Armory Show (art fair)

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Inside view of the Armory Show

The Armory Show is one of the leading trade shows for modern and contemporary art. It has been held annually in the Manhattan borough of New York since 1994 and follows the tradition of the Armory Show art exhibition of the same name from 1913.

history

The art fair was founded by New York gallery owners Paul Morris, Pat Hearn, Colin de Land and Matthew Marks and took place for the first time from April 29 to May 2, 1994. It was initially called the Gramercy International Art Fair because it was held on the premises of the Gramercy Park Hotel (at Gramercy Park of the same name in Manhattan). A branch was located at the Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles . Morris remained the fair until 2012 director, from 2007 to 2012 he was also deputy director of Merchandise Mart Properties Inc . (MMPI).

Gramercy International Art Fair

The trade fair management reserved three floors in the historic hotel with a total of 60 hotel rooms, which they rented to the invited gallery owners for $ 50 per day. On and around the double beds and between the bathroom fittings, the exhibiting dealers presented their works of art - paintings, graphics, sculptures, videos - which cost between $ 50 and 50,000. In the first year, over 10,000 interested people visited the art fair and found out about the latest trends in contemporary art in the lower to medium price segment. The Los Angeles branch operated in a similar manner, albeit with fewer participants and visitors.

The Armory Show

Named location of the art fair: Armory of the 69th Regiment, Lexington Avenue / 25th Street, New York

In 1999 the art fair received its new name, which is still in existence today, when it moved to the building of the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue at the corner of East 25th Street with "The Armory Show". She tried to tie in with the legendary art sales exhibition that showed the American and European avant-garde in the same building for the first time in the USA.

Due to the success of the fair, the increased participation of international exhibitors and the resulting increase in space requirements and because the 69th Regiment Armory house was no longer available, a move became necessary. The historic West Side Piers 88 and 90 on the Hudson River , where the annual art fair took place from 2001 until it moved to Piers 92 and 94, which are still in use today, offered themselves as exhibition locations .

After the death of co-founders Hearn and de Land in 2000 and 2003, Morris closed his art gallery and focused solely on organizing the art fair. Marks and Morris sold their stake in 2007 to the major exhibition organizer Merchandise Mart Properties from Chicago .

In March 2011, 274 galleries with contemporary and modern art from around the world took part in the four-day Armory Show. Contemporary art was shown in the rooms of Pier 92; Pier 94 was reserved for galleries with modern art. A special exhibition was reserved for Scandinavian galleries. A far larger proportion of the applicants for the coveted exhibition stands were rejected. In 2012 she received competition from an art fair organized by London's Frieze Art Fair on Randalls Island on the East River .

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