Marian Goodman, Art Dealer Who ‘Set the Bar’, Dies at 97

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Marian Goodman, the New York art dealer renowned for her role in bringing avantgarde European art to prominence in the 1980s, has died aged 97. 

Goodman died in hospital in Los Angeles on Thursday. A joint statement from the Goodman family and Marian Goodman Gallery issued yesterday, said she ‘died peacefully of natural causes’.

They paid tribute to the dealer’s ‘exceptional eye for talent’. ‘Marian had a deep understanding of a gallerist’s responsibility; driven by a curiosity and a pluralistic view of art, designating its vast potential over market trends, she forged long-standing relationships with her artists and supported their practices within nonprofit and institutional realms,’ the statement said.

Born Marian Ruth Geller in New York City in 1928 to Hungarian American parents, Goodman grew up on the Upper West Side. She majored in history at Emerson College in Boston and, in her early twenties, married William Goodman, a civil engineer. 

The couple divorced in 1968. She is survived by their two children, Michael Goodman and Amy Goodman Kiefer.

In 1962, as part of a fundraising effort at her children’s school, Goodman organised her first art show. Having enjoyed the experience and wanting to learn more, in 1963 she enrolled in graduate art history classes at Columbia University. 

Two years later she launched the art publishing house Multiples, which sold affordable editions. The idea was ‘close to the socialist idea that art should be accessible’, she once told The New York Times. 

Goodman Gallery was established in 1977. Its first space on New York’s East 57th Street gained prominence early in its trajectory for introducing the work of seminal European artists to American audiences.

This included Marcel Broodthaers, who was the subject of the gallery’s inaugural exhibition, and later Anslem Kiefer.

The dealer was next drawn to Europe, opening a space in Paris’ Marais district in 1995, along with an adjacent space for books and editions in 2017. From 2014 until 2022, Marian Goodman Gallery also operated an outpost in London.

The gallery currently operates three spaces: 385 Broadway, New York; 79 rue du Temple, Paris; and 1120 Seward Street, Los Angeles. 

Goodman stepped back from daily operations in 2021. Up until then she had been instrumental in steering the careers of her artists—among them Gerhard Richter, Steve McQueen, William Kentridge—and became known for her commitment to placing their works into museums, rather than private collections. 

Following the announcement of Goodman’s death, artists, curators and gallerists took to Instagram to share their tributes. Curator Nancy Spector wrote: ‘Marian set the bar. Her profound appreciation for Conceptual art and unwavering commitment to the artists she represented and nurtured was exemplary and rare. I will miss her terribly.’ —[O]

Main image: Marian Goodman, 2014. Photo: Thomas Struth.