Soho20 Chelsea

SOHO20 Gallery was founded in 1973 by a group of women artists intent on achieving professional excellence in an industry where there was a gross lack of opportunities for women to succeed. SOHO20 was one of the first galleries in Manhattan to showcase the work of an all-woman membership and most of the members joined the organization as emerging artists. These artists were provided with exhibition opportunities that they could not find elsewhere. As a result of their involvement with the gallery, they were recognized more widely. The achievements of many SOHO20 artists have been reported in many notable publications.

SOHO20 was founded by two artists, Joan Glueckman and Mary Ann Gillies, who modeled SOHO20 after A.I.R. Gallery (est. 1972), the first all-women cooperative art gallery in New York City. While attending a meeting of Women Artists in Revolution (WAR) in late 1972, Glueckman and Gillies met Agnes Denes, who told them about A.I.R. Gallery and encouraged them to establish another all-women cooperative exhibition venue, citing "much need for women's galleries." Marilyn Raymond, a businesswoman and friend of Glueckman's, handled the business matters while Glueckman and Gillies looked for artists to join the gallery. A cooperative structure was chosen for financial reasons. The name of the gallery was derived from its location at 99 Spring Street in the Manhattan neighborhood of Soho (formatted entirely in uppercase as SOHO) and an anticipated 20 artist-members.

According to the original press release, "In keeping with the feminist ideal of women defining themselves, the criterion for membership is professional excellence without restriction of style, medium, or theme." From the outset, the artist-members reflected a diversity of styles, subjects, and mediums. In addition to Glueckman and Gillies, the original members were Elena Borstein, Barbara Coleman, Maureen Connor, Eunice Golden, Marge Helenchild, Cynthia Mailman, Marion Ranyak, Rachel Rolon de Clet, Halina Rusak, Lucy Sallick, Morgan Sanders, Rosalind Shaffer, Sylvia Sleigh, Eileen Spikol, May Stevens, Suzanne Weisberg, and Sharon Wybrants. In order to give every member an opportunity to exhibit, the gallery initially held two concurrent solo shows at a time. The premiere exhibitions in October 1973 featured works by Sylvia Sleigh, who exhibited The Turkish Bath (1973) and several other paintings, and Maureen Connor, who showed a group of giant "breathing flowers" that alternately inflated and deflated. After the 1973–74 exhibition season, Sleigh, Helenchild, Stevens, and Weisberg left the gallery. Shirley Gorelick, Kate Resek, and Susan Hoeltzel became members in 1974; Vernita Nemec, C. R. Peck, Diane Churchill, and Noreen Bumby joined SOHO20 in 1975, following the departures of several other artists.

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