Portrait of the Art Dealer as a Young Man – New York in the Sixties
“A wild ride through the 1960s New York scene. The seasoned art dealer Michael Findlay’s brash and irreverent memoir of his life as an upstart in New York City during the swinging 1960s is a kind of Barry Lyndon tale, rich in anecdotes about the early and innocent days of SoHo as a budding art district.”
— The Art Newspaper
One of today’s most respected art dealers, Michael Findlay launched his career surrounded by exciting figures of the late twentieth-century art scene. His generously illustrated memoir traces his childhood in Scotland to his arrival in New York, where he directed one of the first art galleries in SoHo, exposing American audiences to the likes of Joseph Beuys and Sean Scully. Findlay launched the first solo exhibitions of John Baldessari, Hannah Wilke, Stephen Mueller and Billy Sullivan. He offers fascinating recollections about his relationships with painters and sculptors, art dealers and art collectors, actors, models and the creative talents at the heart of New York’s Downtown scene. Making appearances in Findlay’s stellar cast of characters are Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Bridget Riley, James Rosenquist, Robert Rauschenberg, Ray Johnson, Gerald Laing, Joseph Cornell, model Naomi Sims, and poets Allen Ginsberg and Gerard Malanga. He vividly depicts the comings and goings at The Chelsea Hotel, St. Mark’s Place, Studio 54 and Max’s Kansas City. He describes in candid detail the wild parties and freewheeling lifestyle of that swinging era. Anyone interested in twentieth-century cultural history, the post-World War II art market, or sixties and seventies New York will be gripped and entertained by Findlay’s evocatively recounted journey.
“An account that is in parts journalistic, an eyewitness testimony, reminiscenes, as well as a personal chronicle with commentary… Findlay is a fine storyteller— he provides vivid descriptions of the New York art scene. ”
— TUSSLE Magazine
“The Sixties art scene conjured up by Findlay in his memoir is maverick, experimental and far less bothered about the bottom line.”
— The Times
“Findlay’s evocatively recounted journey offers a new perspective on twentieth-century cultural history and a gripping tale for anyone interested in the post-World War II art market, and sixties and seventies New York.”
— FAD Magazine
“Pleasingly designed… a funny, generous, irreverent, and informative book. Findlay’s tell-all approach, naming names, as well as prices and process, real estate maneuvers and relationship maneuvers, make for a fascinating, revealing, and sometimes tawdry picture that successfully removes the mystic of how value is manufactured in the art world.”
— Art & Object