/05/03/cuny-commencements-2012/ |date=June 5, 2012 }} CUNY Graduate Center, May 3, 2012.</ref> In 2016 she received the Leo Award, presented by Independent Curators International.<ref>Hannah Ghorashi (30 June 2016), [https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/independent-curators-international-honors-marian-goodman-with-its-2016-leo-award-6601/ Independent Curators International Honors Marian Goodman With Its 2016 Leo Award] ''ARTnews''.</ref> Goodman died in Los Angeles on January 22, 2026, at the age of 97.<ref name="nyt obit">{{Cite news |last=Solomon |first=Deborah |date=January 27, 2026 |title=Marian Goodman, 97, Art Dealer Who Turned Toward Europe, Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/25/obituaries/marian-goodman-dead.html |access-date=January 28, 2026 |work=The New York Times |page=B11 |language=en-US |volume=175 |issue=60777 |issn=0362-4331|author-link=Deborah Solomon}}</ref>
==References== <!--- See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes on how to create references using <ref></ref> tags which will then appear here automatically --> {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== * [http://www.mariangoodman.com/ Marian Goodman Gallery] * [http://research.frick.org/directoryweb/browserecord2.php?-action=browse&-recid=11891 2007 Oral History Interview with Marian Goodman]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodman, Marian}} Category:1928 births Category:2026 deaths Category:Art museums and galleries in Manhattan Category:American art dealers Category:American women art dealers Category:Emerson College alumni Category:Little Red School House alumni Category:People from the Upper West Side