WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.779 Imagine standing on the precipice of this massive 00:00:03.779 --> 00:00:06.219 cultural earthquake. Right. You don't know it 00:00:06.219 --> 00:00:08.900 yet, but the ground beneath your feet is about 00:00:08.900 --> 00:00:11.380 to shift permanently. It's going to completely 00:00:11.380 --> 00:00:14.519 reorient the entire globe's creative axis. Which 00:00:14.519 --> 00:00:16.739 is a wild thing to try and picture. It really 00:00:16.739 --> 00:00:19.660 is. We are heading back in time today to a very 00:00:19.660 --> 00:00:22.699 specific, incredibly pivotal moment in cultural 00:00:22.699 --> 00:00:26.420 history. We're talking about New York City, 1951. 00:00:26.460 --> 00:00:29.530 Yes. And specifically... we are going to explore 00:00:29.530 --> 00:00:32.189 the historic Ninth Street Art Exhibition. It 00:00:32.189 --> 00:00:34.890 really remains one of those rare documented moments 00:00:34.890 --> 00:00:38.130 where you can draw a thick, definitive before 00:00:38.130 --> 00:00:40.810 and after line in the history of the global art 00:00:40.810 --> 00:00:43.049 market. Definitely. And for our source material 00:00:43.049 --> 00:00:45.810 today, we are pulling from a comprehensive, just 00:00:45.810 --> 00:00:48.609 incredibly detailed Wikipedia article that covers 00:00:48.609 --> 00:00:51.229 this exact event. It's a great source. So the 00:00:51.229 --> 00:00:53.189 mission of our deep dive today is to explore 00:00:53.189 --> 00:00:57.020 a truly wild story. We're going to look at how 00:00:57.020 --> 00:01:00.640 a scrappy, completely DIY exhibition organized 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:03.320 by a group of broke artists in a dilapidated 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:06.120 building somehow managed to upend centuries of 00:01:06.120 --> 00:01:08.620 tradition. Completely rewrote the rules. Yeah, 00:01:08.620 --> 00:01:11.120 and we're going to see how they birthed a distinctly 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:13.780 American art movement that fundamentally changed 00:01:13.780 --> 00:01:18.019 the world. Okay, let's unpack this. Because to 00:01:18.019 --> 00:01:21.079 truly appreciate what these artists accomplished, 00:01:21.950 --> 00:01:24.290 We have to understand the insurmountable wall 00:01:24.290 --> 00:01:26.469 they were up against. Oh, absolutely. The wall 00:01:26.469 --> 00:01:30.489 was huge. So set the scene for us. What did the 00:01:30.489 --> 00:01:33.810 global art world look like prior to 1951? Well, 00:01:33.870 --> 00:01:35.930 if we look at the landscape prior to this moment, 00:01:36.090 --> 00:01:38.829 the undisputed headquarters of the art market 00:01:38.829 --> 00:01:41.569 was Paris. And it had been for generations. Right. 00:01:41.609 --> 00:01:43.930 It was all Paris. Exactly. The school of Paris 00:01:43.930 --> 00:01:46.629 was the ultimate authority. All the prestigious 00:01:46.629 --> 00:01:50.129 gallery owners. The wealthy patrons, the influential 00:01:50.129 --> 00:01:52.829 museum curators, they all looked toward Europe. 00:01:52.890 --> 00:01:54.930 It was the center of everything. Paris was the 00:01:54.930 --> 00:01:58.269 center of the universe. And New York was, culturally 00:01:58.269 --> 00:02:00.849 speaking, a provincial backwater. I mean, the 00:02:00.849 --> 00:02:03.230 establishment was also incredibly rigid. They 00:02:03.230 --> 00:02:06.109 favored established styles and proven commodities. 00:02:06.209 --> 00:02:08.550 So if your work didn't have a ready market, the 00:02:08.550 --> 00:02:11.580 gatekeepers simply ignored you. Wow. That really 00:02:11.580 --> 00:02:14.060 paints a bleak picture for anyone trying to push 00:02:14.060 --> 00:02:16.580 the envelope. If you were an American artist 00:02:16.580 --> 00:02:19.300 in the late 1940s and you were experimenting 00:02:19.300 --> 00:02:22.340 with highly abstract, aggressive new concepts, 00:02:22.580 --> 00:02:24.919 you were essentially shouting into the void. 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:27.939 Worse than that, honestly, you weren't even considered 00:02:27.939 --> 00:02:30.639 a real artist by the European gatekeepers. You 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:33.539 were just an American novelty. A novelty, right. 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:36.620 Yeah, you were completely isolated from the mechanisms 00:02:36.620 --> 00:02:40.199 of success. No market, no prominent galleries 00:02:40.199 --> 00:02:43.360 willing to take a risk on you, and zero international 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:46.340 respect. Which brings us to lower Manhattan in 00:02:46.340 --> 00:02:48.379 the years following World War II. The downtown 00:02:48.379 --> 00:02:51.360 scene. Exactly. This is where we find the subjects 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:54.680 of our deep dive today. Dozens of painters and 00:02:54.680 --> 00:02:56.919 sculptors were living and working in this incredibly 00:02:56.919 --> 00:03:00.099 gritty industrial environment. Specifically down 00:03:00.099 --> 00:03:02.620 between 8th and 12th streets. Right, and 1st 00:03:02.620 --> 00:03:05.020 and 6th avenues. They were huddled in cheap cold 00:03:05.020 --> 00:03:07.580 water industrial lofts, places like the Coney 00:03:07.580 --> 00:03:09.659 Slip. It was a creatively fertile environment, 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:12.259 but economically it was destitute. We really 00:03:12.259 --> 00:03:15.139 have to consider the socioeconomic reality of 00:03:15.139 --> 00:03:18.060 post -WWII America for these individuals. Right, 00:03:18.099 --> 00:03:20.520 they were struggling. Tremendously. Many of these 00:03:20.520 --> 00:03:22.400 artists survived the Great Depression because 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:24.259 of the Federal Art Project. That was the New 00:03:24.259 --> 00:03:26.539 Deal program, right? Yes, a program that literally 00:03:26.539 --> 00:03:29.719 paid them a living wage to paint murals and create 00:03:29.719 --> 00:03:33.080 art for the public. But when that program ended, 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:36.159 the safety net vanished. Just gone overnight. 00:03:36.419 --> 00:03:38.699 Exactly. They were left fending for themselves 00:03:38.699 --> 00:03:41.460 in a city that, frankly, did not value their 00:03:41.460 --> 00:03:43.710 work. The source refers to them collectively 00:03:43.710 --> 00:03:46.870 as the Downton Group, and their work was not 00:03:46.870 --> 00:03:49.949 exactly easy to digest. Not at all. We are not 00:03:49.949 --> 00:03:52.009 talking about traditional portraits or serene 00:03:52.009 --> 00:03:54.909 landscapes here. This was the nascent stage of 00:03:54.909 --> 00:03:58.310 abstract expressionism. Pure, raw energy. Picture 00:03:58.310 --> 00:04:00.830 massive canvases, aggressive splashes of paint, 00:04:01.050 --> 00:04:04.009 heady drips, chaotic textures. It was art meant 00:04:04.009 --> 00:04:07.129 to convey raw, visceral emotion rather than a 00:04:07.129 --> 00:04:09.909 literal, representational image. And a lot of 00:04:09.909 --> 00:04:11.830 that raw emotion stemmed directly from their 00:04:11.830 --> 00:04:14.430 lived experiences. How do you mean? Well, many 00:04:14.430 --> 00:04:16.430 of these artists, including figures like Willem 00:04:16.430 --> 00:04:19.149 de Kooning, Franz Klein, Jack Torkoff, and Philip 00:04:19.149 --> 00:04:21.769 Pavia, they had lived through the profound trauma 00:04:21.769 --> 00:04:24.990 of the 20th century. The Great Depression. The 00:04:24.990 --> 00:04:27.970 war. Exactly. They were pouring that collective 00:04:27.970 --> 00:04:31.129 anxiety and existential dread right onto the 00:04:31.129 --> 00:04:34.230 canvas. But to a traditional gallery owner looking 00:04:34.230 --> 00:04:36.790 for a polite painting to sell to a wealthy banker. 00:04:36.930 --> 00:04:39.189 It just looked like unsellable chaos. Complete 00:04:39.189 --> 00:04:41.670 chaos. So because they were entirely shut out 00:04:41.670 --> 00:04:43.750 by the establishment, they were forced to rely 00:04:43.750 --> 00:04:46.500 on one another. The source mentions that in 1949, 00:04:46.899 --> 00:04:49.540 members of this downtown group, led by Philip 00:04:49.540 --> 00:04:52.459 Pavia, decided they needed a physical space to 00:04:52.459 --> 00:04:54.600 gather. They needed a home base. Right. They 00:04:54.600 --> 00:04:57.240 started meeting regularly at a rented loft located 00:04:57.240 --> 00:05:00.100 at 39 East 8th Street. A location that came to 00:05:00.100 --> 00:05:03.720 be known very simply as The Club. The club. Just 00:05:03.720 --> 00:05:06.160 the club. The lack of a pretentious name really 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:08.279 speaks volumes about the unvarnished necessary 00:05:08.279 --> 00:05:10.899 nature of this gathering space. It was a refuge. 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:13.680 And it was out of these weekly, likely very heated 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:17.459 discussions at the club that a crucial idea began 00:05:17.459 --> 00:05:20.519 to take shape. They realized waiting around wasn't 00:05:20.519 --> 00:05:22.920 working. Exactly. They realized that waiting 00:05:22.920 --> 00:05:25.040 for a traditional gallery to validate them was 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:26.959 a fool's errand. They needed a launching pad 00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:29.240 and they would have to build it themselves. If 00:05:29.240 --> 00:05:31.540 we connect this to the bigger picture. these 00:05:31.540 --> 00:05:33.699 artists were doing something far more profound 00:05:33.699 --> 00:05:36.060 than merely socializing or complaining about 00:05:36.060 --> 00:05:38.180 their rejection they were organizing they were 00:05:38.180 --> 00:05:40.540 actively building an alternative infrastructure 00:05:40.540 --> 00:05:43.519 the weekly meetings at the club functioned as 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:46.560 the incubator for a revolution they recognized 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:48.740 that a radical new form of expression requires 00:05:48.740 --> 00:05:51.959 its own ecosystem to survive a revolution needs 00:05:51.959 --> 00:05:55.160 a battlefield yeah Or in this case, a gallery 00:05:55.160 --> 00:05:58.040 space. A very specific gallery space. Yes. And 00:05:58.040 --> 00:06:00.259 the logistics of building this show are an absolute 00:06:00.259 --> 00:06:04.399 masterclass in DIY determination. The venue they 00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:07.959 ultimately secured was shockingly humble. Shocking 00:06:07.959 --> 00:06:10.279 is the right word. They rented the basement and 00:06:10.279 --> 00:06:12.420 the first floor of a condemned building at 60 00:06:12.420 --> 00:06:15.199 East 9th Street. And the rent for the entire 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:17.839 20 -day run of the show from May 21st to June 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:22.860 10th, 1951 was $70. $70 for a 20 -day run in 00:06:22.860 --> 00:06:25.480 a prominent Manhattan location. It's unbelievable. 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:28.839 Today, $70 might get you a modest lunch in that 00:06:28.839 --> 00:06:31.019 exact same neighborhood, let alone a two -story 00:06:31.019 --> 00:06:33.480 space. Let alone a Manhattan gallery. Right. 00:06:33.579 --> 00:06:36.779 But the incredibly low sum reflects the dire 00:06:36.779 --> 00:06:39.019 condition of the building. Wow. It was completely 00:06:39.019 --> 00:06:41.980 decrepit and slated for demolition. Okay, wait. 00:06:42.329 --> 00:06:44.430 We just established that these artists were broke, 00:06:44.529 --> 00:06:47.569 some literally starving after the federal art 00:06:47.569 --> 00:06:50.589 project ended. Yeah. How does a group of starving 00:06:50.589 --> 00:06:54.269 artists afford even the $70 rent, let alone the 00:06:54.269 --> 00:06:56.449 costs of transforming a condemned basement into 00:06:56.449 --> 00:06:59.149 a gallery? Did they have a benefactor? They did. 00:06:59.250 --> 00:07:01.170 And it is a name that would eventually become 00:07:01.170 --> 00:07:04.360 massive in the art world. Leo Castelli. Castelli. 00:07:04.500 --> 00:07:07.139 Yes. Castelli stepped up and covered the bill, 00:07:07.259 --> 00:07:09.300 paying for most of the expenses out of his own 00:07:09.300 --> 00:07:12.720 pocket. The source notes this was his first curatorial 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:15.740 effort, happening six years before he even opened 00:07:15.740 --> 00:07:18.839 his famous world -renowned gallery. Yeah. Why 00:07:18.839 --> 00:07:20.860 him? Was it just because he had the checkbook? 00:07:21.100 --> 00:07:23.759 No, it was much more nuanced than that. Castelli 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:25.779 was part of the scene, but the artist deliberately 00:07:25.779 --> 00:07:28.360 selected him to curate and hang the show because 00:07:28.360 --> 00:07:31.000 they trusted his eye and his diplomacy. Diplomacy 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:34.220 being key there. crucial when you have an incredibly 00:07:34.220 --> 00:07:37.100 eager desperate group of marginalized artists 00:07:37.100 --> 00:07:40.220 all vying for prime wall space in a cramped basement 00:07:40.220 --> 00:07:44.100 you need someone who can hang the work Someone 00:07:44.100 --> 00:07:46.579 to keep the peace. Exactly. Castelli possessed 00:07:46.579 --> 00:07:49.319 that specific kind of tact. That makes sense. 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:51.560 And the physical labor involved is just astonishing. 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:54.240 The artists could not afford contractors, so 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:56.120 they provided all the sweat equity themselves. 00:07:56.560 --> 00:07:59.339 Getting their hands dirty. Literally. They were 00:07:59.339 --> 00:08:01.920 in there sweeping up decades of debris, painting 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:05.259 over mold, installing makeshift lighting to turn 00:08:05.259 --> 00:08:08.120 a condemned building into a space worthy of their 00:08:08.120 --> 00:08:10.839 massive canvases. It highlights the sheer communal 00:08:10.839 --> 00:08:13.680 force of the downtown group. Everyone contributed 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:16.360 their specific talents. Right. Take Franz Klein, 00:08:16.579 --> 00:08:19.160 for instance. He would become a giant of abstract 00:08:19.160 --> 00:08:21.519 art, known for his stark black and white strokes. 00:08:21.879 --> 00:08:24.800 Well, he hand -lettered the promotional materials. 00:08:25.180 --> 00:08:27.139 He made the poster. He designed the official 00:08:27.139 --> 00:08:29.439 poster that gave the exhibition its formal name, 00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:32.179 the Ninth Street Art Exhibition of Paintings 00:08:32.179 --> 00:08:34.080 and Sculpture. And another member of the New 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:37.360 York school. Aaron Siskind documented the entire 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:39.460 event with a series of photographs. Capturing 00:08:39.460 --> 00:08:42.159 the history in real time. And once word of this 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:44.659 exhibition started to leak out, even before the 00:08:44.659 --> 00:08:47.039 Monday night preview, the excitement within the 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:49.940 community reached a boiling point. Claudia Roth 00:08:49.940 --> 00:08:52.539 Pierpont from The New Yorker is quoted in our 00:08:52.539 --> 00:08:55.039 source describing the intense rush to participate. 00:08:55.379 --> 00:08:57.659 You have to understand, few of these artists 00:08:57.659 --> 00:08:59.919 had ever received any significant notice from 00:08:59.919 --> 00:09:02.779 the outside world. This was their singular chance 00:09:02.779 --> 00:09:05.659 to be seen. Do or die. Yeah, the desperation 00:09:05.659 --> 00:09:08.259 to be included was so intense that the organizers 00:09:08.259 --> 00:09:11.299 had to implement a strict rule. Every single 00:09:11.299 --> 00:09:13.940 artist was limited to one piece of art. Space 00:09:13.940 --> 00:09:16.419 was at an absolute premium. And the source points 00:09:16.419 --> 00:09:19.080 out an interesting discrepancy here. Franz Klein's 00:09:19.080 --> 00:09:22.320 original hand -drawn poster only lists 64 names. 00:09:22.519 --> 00:09:25.159 Right. But the final official count of participants 00:09:25.159 --> 00:09:27.340 who managed to squeeze a piece into that building 00:09:27.340 --> 00:09:31.190 was 74. Just sneaking those last 10 in and looking 00:09:31.190 --> 00:09:33.610 at that roster today is staggering. You have 00:09:33.610 --> 00:09:36.409 Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko, 00:09:36.649 --> 00:09:39.950 David Smith, Hans Hoffman. It's a legendary lineup. 00:09:40.110 --> 00:09:42.950 It is akin to looking at the roster of an obscure 00:09:42.950 --> 00:09:45.970 minor league team and realizing every single 00:09:45.970 --> 00:09:48.809 player went on to redefine their sport entirely. 00:09:49.289 --> 00:09:52.490 That is a great comparison. But in May of 1951, 00:09:52.570 --> 00:09:54.610 they were just trying to get anyone to look at 00:09:54.610 --> 00:09:56.990 their single isolated painting in a basement. 00:09:57.610 --> 00:10:00.029 Let's dive into the mechanics of how this actually 00:10:00.029 --> 00:10:02.590 worked. They hang the art, they open the doors, 00:10:02.750 --> 00:10:05.230 but how did they actually get the establishment 00:10:05.230 --> 00:10:08.129 to care? That is the big question. How did this 00:10:08.129 --> 00:10:12.250 event trigger the tectonic shift that moved the 00:10:12.250 --> 00:10:14.909 cultural capital from Paris to New York? Well, 00:10:15.049 --> 00:10:17.330 disruption on this scale requires two things. 00:10:17.450 --> 00:10:20.149 It requires creators and intellectual champions. 00:10:20.429 --> 00:10:23.610 The artists provided the creation, but the critics 00:10:23.610 --> 00:10:25.629 provided the crucial intellectual framework. 00:10:25.769 --> 00:10:27.409 Right. They needed someone to explain it to the 00:10:27.409 --> 00:10:30.009 buyers. Exactly. The Ninth Street Show marked 00:10:30.009 --> 00:10:32.169 the formal debut of the New York school, but 00:10:32.169 --> 00:10:35.009 it was the critics who translated that raw visual 00:10:35.009 --> 00:10:37.710 emotion into intellectual currency that wealthy 00:10:37.710 --> 00:10:40.049 collectors could understand. The source highlights 00:10:40.049 --> 00:10:42.789 two major critics here, Harold Rosenberg and 00:10:42.789 --> 00:10:45.629 Clement Greenberg. What was their specific role 00:10:45.629 --> 00:10:48.889 in elevating this from a basement show to a global 00:10:48.889 --> 00:10:52.190 phenomenon? Rosenberg gave the movement its philosophical 00:10:52.190 --> 00:10:55.289 weight. In his famous 1952 essay, The American 00:10:55.289 --> 00:10:58.230 Action Painters, he likened artists such as de 00:10:58.230 --> 00:11:01.330 Kooning and Klein to heroic existentialists wrestling 00:11:01.330 --> 00:11:04.169 with self -expression. Heroic existentialists. 00:11:04.190 --> 00:11:06.789 Yes. He argued that the canvas was no longer 00:11:06.789 --> 00:11:09.970 a picture, but an arena in which to act. He made 00:11:09.970 --> 00:11:12.710 the art sound vital, masculine, and deeply important. 00:11:13.049 --> 00:11:15.850 Heroic existentialists wrestling with self -expression. 00:11:16.070 --> 00:11:19.169 That is quite a sophisticated rebrand from starving 00:11:19.309 --> 00:11:21.750 artists painting in a cold water loft. A massive 00:11:21.750 --> 00:11:23.970 rebrand. It elevated their struggle into high 00:11:23.970 --> 00:11:26.850 art. Then you had Clement Greenberg, who functioned 00:11:26.850 --> 00:11:28.870 as a make -or -break authority for collectors. 00:11:29.190 --> 00:11:31.990 He had that kind of power. Absolute power. Greenberg 00:11:31.990 --> 00:11:34.090 boldly declared that for the first time in history, 00:11:34.169 --> 00:11:36.090 the most advanced form of Western art was no 00:11:36.090 --> 00:11:38.269 longer being produced in Europe. Taking a direct 00:11:38.269 --> 00:11:41.129 shot at Paris. Direct shot. He argued that these 00:11:41.129 --> 00:11:43.230 American painters were the true inheritors of 00:11:43.230 --> 00:11:46.419 the European avant -garde tradition. So... Greenberg 00:11:46.419 --> 00:11:48.879 is essentially telling the wealthy New York patrons, 00:11:49.059 --> 00:11:51.539 you don't need to go to Paris to buy the future 00:11:51.539 --> 00:11:53.460 of art. It is happening right down the street. 00:11:53.559 --> 00:11:56.080 Right here in Manhattan. That kind of validation, 00:11:56.279 --> 00:11:58.919 combined with the sudden attention of curators 00:11:58.919 --> 00:12:01.820 like Alfred H. Barr for the Museum of Modern 00:12:01.820 --> 00:12:05.799 Art, gave abstract expressionism immense, unstoppable 00:12:05.799 --> 00:12:08.940 momentum. The symbiotic relationship between 00:12:08.940 --> 00:12:11.500 the gritty artists and these high -minded critics 00:12:11.500 --> 00:12:14.899 is what ultimately forced the door open. The 00:12:14.899 --> 00:12:16.879 establishment had to come to their condemned 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:19.480 basement to see the future. I want to share a 00:12:19.480 --> 00:12:22.019 fantastic quote from author Mary Gabriel that 00:12:22.019 --> 00:12:24.960 the Wikipedia article features prominently. Regarding 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:26.740 the commercial aspect of the show, she writes, 00:12:26.919 --> 00:12:30.639 Nothing sold, but no one cared. The exhibition 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:32.679 had earned the artists' attention on their own 00:12:32.679 --> 00:12:35.080 terms. And that is the crux of the entire event, 00:12:35.240 --> 00:12:37.480 attention on their own terms. Yes. The victory 00:12:37.480 --> 00:12:40.659 was entirely existential. Not a single painting 00:12:40.659 --> 00:12:43.259 had to be purchased for them to realize the paradigm 00:12:43.259 --> 00:12:46.059 had shifted. As the source notes, it appeared 00:12:46.059 --> 00:12:48.039 as though an invisible line had been crossed. 00:12:48.299 --> 00:12:51.419 They proved they existed. Exactly. They had stepped 00:12:51.419 --> 00:12:54.159 into a larger art world, proving they existed, 00:12:54.360 --> 00:12:56.299 and proving that their communal infrastructure 00:12:56.299 --> 00:12:59.000 could sustain them even when the wider American 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:01.379 public was not quite ready for their massive, 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:04.299 abstract canvases. It was a triumph of community. 00:13:04.740 --> 00:13:06.539 But here's where it gets really interesting. 00:13:06.919 --> 00:13:09.460 We have established that these artists completely 00:13:09.460 --> 00:13:12.100 shattered the rules of traditional art. Right. 00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:15.250 They were progressive. boundary pushing visionaries 00:13:15.250 --> 00:13:18.289 operating outside the establishment. But what 00:13:18.289 --> 00:13:20.590 the source reveals is that behind closed doors, 00:13:20.830 --> 00:13:23.759 this renegade group was still clinging to some 00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:26.960 deeply traditional, frankly sexist biases. This 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:29.639 is a vital, often overlooked aspect of the Ninth 00:13:29.639 --> 00:13:32.320 Street show's complex legacy. In this highly 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:34.620 experimental atmosphere where everyone was an 00:13:34.620 --> 00:13:37.179 underdog fighting for scraps, the source outlines 00:13:37.179 --> 00:13:39.600 that there was an initial serious debate among 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:42.000 the male artists about whether or not to include 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:44.659 women in the exhibition at all. A very real debate. 00:13:44.860 --> 00:13:47.340 The underlying concern was that including women 00:13:47.340 --> 00:13:49.919 might diminish the exhibition's chances of being 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:52.659 taken seriously by the very critical and curators 00:13:52.659 --> 00:13:55.000 they were trying to attract. Which is wild. It 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:58.360 exposes the pervasive boys club mentality that 00:13:58.360 --> 00:14:00.679 dominated even the most avant -garde circles 00:14:00.679 --> 00:14:03.519 of the time. I mean, think about it. You are 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:05.980 exhibiting in a condemned building that you had 00:14:05.980 --> 00:14:08.039 to sweep the mold out of yourselves. Yeah. You 00:14:08.039 --> 00:14:10.580 are painting completely non -commercial art. 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:13.500 And your primary concern is that letting a woman 00:14:13.500 --> 00:14:16.700 hang a canvas might hurt your prestige. What's 00:14:16.700 --> 00:14:18.759 fascinating here is the sheer historical irony 00:14:18.759 --> 00:14:20.860 of that hesitation. Because of what happened 00:14:20.860 --> 00:14:23.580 later. Exactly. Ultimately, they did relent. 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:27.419 The jury selected 61 men and 11 women to represent 00:14:27.419 --> 00:14:30.659 the downtown scene. 11 women out of 72 total 00:14:30.659 --> 00:14:33.659 artists initially counted. That ratio alone tells 00:14:33.659 --> 00:14:35.759 a story. And the irony you mentioned is staggering. 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:38.179 Because out of those 11 women who almost didn't 00:14:38.179 --> 00:14:40.580 make the cut, five went on to have. absolutely 00:14:40.580 --> 00:14:43.840 massive international careers that defined the 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:45.379 very movement the men were trying to protect. 00:14:45.580 --> 00:14:47.379 Titans of the industry. We are talking about 00:14:47.379 --> 00:14:49.759 Grace Hartigan, Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:52.679 Elaine de Kooning, and Lee Krasner. Amazing names. 00:14:53.000 --> 00:14:55.779 These five women became absolute pillars of abstract 00:14:55.779 --> 00:14:58.759 expressionism. They did not diminish the seriousness 00:14:58.759 --> 00:15:01.259 of the movement. They expanded its vocabulary 00:15:01.259 --> 00:15:04.179 and its global reach. Lee Krasner's specific 00:15:04.179 --> 00:15:06.659 journey is incredibly compelling within the source 00:15:06.659 --> 00:15:09.220 material. She was the oldest of the women in 00:15:09.220 --> 00:15:11.500 the group. But the text notes she was the last 00:15:11.500 --> 00:15:14.320 to truly bloom artistically. Yes. Her massive 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:16.440 breakthrough only occurred after the tragic death 00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:19.929 of her husband, Jackson Pollock. in 1956 the 00:15:19.929 --> 00:15:23.149 source frames that loss as deeply painful yet 00:15:23.149 --> 00:15:25.870 it undeniably sparked a remarkably productive 00:15:25.870 --> 00:15:29.190 28 -year widowhood she just poured herself into 00:15:29.190 --> 00:15:32.210 the work she did free from the immense overshadowing 00:15:32.210 --> 00:15:34.710 presence of pollock krasner created some of her 00:15:34.710 --> 00:15:38.090 most significant monumental work it really forces 00:15:38.090 --> 00:15:40.250 a critical look at how many other voices were 00:15:40.250 --> 00:15:43.409 marginalized delayed or entirely silenced by 00:15:43.409 --> 00:15:45.629 the biases embedded within that community and 00:15:45.629 --> 00:15:47.769 the legacy of those women is not just a history 00:15:47.789 --> 00:15:50.950 historical footnote. It is a highly active modern 00:15:50.950 --> 00:15:53.950 cultural conversation. The source points out 00:15:53.950 --> 00:15:56.450 that in 2018, Mary Gabriel, the author we quoted 00:15:56.450 --> 00:15:58.669 earlier, published a collective biography called 00:15:58.669 --> 00:16:01.450 Ninth Street Women. Oh, fantastic book. The book 00:16:01.450 --> 00:16:04.769 focuses specifically on Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, 00:16:04.970 --> 00:16:07.509 Hartigan, Mischel, and Frankenthaler. And that 00:16:07.509 --> 00:16:10.090 publication served as a major catalyst. It became 00:16:10.090 --> 00:16:12.750 a bestseller and ignited a widespread resurgence 00:16:12.750 --> 00:16:14.789 of interest in the underappreciated women of 00:16:14.789 --> 00:16:17.539 the movement, prompting both academic and mainstream 00:16:17.539 --> 00:16:20.399 reevaluations. The ripple effects are still expanding. 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:23.799 In 2019, Amazon Studios optioned Gabriel's book 00:16:23.799 --> 00:16:26.340 to be developed into a television series by the 00:16:26.340 --> 00:16:29.419 creators of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. That's 00:16:29.419 --> 00:16:32.639 huge mainstream exposure. And academically, UCLA 00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:35.639 developed a specific art history class based 00:16:35.639 --> 00:16:38.580 entirely on the text, dedicating an entire curriculum 00:16:38.580 --> 00:16:41.539 to the women of the Ninth Street Show. The museum 00:16:41.539 --> 00:16:43.799 and gallery world has also actively worked to 00:16:43.799 --> 00:16:47.179 correct the historical oversight. In 2016, the 00:16:47.179 --> 00:16:49.620 Denver Art Museum mounted a major groundbreaking 00:16:49.620 --> 00:16:52.600 exhibition called Women of Abstract Expressionism, 00:16:52.659 --> 00:16:55.500 featuring over 50 major paintings. Incredible. 00:16:55.679 --> 00:16:57.820 And that same year, a prominent gallery in Los 00:16:57.820 --> 00:17:00.519 Angeles, Hauser, Wirth & Schimmel, chose to debut 00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:03.059 its new space with an exhibition focused entirely 00:17:03.059 --> 00:17:06.380 on abstract sculpture by women from 1947 to 2016. 00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:09.440 So those 11 women who were almost excluded from 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:13.019 a basement show. are now the focal point of university 00:17:13.019 --> 00:17:16.099 courses and major museum retrospectives. They 00:17:16.099 --> 00:17:17.920 forced their way into the narrative. They absolutely 00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:21.339 did. So what does this all mean? When you look 00:17:21.339 --> 00:17:23.960 at the totality of these details, the Coldwater 00:17:23.960 --> 00:17:26.359 loss, the end of the Federal Art Project, the 00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:29.019 $70 rent, the hand -lettered posters, the critical 00:17:29.019 --> 00:17:32.700 champions, and the fierce debate over who even 00:17:32.700 --> 00:17:35.319 gets to participate, what is the ultimate lesson 00:17:35.319 --> 00:17:38.259 for you, the listener? It's a big question. To 00:17:38.259 --> 00:17:40.980 me... The Ninth Street Show is the definitive 00:17:40.980 --> 00:17:43.799 historical blueprint for creating your own space. 00:17:44.339 --> 00:17:46.539 It proves that if the establishment is ignoring 00:17:46.539 --> 00:17:48.799 you, you do not sit around waiting for their 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:50.740 permission. You do not wait for the gallery to 00:17:50.740 --> 00:17:53.380 call. You find your peers, you pool your meager 00:17:53.380 --> 00:17:56.279 resources, you secure the condemned space, and 00:17:56.279 --> 00:17:58.940 you build the platform yourself. Yes. You force 00:17:58.940 --> 00:18:00.779 the world to engage with your vision on your 00:18:00.779 --> 00:18:03.299 own terms. I love that. You grab a hammer, you 00:18:03.299 --> 00:18:05.500 sweep the floors, and you hang the art yourself. 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:07.859 I think this leaves us with a provocative question 00:18:07.859 --> 00:18:10.140 to consider regarding our current cultural landscape. 00:18:10.500 --> 00:18:13.480 This group of marginalized artists managed to 00:18:13.480 --> 00:18:15.880 shift the tectonic plates of the global art market 00:18:15.880 --> 00:18:19.920 using canvas, paint and a damp basement in 1951. 00:18:20.140 --> 00:18:23.279 Right. If we look at our hyper digital, constantly 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:26.420 connected modern era, where is the equivalent 00:18:26.420 --> 00:18:29.480 of that $70 basement today? Oh, that's interesting. 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:32.940 What overlooked, completely unmonetized, perhaps 00:18:32.940 --> 00:18:35.829 digital spaces are currently incubated. the next 00:18:35.829 --> 00:18:39.109 massive cultural revolution? There is a community 00:18:39.109 --> 00:18:41.150 out there right now that the establishment is 00:18:41.150 --> 00:18:43.849 entirely ignoring, quietly preparing to change 00:18:43.849 --> 00:18:46.250 the world. We just might not be looking in the 00:18:46.250 --> 00:18:48.549 right basements. That is a phenomenal thought 00:18:48.549 --> 00:18:50.210 to end on. Keep looking for those hidden spaces. 00:18:50.650 --> 00:18:52.630 Thank you for joining us on this deep dive into 00:18:52.630 --> 00:18:54.970 the Ninth Street Art Exhibition. Keep exploring, 00:18:55.150 --> 00:18:57.369 keep questioning the gatekeepers, and keep learning. 00:18:57.650 --> 00:18:58.990 We will catch you next time.