Portrait of the Art Dealer as a Young Man - by Michael Findlay (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

This memoir from the influential art dealer and author offers an up close and personal perspective on New York's vibrant art scene of the sixties and seventies.

One of today's most respected art dealers, Michael Findlay launched his career surrounded by the most exciting figures of the late twentieth century art scene. His generously illustrated memoir traces his childhood in Scotland to his arrival in New York, where he directed one of the first art galleries in SoHo, exposing American audiences to the likes of Joseph Beuys and Sean Scully. Findlay launched the first solo exhibitions of John Baldessari, Hannah Wilke, Stephen Mueller and Billy Sullivan. He offers fascinating recollections about his relationships with painters and sculptors, art dealers and art collectors, actors, models and the creative talents at the heart of New York's Downtown scene.
Making appearances in Findlay's stellar cast of characters are Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Bridget Riley, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Ray Johnson, Gerald Laing, Joseph Cornell, Allen Ginsberg, model Naomi Sims, and the poet Gerard Malanga. He vividly depicts comings and goings at The Chelsea Hotel, St. Mark's Place, Studio 54 and Max's Kansas City. He describes in candid detail the pros and cons of the wild parties and the freewheeling lifestyle of that swinging era. Anyone interested in twentieth century cultural history, the post- World War II art market, or sixties and seventies New York will be gripped and entertained by Findlay's evocatively recounted journey.

Review Quotes

"Findlay's memoir is as much a portrait of a bygone era in New York as it is one of an art dealer's youth." -- The Wall Street Journal

"[Findlay] takes readers along for a rollicking journey through the fabled days of New Yorks downtown art scene in the 1960s. A breezy, bantering tale of sheer luck, 1960s hijinks, inventiveness, and high art madness, he endearingly describes the artists, dealers, and collectors that turned the SoHo loft scene into a lasting hotbed of cultural and artistic innovation." -- New York Sun

"A wild ride through the 1960s New York scene. The seasoned art dealer Michael Findlay's brash and irreverent memoir of his life as an upstart in New York City during the swinging 1960s is a kind of Barry Lyndon tale, rich in anecdotes about the early and innocent days of SoHo as a budding art district." -- The Art Newspaper

"Findlay looks back at the wild art world of 1960s New York, when buildings in Soho sold for a song and the appreciation of a work of art outweighed its investment potential. [He] invites others to experience the joys and satisfactions of art, transporting us back to a particular moment in time, before the art world turned into a market." -- Puck Magazine

"Findlay provides a charming chronicle of his early forays in the art world. Art lovers will find this irresistible." -- Publishers Weekly

"Findlay's evocatively recounted journey offers a new perspective on twentieth-century cultural history and a gripping tale for anyone interested in the post-World War II art market, and sixties and seventies New York." -- FAD Magazine

"The Sixties art scene conjured up by Findlay in his memoir is maverick, experimental and far less bothered about the bottom line." -- The Times

"Pleasingly designed... a funny, generous, irreverent, and informative book. Findlay's tell-all approach, naming names, as well as prices and process, real estate maneuvers and relationship maneuvers, make for a fascinating, revealing, and sometimes tawdry picture that successfully removes the mystic of how value is manufactured in the art world." -- Art & Object

"In his photo-rich memoir, art dealer Michael Findlay documents art's grooviest era with civic-mindedness, wit, and uncommon egolessness." -- Shelf Awareness

"An account that is in parts journalistic, an eyewitness testimony, reminiscences, as well as a personal chronicle with commentary... Findlay is a fine storyteller-- he provides vivid descriptions of the New York art scene." -- TUSSLE Magazine

About the Author

MICHAEL FINDLAY is a director of Acquavella Galleries in New York. His career began in 1964, when he became a pioneer of SoHo's legendary gallery scene, presenting the first solo exhibitions of many then unknown artists who went on to become household names. He is the author of The Value of Art and Seeing Slowly (both published by Prestel).