Author: Michael Findlay
If you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall during the New York art scene in the 1960s and 1970s, Michael Findlay’s memoir, “Portrait of the Art Dealer as a Young Man: New York in the Sixties,” provides a front-row seat on the happenings of the time.
Findlay, a high school drop-out who grew up in Scotland, found himself in the company of arguably one of the most famous — or infamous — American artists at the time, Andy Warhol. They became friends. Findlay also rubbed shoulders with some of the most influential artists and art collectors of that era and became one of the most seasoned art dealers, acquiring pieces from some of the most sought-after artists. How did this happen? Why did it happen?
In this book, he shows and doesn’t just tell.
On the subject of his birth, he writes: “I wriggled out of my mother’s womb in Dunoon, a fishing village on the River Clyde an hour from Glasgow, just as the Second World War was ending.”
Each of the pages is full of colorful antedates that are just as animated and articulate.
Fans of his work might know him from his previous books, “The Value of Art: Money, Power, Beauty,” as well as his other book, “Seeing Slowly: Looking at Modern Art.”
As one of the first art gallery directors in trendy SoHo in New York City, an industry he is still very active in, Findlay offers insights into the vibe and energy at the time, with intimate recollections about famous painters, sculptors, art deals and collectors, as well as anyone from the creative industry during those decades. Findlay certainly found himself in the middle of the action. His book is candid, descriptive and full of surprises.
He dedicates the book to “Victoria, my wife now and forever,” who is an art conservator and writer.
Today, Findlay is a director of Acquavella Galleries in New York and considers himself to be a “poet, essayist and author.”
Twentieth-century cultural history buffs — and those who are invested in the post-World War II art market or the crazy and chaotic art scene of 1960s and 1970s New York — will find this book a page-turner.
