Painters • Printmakers • Photographers • Sculptors
In 1955 the Terrain Gallery opened with the extravagant idea that 1) beauty could not only be talked about but defined; 2) that all the arts had something in common; 3) that art and life were integrally related. All this was in the great philosophy of Aesthetic Realism as we had studied it with its founder, critic and poet Eli Siegel. In America in 1955 the idea of talking about beauty was not au courant. We did it anyway.
Our opening announcement was the first publication of Eli Siegel’s Fifteen Questions, Is Beauty the Making One of Opposites?—one of the most important documents on art, of this century or any century. In 150 exhibitions it has been our criterion for selecting work—of well-known artists alongside those showing for the first time; photographs and prints together, an innovation, as was the all-silkscreen show of 1965. And in every exhibition there were comments saying why we saw a work as beautiful.
In exhibitions, poetry readings, dramatic presentations, and hundreds of talks and publications, the Terrain Gallery has been a trailblazer in showing that art, as Aesthetic Realism describes, arises from respect for the world, and is the real opponent to the harm of the contempt so endemic in ordinary life. We have seen that this principle by Eli Siegel is true: “All beauty is a making one of opposites, and the making one of opposites is what we are going after in ourselves.” The Terrain Gallery is proud and grateful to say this, and to show it in more and more ways. –Dorothy Koppelman
Announcement in pdf
Celebrating 50 years of landmark exhibitions based on the historic 15 Questions by Eli Siegel, founder of Aesthetic Realism: Is Beauty the Making One of Opposites? Read what the artists wrote about: Universe and Object (Dorothy Koppelman) ♦ Light and Dark (Perry Hall) ♦ Logic and Emotion (George Stadnik) ♦ Contrast and Harmony (Tom Kranjac) ♦ Light and Dark (Allan Michael ♦ Form and Substance (Robert Henry) ♦ Light and Dark (Michael Di Cerbo) ♦ Depth and Surface (Marcia Rackow) ♦ Grace and Seriousness (Richard Sloat)
Artists exhibiting:
Richard Anuszkiewicz • Roseanne Backstedt • Will Barnet • David Bernstein • Len Bernstein • Robert Blackburn • Al Blaustein • Rudy Burckhardt • Edmond Casarella • Jeremy Comins • Robert Conover • Michael Di Cerbo • Amy Dienes • Louis Dienes • Lois Dodd • Stephen A. Fredericks • Red Grooms • Mimi Gross • Perry Hall • Burton Hasen • Robert Henry • Su-Li Hung • Yvonne Jacquette • Lester Johnson • Alex Katz • Andre Kertesz • William King • Chaim Koppelman • Dorothy Koppelman • Tom Kranjac • Harold Krisel • Vincent Longo • Charles Magistro • Allan Michael • Robert Motherwell • Hans Namuth • Gloria Rabinowitz • Marcia Rackow • Ad Reinhardt • Clare Romano • Carol Rosen • John Ross • Frank Roth • Rolph Scarlett • Arnold Schmidt • Elfi Schuselka • Richard Sloat • George Stadnik • Steven Stankiewicz • Nancy Starrels • Selina Trieff • Richard Claude Ziemann • Larry Zox
We thank these galleries: Alexandre, Babcock, Stephen Haller, PaceWildenstein, Tibor de Nagy, & the Procuniar Workshop and Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts.