Marian Goodman, the influential New York gallery owner known for bringing avant-garde European artists of the 20th century to American audiences, passed away on Thursday, January 22, at 97 years old. Her family and partners at Marian Goodman Gallery confirmed her death due to natural causes at a Los Angeles hospital through a statement on their website. They highlighted her talent for nurturing artists and her profound understanding of a gallerist’s role.
Driven by curiosity and a comprehensive view of art beyond market trends, Goodman fostered enduring relationships with artists and supported their work in nonprofit and institutional contexts. “Among the artists whose work I like, I have found a humanistic concern, a culture-critical sense of our way of life, a dialectical approach to reality, and an artistic vision about civic life,” Goodman once said.
Throughout her six-decade career, Goodman showcased numerous post-war contemporary artists, including Nan Goldin, William Kentridge, and Julie Mehretu, introducing many to the American art scene. Her success led to the opening of galleries in Paris, London, and Los Angeles, with her main gallery moving to Tribeca in 2024. Born in 1928 and raised on the Upper West Side, Goodman initially dreamed of joining the United Nations before pursuing art history at Columbia University.
Goodman first ventured into art by compiling artist prints to fundraise for her children’s school in 1962. She later co-founded Multiples, Inc. in 1965, selling works by artists like Sol LeWitt and Andy Warhol. After struggling to find venues for European artists, she established her own gallery in Midtown Manhattan in 1977, eventually moving it in 1984 to a space it occupied for nearly fifty years.
In 2021, three years after celebrating her 90th birthday at Versailles, Goodman retired, appointing Rose Lord, Junette Teng, Emily-Jane Kirwan, Leslie Nolen, and Philipp Kaiser as partners. Tributes poured in over the weekend, including one from artist Julie Mehretu, who called Goodman a “lioness” and expressed deep admiration for her strength and love.
