Louis Newman (art dealer)

Louis Newman (born June 21, 1947) is an American art dealer, former gallerist, and Director of Modernism at LewAllen Galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He initially anchored his reputation in the art world as owner and director of the Louis Newman Galleries in Beverly Hills, California, where he often showed works by emerging artists side-by-side with artworks by major contemporary and historic figures. As Director of Modernism at LewAllen Galleries, Newman currently works with the estates of American modern artists, including Esphyr Slobodkina, Ethel Fisher, Bernard Chaet, Gene Kloss, Fritz Scholder, and Nathan Oliveira as well as maintaining an interest in Pablo Picasso's works on paper.
==Early Life and Education==
Newman was born Louis Slutzky to parents Emanuel and Bertie Slutzky in Chicago, Illinois on June 21, 1947. His father owned a mechanical fastener company. Success in the business provided Bertie with the means to acquire an extensive and impressive collection of art and antiques. Bertie Slutzky was a homemaker as well as a painter who regularly studied under the guidance of Chicago artist, Constantine Pougialis. An elegant woman with refined tastes, she would take her young son on regular weekend visits to the Art Institute of Chicago. There, he was inspired by the museum’s collections of French Impressionism, European Modernism, and American Regionalism. Early on, Bertie provided Newman with personal art lessons – emphasizing and clarifying the art and color theories of the noted artist and nationally renowned art instructor Hans Hofmann – the man who had, in turn, so strongly influenced Pougialis.
Newman studied architecture, environmental design, and sociology at Arizona State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1970. He received a master’s degree in urban and regional design from the University of Southern California in 1972.
==Louis Newman Galleries: Los Angeles & Beverly Hills, California==
Inspired by renowned arts advisor, author, and personal mentor, Calvin Goodman, Newman started working as a one-artist dealer, representing the work of John August Swanson, who the young art dealer discovered while the artist was selling his art works at Los Angeles street-fairs. At the time, Swanson was a struggling printmaker who created original and very complex hand-pulled serigraphs, and Newman was working out of his living room until he could afford to open a brick-and-mortar gallery of his own.
“Those were tough years,” Newman said. “I remember going to Calvin early on and telling him that I didn’t think I was cut out for this – to which he responded by essentially calling me a coward. In truth, he was challenging me.” Goodman told the young dealer to set a goal of making $30,000 for his first year, which he did. “Proud of my accomplishments, at year’s end, I rapped on Calvin’s door and told him that I had met his goal – almost to the penny, to which he responded, ‘Wonderful, now you are going to double that amount next year.’”Newman, Louis. Unpublished interview with Michael Abatemarco. January 15, 2024.
Early on, Newman understood the importance of promotion. Inspired by Swanson’s latest work – a complex serigraph entitled, The Carousel – Newman rented, for an evening, the popular Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round from the City of Los Angeles for a champagne reception and a formal unveiling of the work. The publicity was immediate.
By the mid-1970s, Newman had acquired an upstairs office space on La Cienega Boulevard in the section known as “Gallery Row.” Business quickly grew and while Newman expanded his roster to include numerous Los Angeles based artists, he remained loyal to Swanson – placing his works in major collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Germany’s Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. 
In 1976, Newman moved into his first public gallery space, located in downtown Los Angeles’ newly opened futuristic-looking Hotel Bonaventure. With over 1200 rooms, it was the most expensive hotel built in America at the time. The popularity of the hotel ensured foot traffic into the gallery from out-of-town travelers as well from local visitors. As business increased, clients now included major collectors, such as Otis Chandler (Times Mirror Company) and Franklin D. Murphy (the UCLA Sculpture Gardens are named in his honor).
In 1980, Newman expanded his operations to a second location at 322 North Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills. There, his client base expanded to include Hollywood personalities. The new gallery’s first visitor was Fred Astaire. Other celebrity clients followed, including Gene Kelly, Johnny Carson, Christopher Walken, Mary Tyler Moore, Gene Hackman, Rob Reiner, and Eve Arden. Opera singers Jessye Norman and Renée Fleming would visit and become clients, as would legendary art collectors including Marcia Weisman and Anna Bing Arnold. Giving up the downtown space and focusing on his Westside gallery location, Newman created a forum for the arts by regularly including art talks and musicales.
Newman expanded his roster of artists to include such nationally important painters as Esteban Vicente, Enrico Donati, Matsumi Kanemitsu, and Paul Cadmus; sculptors Richard Hunt, Dmitri Hadzi, William Zorach, and David Aronson – as well as printmaker Peter Milton. The gallery mounted exhibitions of the works of such noteworthy American artists as Edward Hopper, Thomas Hart Benton, Reginald Marsh (artist)|Reginald Marsh, Theodoros Stamos, and Lowell Blair Nesbitt|Lowell Nesbitt, as well as international artists such as Picasso and Auguste Rodin. Critically acclaimed curated shows included Pascin and Friends: Art of the Montparnasse, The works of Arshile Gorky, and Elie Nadelman: Selected Works.
During this time Newman became a board member of the Art Dealers Association of California and headed its lecture series where he selected and acted as host to an array of speakers – a few of whom were art critic Hilton Kramer, Milton Esterow (Art News), National Gallery of Art Director Rusty Powell, and the pioneering art collector Giuseppe Panza.
==Horwitch-Newman Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona==
In 1992, Newman lost his gallery lease in Beverly Hills. Almost immediately, he was approached by the family of famed art dealer Elaine Horwitch to run their eponymous gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona. Initially, Newman declined, but after being approached several times, he finally accepted the offer, and the gallery was renamed Horwitch-Newman Gallery.
==David Findlay Jr. Gallery, New York, New York==
In 2001, Newman accepted a position as Director of the David Findlay Jr. Gallery, then located in New York City’s legendary art gallery venue, the Fuller Building. Findlay Galleries was established in 1870, and over the years had specialized in 19th and early 20th century art. The gallery’s owner, David Findlay Jr., had been a founding member of the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA). Under Newman’s leadership, the gallery’s focus expanded to include American Modernism, second generation Abstract Expressionism, and contemporary art. Also under Newman, the gallery was relocated to an entire floor at 724 Fifth Avenue. (The space had previously been occupied by the DC Moore Gallery and, before that, by Grace Borgenicht Gallery.)Newman held the post until David Findlay’s death in 2015.
==LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe New Mexico==
Subsequently, Newman was approached by the LewAllen Galleries in Santa Fe, NM, to head their Modernism department. The gallery, located in the city’s Railyard Arts District, has been owned by Kenneth Marvel and Robert Gardner since 2003. 
To the Santa Fe gallery, Newman brought experience as a longtime art dealer and gallerist on both coasts. He had also been a board member of the Fine Arts Federation of the City of New York, which operated under the auspices of the New York City Art Commission (now known as the NYC Public Design Commission). Newman is also a member of the prestigious, invitation-only arts club, The Century Association.
In 2023, Newman moved back to New York and continues his work as Director of Modernism for LewAllen Galleries.
==Personal Life==
In 2015, Newman married his longtime partner, urban and architectural historian Justin Ferate.
==Organizations==
* The Century Association, New York, NY: 2007 - Present
* American Alliance of Museums, Washington, DC: 2011-Present
* American Federation of Arts, New York, NY: 2015
* The New York Landmarks Conservancy, New York, NY: 1996-Present
* Fine Arts Federation of the City of New York, New York, NY: Board Member and Advisory Committee, 2000-2009
* Historic Districts Council, New York, NY: 2000-Present
* Encompass New Opera Theatre, New York, NY: Board Member and Advisory Committee, 2001-2009
* Center for Contemporary Opera, New York, NY: Board Member, 1997-2002
* Art Dealers Association of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA: Board Member & Chairman of the Lecture Series (1975-1994)
* The Music Guild, Los Angeles, CA: Board Member, 1986-1993
==Speaking Engagements==
* "Louis and Calvin" – Interview with Careers in Art Consultant, Calvin Goodman by Louis Newman, 2009
* “Turnaround is Fair Play” – Louis Newman Interviews Molly Barnes, 2006 
* “A Conversation with Louis Newman” – Molly Barnes Brown Bag Lunch Art Talks, 2002
* “Art Dealers: How They Choose Artists” – Artists Talk on Art Panel Series, 2001
* “Seven Things Never to Say to an Art Dealer” – Pratt Institute, 2001
* “Artists Talk on Art” – Molly Barnes Lecture Series, 1999
== Bibliography/Publications ==
* Brian Sanford: “Picasso at LewAllen Galleries” (Interview), Pasatiempo, Santa Fe New Mexican, April 7, 2023
* Dave Eisenstadter: “John Grillo,” Daily Hampshire Gazette. December 2014
* Daniel Grant: “Bidding Up: Escalating Prices are Putting Pressure on Dealers to Double Down on Their Own Artists,” New York Observer, October 13, 2014
* Daniel Grant: “How to Haggle for Art,” The Wall Street Journal, September 18, 2013
* John A. Parks: “Inside the Mind of an Art Dealer,” American Artist, February 2011
* V.L. Hendrickson: “East Side Migration Patterns,” City Arts, February 2011
* John A. Parks: “11 Artists to Watch – Peter Brooke,” American Artist, January 2011
* Louis Newman (Essay for Exhibition Brochure): “Alcopley: A Survey,” 2009
* Louis Newman (Essay for Exhibition Brochure): “John Opper: The Late Paintings,” 2009
* Daniel Grant: “The Disappearing Catalog Essay,” American Artist, April 2009
* Louis Newman (Essay for Exhibition Brochure): Houghton Cranford Smith, 2009
* Louis Newman (Essay for Exhibition Brochure): Robert Beauchamp: A Survey, 2009
* Louis Newman interviews with Molly Barnes and Will Barnet, 2005-2006. Archives of American Art
* Nell Gluckman: “Even in the Slow Season, Galleries Sell Their Wares,” The New York Sun, August 2008
* Joseph Jacobs: “Indian Space Painters,” Art & Antiques, February 2007
* Louis Newman: Cross Currents: Milton Avery, Karl Knaths, Herman Maril. (Author:
* Introductory Essay for Brochure), David Findlay Jr Fine Art, 2007
* Calvin Goodman: “Nine Artists from the 9th Street Show,” Antiques and the Arts Weekly, July 2006
* Louis Newman: “Robert Richenburg: The Richard Zahn Collection” (Author: Introductory 
* Essay for Brochure), The National Arts Education Foundation, 2006 
* Louis Newman: Nine Artists from the 9th Street Show. (Author: Introductory Essay for Brochure), David Findlay Jr Fine Art, 2006
* Robert Metzger: “Louis Newman: Bringing Artists to Light,” Antiques and The Arts Weekly, April 2006
* Who’s Who in American Art, 1976-2015
* Jo Yanow-Schwartz: “Is It Fine or Decorative Art,” Art World News, October 2003
* Calvin Goodman: Art Marketing Handbook, 2003, 1990
* Jo Yanow-Schwartz: “Taking on a New Artist,” Art World News, 2002
* “Louis Newman Named Director of David Findlay Jr,” Antiques and the Arts Weekly, April 2001
* Gary Rausch: “Ex-Director’s passion for art will be missed,” Scottsdale Progress, December 1996
* Danny Medina: “Danny’s Column,” Scottsdale Progress, December 1996
* Deborah Gimelson: “Rediscovering the Merits of Representational Work,” Art Notebook: Contemporary Realist Drawings, 1995
* Richard Solomon: “Hortus Poeticus 90210” Inland Architect, May 1993
* Lincoln Kirstein: Paul Cadmus, 1992
* Nancy Kapitanoff: “Retrospective Hand-Picks Positive Images of Women in Art,” LA Times, July 19, 1992
* Louis Newman: “Reginald Marsh: Selected Works on Paper” (Exhibition Brochure), 1990
* Louis Newman: “Thomas Hart Benton: Paintings and Drawings” (Exhibition Brochure), 1990
* Les Krantz: The California Art Review, 1989
* Kurt Schwitters: Collages and Other Works on Paper, 1988
* Elie Nadelman: Selected Drawings, 1987
* Les Krantz: American Art Galleries, 1985
* Louis Newman (Exhibition Brochure): “Edward Hopper: Selected Drawings,” 1985
* “The Art Scene,” Los Angeles Magazine, April 1985
* Gerald Brommer & Joseph Catto: Careers in Art, 1984
==Exhibition Juror==
* Bryant Park Painter in Residence Program, New York, NY: Selection Committee, 2015, 2014
* 23rd Annual National Small Works Exhibit, Tri County Arts Council, Cobleskill, NY, June 2005
* Fifth Biennial Exhibition of “New England New Talent,” Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA, January 2000
Category:1947 births
Category:American art dealers
Category:American people
Category:People from Chicago