Forgotten Ephemera: The Alliance of Figurative Artists

Date(s): Spring 2021
Creator(s): Curated by Emily Markert, Assistant Curator, CCA Libraries
This exhibition features documents consulted for and cited in “Not for the Uncommitted: The Alliance of Figurative Artists, 1969–1975,” Markert’s graduate thesis for CCA’s Curatorial Practice program. Click here to read or download the full paper.

From 1969 through the early 1980s, hundreds of working artists gathered on Manhattan’s Lower East Side every Friday at meetings of the Alliance of Figurative Artists. While figurative painting had regained popularity in the Bay Area in the 1950s, it was once again considered out of fashion by the late 1960s. Despite the focus on abstraction by art critics and curators, as well as the then-emergent movements of conceptualism and minimalism, figurative painters persisted on the periphery of the New York art world.

At their weekly gatherings, the artists of the Alliance discussed their varied yet cohesive interests in painting portraits and narrative scenes, landscapes, and still lifes. In response to their alienation from mainstream art establishments, they created their own spaces in which to showcase their work, including a constellation of cooperative galleries and, later, a museum. These galleries still exist today—a testament to the dedication of the artists who founded them—but the Alliance itself has been virtually lost to art history.

Although little has been written about it, the Alliance set a precedent for artistic development through community organizing, collaboration, and collective growth. These archival documents provide a window into the infrastructures built by the Alliance and how they created opportunities to uplift their practices and each other.

Gallery

Alliance Meeting Announcement, October 1969

Dated October 7, 1969, is one of the earliest surviving Alliance meeting announcements. Founded in February of that year, the Alliance's first few meetings took place at artists' lofts. However, with interest from more than 200 artists, the group needed a larger gathering space. From that point on, the group met at the Educational Alliance, a Jewish community center. Educational Alliance staff members assisted with creating these announcements, which were mailed out one week in advance. Courtesy Nancy Grilikhes.

Alliance Committee Report, October 1970

In an effort to establish its fluidity and openness, the Alliance did not keep attendance rosters, charge membership dues, or have permanent leadership. Instead, a rotating committee handled administrative responsibilities. This Committee Report includes one of the earliest written summaries of the function and structure of the Alliance. Courtesy Nancy Grilikhes.

Alliance meeting, January 1971

Courtesy Marjorie Kramer.

Founding Members of Bowery Gallery, 1969

By the fall of 1969, Alliance artists began founding cooperative galleries in which to exhibit their work. Focused on exposure over profits, these galleries afforded the artists opportunities to share their work with a wider audience. The artists shared the responsibilities of operating the space and paid modest dues to fund it. The first co-op, Bowery Gallery, opened on October 31 at 299 Bowery. Courtesy Bowery Gallery.

First Street Gallery Exhibition Announcement, December 1969

This fold-out flyer advertises the first exhibition at First Street Gallery, the second cooperative gallery founded by artists of the Alliance. By layering text over a painting by Piero della Francesca, the artists indicated the gallery's focus on figurative painting and the artistic legacy upon which they hoped to build. Courtesy Nancy Grilikhes.

Prince Street Gallery renovation, 1970

This photo depicts the original location of Prince Street Gallery, another Alliance artist cooperative, which opened its first exhibition in June 1970. Courtesy Prince Street Gallery.

Prince Street Gallery Artist Booklet, c. 1972

Courtesy Nancy Grilikhes.

First Street Gallery Announcement, 1971

Courtesy Nancy Grilikhes.

Alliance Meeting Announcement, January 1972

As seen here, the Alliance actively promoted the exhibitions at these cooperative galleries each week. Courtesy Nancy Grilikhes.

First Street Gallery Announcement, c. 1973

Courtesy Nancy Grilikhes.

Alliance Meeting Announcement, January 1971

Although all the artists at Alliance meetings painted figuratively, the discussions often turned into passionate arguments. Sources of contention included stylistic differences, generational gaps, academic allegiances, and gender-based discrimination. Sexism in particular plagued the Alliance in its early years, but by 1971, some women were given opportunities to lecture or speak on panels. The schedule detailed on this meeting announcement includes two such programs. Courtesy Nancy Grilikhes.

(Left to right) Irene Peslikis, Janet Sawyer, Alice Neel, Dee Slack, and Lucia Vernarelli at an Alliance meeting on how female artists relate to the tradition of painting the nude, January 1971

This photo documents the panel discussion centered on women artists listed in the previous meeting announcement. Courtesy of Marjorie Kramer.

Juanita McNeely, Alice Neel, and Dee Slack at Alliance meeting, January 1971

Courtesy of Marjorie Kramer.

Open Show of Feminist Art Poster, December 1971

In the face of sexism, and motivated by second-wave feminist politics, women figurative artists found ways to uplift their fellow female painters both within and outside of the Alliance. Courtesy of Marjorie Kramer.

Zine, 1978

Although the Alliance became more welcoming to women over time, certain stylistic and generational divides never dwindled, as evidenced by this slanderous zine produced in 1978 after a few artists unsuccessfully attempted to restructure the group to be more like a formal club. Courtesy of Marjorie Kramer and Samuel Thurston.

Exhibition Announcement, 1975

As the years went on, additional tensions emerged when some artists managed to bypass mainstream criticism of figurative painting and secure commercial gallery representation. Only a handful of the 200+ artists who participated in the Alliance achieved significant success of this kind, such as Altoon Sultan, Philip Pearlstein, Alice Neel, Alex Katz, Faith Ringgold, Lois Dodd, Jane Freilicher, Juanita McNeely, Leland Bell, and Paul Georges. Courtesy Nancy Grilikhes.

Alliance Meeting Announcement with Marginalia, 1970

Courtesy Nancy Grilikhes.

Artists' Choice Exhibition Catalogue, 1976

In its final years, artists of the Alliance established a museum, the ultimate parallel, alternative art space for figurative art. First a series of roving exhibitions and then an institution with a permanent home, the Artists' Choice Museum showed thematic group shows and retrospectives of Alliance artists' work.

Artists' Choice Exhibition, 1976

Artists' Choice Exhibition Pamphlet, 1976

The Artists' Choice Museum closed around the same time the Alliance ceased meeting, in the early 1980s. Although the Alliance and the institutions born out of it have not been historicized, they made a significant impact on New York's downtown arts landscape. Ultimately, the Alliance provides an exemplary model for community organizing and mutual support in the face of rejection from the mainstream.