No isms.

“No formal press reviews

“No cocktail parties

“No special invitations

“No advertising

“No institution

“No isms

“No theories

“No game being played

“Nothing being asked of anyone who comes

“No anything on the walls except what you see there

“The doors of An American Place are ever open to all."

Alfred Stieglitz raised his statement of principles in 1929 when he opened one of his several galleries, An American Place [1]. It wasn’t all true — there was theory, there was a bit of advertising, and something was asked of everyone who went — but it’s not a bad list of ideals. We take a historical view of American Art, one that embraces the contributions from Thomas Cole (b. 1801, England - 1848) to Mark di Suvero (b. 1933, Shanghai, China), but also David Drake (c. 1801–c. 1870s) and Julie Mehretu (b. 1970, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) [2]. A historical view doesn’t mean honoring only the names already on burnished plaques, but rather to see the long thread that connects to our past. It’s not always “pretty,” but then, neither is great art. Maybe we’ll add that ironic observation to the list. But if there’s an antidote to the ugliness of history, it’s to be found in that last declaration on Stieglitz’s list: The doors are open to all. This is our commitment to a more inclusive interpretation of the past of American art and to insist on a more inclusive future. It is also our moment, declining two of Stieglitz’s principles, to ask something of you: participate. You are an artist, a connoisseur, a collector, a historian: if you are reading this, the special invitation is for you.

Jonathan Miller Spies studied philosophy and art history at NYU. He joined the staff of Zabriskie Gallery rose rapidly through its ranks. He studied painting at the Art Students League of New York from 2010 to 2013, and directed Menconi + Schoelkopf Fine Art from 2012 to 2020. He has written and spoken extensively on American Art, focusing on American Modernism between the World Wars. He founded Jonathan Miller Spies Fine Art, LLC, in 2021 to help museum curators, private collectors, artists, and their estates, shape their fine art collections. In 2022, he joined the Board of Control of the Art Students League of New York.

[1] As quoted by Dorothy Norman, Alfred Stieglitz: An American Seer (Aperture, 1973), p. 205.

[2] For more on David Drake, see Karl Kusserow, “BAM/BLM: Black Arts, Black Lives,” Finestra sull’Arte.