The Boris Mirski Gallery (1944-1979) was a Boston art gallery owned by Boris Chaim Mirski (1898-1974). The gallery was known for exhibiting key figures in

Boston Expressionism Boston Expressionism is an arts movement marked by emotional directness, dark humor, social and spiritual themes, and a tendency toward figuration strong enough that Boston Figurative Expressionism is sometimes used as an alternate term to distingu ...

, New York and

international International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...

art styles and non-western art. For years, the gallery dominated with both figurative and African work. As an art dealer, Mirski was known for supporting young, emerging artists, including many Jewish-Americans, as well as artists of color, women artists and immigrants. As a result of Mirski's avant-garde approach to art and diversified approach to dealing art, the gallery was at the center of Boston's burgeoning modern mid-century art scene, as well as instrumental in the birth and development of

, the most significant branch of American Figurative Expressionism.

Organization

Founder

Born to a well-to-do Jewish lumber dealer in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, Lithuania, Mirski was raised amid "pomp ... pogroms and persecution". He immigrated to the U.S. in 1912 at age 14, settling with a maternal aunt. His first job involved "lugging room molding on his shoulders", and linked both his father's field, and a key future source of his earnings as a framer. In between, Mirski studied sculpture, and found employment on a merchant vessel that allowed him to travel the world. ''Art New England'' writer Lois Tarlow called Mirski "a colorful figure who played an important and daring role in bringing young avant-garde artists to the Boston public, howas also a disarming and lovable rogue". Painter Ralph Coburn, who assisted gallery director Hyman Swetzoff at Mirski's Gallery, describes "elements of slapstick comedy, working for Mirski.... He was short, rotund, balding, immensely powerful, strong. He was physically strong. He could lift all kinds of stuff. He was ambitious. He was immensely charming. He was a scoundrel. I loved working for him." ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' posthumously assessed Mirski in more dignified fashion, calling him "a figure of pivotal significant in Boston art for more than half-a-century". In the ''Globe'' obituary, they also traced his first Boston gallery back to 1916, counted another three galleries, and several locales until they reached his second to last, on Charles Street, where the art part was subsidized by a frame shop, a posh clientele and his growing appeal to local artists. In 1935, Mirski moved the gallery to upscale Newbury Street where it would remain for the next four decades. In 1945, he moved into the red brick mansion at 166 Newbury Street, the historic heart of Boston's art scene, and right next door to the "stuffy" Guild of Boston Artists and only steps away from the Boston Museum of Modern Art, a sister museum to the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

(MOMA) that evolved into the

Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is an art museum and exhibition space located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America. The museum was founded as the Boston Museum of Modern Art in 1936. Since then it has gone through multiple na ...

(ICA) in 1948. Here, he opened a larger gallery, a frame shop and a school in the building he bought in 1945, at the depressed wartime price of $500. In the 1950s, 101 Bradford Street in Provincetown, Massachusetts also served as the Mirski Gallery's summertime residence. In 1979, the Boris Mirski Gallery on 166 Newbury Street Gallery finally closed. Mirski, himself, had died five years earlier, in 1974, in Tel Aviv, Israel.

National attention

In the fall of 1946, the Mirski Gallery's first exhibition debuted with 53 paintings by the Guatemalan "Indian" cubist

Carlos Mérida Carlos Mérida (December 2, 1891 – December 21, 1985) was a Guatemalan artist who was one of the first to fuse European modern painting to Latin American themes, especially those related to Guatemala and Mexico. He was part of the Mexican mura ...

. ''The Boston Globe'' highlighted critic A.J. Philpott's confusion in the review's headline: "Merida Moderns May Be Childish or Wonderful — Philpott Baffled". A week later, ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine commented that some critics already considered Mérida's work worthy of expanding "The Big Three of Latin American art" (

Rivera Rivera () is the capital of Rivera Department of Uruguay. The border with Brazil joins it with the Brazilian city of Santana do Livramento, which is only a street away from it, at the north end of Route 5. Together, they form an urban area of aro ...

, Orozco,

Siqueiros Siqueiros is a Spanish surname Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other ...

)' to four. In 1949, Mirski, who did not then represent

Hyman Bloom Hyman Bloom (March 29, 1913 – August 26, 2009) was a Latvian-born American painter. His work was influenced by his Jewish heritage and Eastern religions as well as by artists including Altdorfer, Grünewald, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Blake, Bre ...

(1913-2009), borrowed work from the Museum of Modern Art, Harvard and Durlacher Gallery in New York, and organized a Bloom retrospective at the Mirski Gallery. The show was meant to build on Bloom's 1942 group show success at MOMA, which had hung 13 of his paintings and purchased two of them. Soon after, the career-making critic

Clement Greenberg Clement Greenberg () (January 16, 1909 – May 7, 1994), occasionally writing under the pseudonym K. Hardesh, was an American essayist known mainly as an art critic closely associated with American modern art of the mid-20th century and a formali ...

referred to Bloom as "the greatest artist in America". As former Danforth Museum of Art Director Katherine French described it, "There was a period of about six months when Hyman Bloom was the most important painter in the world, and probably a period of about five years when he was the most important painter in America." Mirski's show garnered praise from ''Time'' magazine, which commented that the show's most newsworthy paintings "seemed to come straight from charnel house and morgue". They also praised Mirski as "an old hand at presenting local artists to Boston society". In critic Sydney Freedberg'''s Art News'' review, he called Bloom, "a painter of the first importance within his generation". Abstract expressionist stars

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a hor ...

and

Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning (; ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. He was born in Rotterdam and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming an American citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married painter El ...

, meanwhile, called him "the first abstract expressionist in America".

Boston school of expressionist art

After establishing the gallery on the main floor of his new building, Mirski subsidized it with a frame shop in the basement. "He was juggling everything, the frame shop, the mortgages", painter Ralph Coburn (born 1923) said. "He kept refinancing the building, which he bought for a song, but sometimes business was bad and the thing that held the gallery together was the frame shop, and so he managed." In 1982, Alan Fink, then owner of the Alpha Gallery, explained to ''The Boston Globe'' that few galleries survive on selling contemporary work, citing the costs of publicity and the opening night reception as a few of the many expenditures gallerists face. Mirski handled some of these expenditures by diversifying his sources of income and by enlisting artists to help with the publicity. Mirski artist

Leonard Baskin Leonard Baskin (August 15, 1922 – June 3, 2000) was an American sculptor, draughtsman and graphic artist, as well as founder of the Gehenna Press (1942–2000). One of America's first fine arts presses, it went on to become "one of the most imp ...

(1922-2000), for example, engraved Mirski's gallery mark for him in 1956. Baskin also created many of his own exhibition

posters A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text ...

, which he later collected in a book. In addition, Mirski created "a school ... on the third floor where he had some of his people teaching there — John oodrowWilson (1922–2015),

Esther Geller Esther Geller (October 26, 1921 – October 22, 2015) was an American painter mainly associated with the abstract expressionist movement in Boston in the 1940s and 1950s. She was one of the foremost authorities on encaustic painting techniques ...

(1921-2015)". Later, Carl Nelson who had studied at the Art Students League of New York, and who later became a "piller of the Cambridge Art Association", joined the staff. He was " man of an enormous ... influence, ehad a different method of teaching from the Museum School.... He was able to visualize the whole painting." The gallery was used for exhibitions and art-related lectures, including, for example, a series on Mérida that coincided with the gallery's first show. According to painter Ralph Coburn, Mirski was also known for giving "wonderful parties" ... ere was a large mailing list.... that perhaps Hyman Swetzoff had brought over from the Institute of Modern Art, and it consisted of all kinds of museum directors and collectors especially in Boston." Mirski's gallery also served as home base for local art activism. In the late 1940s, many artists, including Karl Zerbe (1903-1972) and Hyman Bloom began meeting to address fears that the recently renamed ICA was, like the Museum of Fine Arts, shutting out local artists. The meetings inspired the formation of the New England Chapter of Artists Equity and the

Boston Arts Festival The contemporary Boston Arts Festival is an annual event showcasing Boston's visual and performing arts community and promoting Boston's Open Studios program. The weekend-long Festival at Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park features a wide variet ...

, with the former advocating for artists' rights and representation, and the latter providing a democratic fine arts forum in the middle of Boston's Public Garden. The result was a "sea change" described by art historian Charles Giuliano in the late 1940s, altering Boston's notoriously conservative art scene, which had long been dominated by genteel Impressionist painters of the historic Boston School, with few local collectors or galleries interested in collecting or exhibiting modern art:

The faculty and focus of the
School of the Museum of Fine Arts The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is the art school of Tufts University, a private research university in Boston, Massachus ...
changed from polite and innocuous, ersatz American Impressionism to gritty and graphic
Boston Expressionism Boston Expressionism is an arts movement marked by emotional directness, dark humor, social and spiritual themes, and a tendency toward figuration strong enough that Boston Figurative Expressionism is sometimes used as an alternate term to distingu ...
. The old guard and its socially acceptable artists showed with the
Copley Society of Art The Copley Society of art is America's oldest non-profit art association. It was founded in 1879 by the first graduating class of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and continues to play an important role in promoting its member artists and th ...
or the Guild of Boston Artists. The young Turks, Jews, and immigrants or their sons—like the Lebanese-American Gibran—showed with gallerist Boris Mirski or his former assistants Hyman Swetzoff and Alan Fink of Alpha Gallery.

The gallery also hosted exchange shows with

Edith Halpert Edith Halpert or Edith Gregor Halpert (née Edith Gregoryevna Fivoosiovitch; 1900–1970) was a pioneering New York City dealer of American modern art and American folk art. She brought recognition and market success to many avant-garde American ...

's Downtown Gallery in New York, serving as an important venue for the broader Northeast, as well as for local artists who were Jewish or foreign-born like

, Giglio Dante (1914-2006) and

Kahlil Gibran Gibran Khalil Gibran ( ar, جُبْرَان خَلِيل جُبْرَان, , , or , ; January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931), usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran (pronounced ), was a Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist ...

(1883-1931), Black like

John Woodrow Wilson John Woodrow Wilson (1922–2015) was an American lithographer, sculptor, painter, muralist, and art teacher whose art was driven by the political climate of his time. Wilson was best known for his works portraying themes of social justice and ...

or female like

Marianna Pineda Marianna Pineda (née Marianna Packard; 1925–1996) was an American sculptor, who worked in a stylized realist tradition. The female figure was typically her subject matter, often in a striking or expressive pose. Major work included an eight ...

(1925-1996) and

Joyce Reopel Joyce Reopel (1933–2019) was an American painter, draughtswoman and sculptor who worked in pencil, aquatint, silver- and goldpoint, and an array of old master media. A Boris Mirski Gallery veteran, from 1959–1966, she was known for her refin ...

(1932-2019). Alan Fink (1926-2017), who managed the gallery in the 1950s and early 60s, later recalled:

The Mirski Gallery was very conservative by today's standards, but in the '50s it was considered daring. We got protests for showing artists who are now famous and not considered controversial in the least, artists like Hans Hoffmann and
Leonard Baskin Leonard Baskin (August 15, 1922 – June 3, 2000) was an American sculptor, draughtsman and graphic artist, as well as founder of the Gehenna Press (1942–2000). One of America's first fine arts presses, it went on to become "one of the most imp ...
. And the Boston police once took a picture of a nude out of our window... Mirski and a couple of other galleries were the only ones selling modern art in Boston at the time.

Artists

Mirski cultivated his artists by providing direct support in much the same way he cultivated his businesses. In the case of Bernard Chaet, that included funding his first art tour of Europe, mounting his first show in 1946, and recommending him for his first teaching job at Yale. But Mirski's combination support for paid work, exhibitions and study appealed to experienced artists too. Two of the most influential were successive directors of the Department of Drawing and Painting at the

School of the Museum of Fine Arts The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is the art school of Tufts University, a private research university in Boston, Massachus ...

, Boston: Alexander Jacovleff (1887-1938)

Karl Zerbe Karl Zerbe (September 16, 1903 – November 24, 1972) was a German-born American painter and educator. Biography Karl Zerbe was born on September 16, 1903 in Berlin, Germany. The family lived in Paris, France from 1904–1914, where his fat ...

(1903-1972) who served for three years each, starting with Jacovleff in 1934 and ending with Zerbe in 1940. The latter's emphasis on individualism helped attract artists like

David Aronson David Aronson (October 28, 1923 – July 2, 2015) was a painter and Professor of Art at Boston University. Biography Aronson was born in Šiluva, Lithuania in 1923. He taught at Boston University from 1955 to his death in 2015, where he forme ...

(1923-2015),

Bernard Chaet Bernard Chaet (born 1924, Boston, MA - died 2012) was an American artist; Chaet is known for his colorful, dynamic modernist paintings and masterful draftsmanship, his association with the Boston Expressionists, and his 40-year career as a Profess ...

(1924-2012), Reed Kay, Arthur Polonsky, Jack Kramer (1923-1984),

Barbara Swan Barbara Swan (1922–2003), also known by her married name, Barbara Swan Fink, was an American painter, illustrator, and lithographer. Her early work is associated with the Boston Expressionist school; later she became known for her still-lif ...

(1922-2003), Andrew Kooistra (1926-), and Lois Tarlow. ''Boston Globe'' critic Robert Taylor contrasted Mirski's aesthetic with that of two other important Boston gallerists, Margaret Brown and Hyman Swetzoff. Mirski, he said, introduced an "urban, Jewish, introverted and lyrical" visual sensibility to Boston. In Mirski's obituary, he extrapolated, describing Mirski's Boston school of artists as "ethnic, urban and strident.... It had a sardonic eye. In style the images were figurative, and Rembrandt's lighting, Rembrandt's Biblical drama enthralled the Boston artists, though they were also open to

German Expressionism German Expressionism () consisted of several related creative movements in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central ...

and some aspects of

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculptur ...

and Rouault."

By name

(Key figures are listed below, but the list is not comprehensive.) *

Jason Berger Jason Berger (January 22, 1924 – October 17, 2010) was a Boston landscape painter, connected to Boston Expressionismbr> He painted from nature, ''en plein air'', and used favorite motifs in abstract paintings, referred to as "studio paintings". ...

William Brice William Arnstein, professionally William Brice (April 23, 1921 – March 3, 2008) was an American artist known for his large-scale abstract paintings. Biography Born to actress Fanny Brice and her second husband, professional gambler Juliu ...

Ralston Crawford Ralston Crawford (1906–1978) was an American abstract painter, lithographer, and photographer. Early life He was born on September 5, 1906, in St. Catharines, Ontario, and spent his childhood in Buffalo, New York. He studied art beginning in ...

* Hans Hofmann *

Ellsworth Kelly Ellsworth Kelly (May 31, 1923 – December 27, 2015) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker associated with hard-edge painting, Color Field painting and minimalism. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing line, c ...

* Lawrence Kupferman *

Rico Lebrun Rico (Federico) Lebrun (Naples, December 10, 1900 – Malibu, May 9, 1964) was an Italian-American painter and sculptor. Early life Lebrun was born in 1900 in Naples, Italy. He initially studied banking and journalism before taking art classes ...

Jack Levine Jack Levine (January 3, 1915November 8, 2010) was an American Social Realist painter and printmaker best known for his satires on modern life, political corruption, and biblical narratives. Levine is considered one of the key artists of the Bos ...

Michael Mazur Michael Burton Mazur (1935 – August 18, 2009) was an American artist who was described by William Grimes (journalist), William Grimes of ''The New York Times'' as "a restlessly inventive printmaker, painter, and sculptor." Born and raised in Ne ...

George Lovett Kingsland Morris George Lovett Kingsland Morris (November 14, 1905 – June 26, 1975) was an American artist, writer, and editor who advocated for an "American abstract art" during the 1930s and 1940s, and is best known for his Cubist sculptures and paintings. ...

* Carl Gustaf Nelson *

Georgia O'Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American modernist artist. She was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe has been called the "Mother of Ame ...

* Arthur Polonsky *

Ben Shahn Ben Shahn (September 12, 1898 – March 14, 1969) was an American artist. He is best known for his works of social realism, his left-wing political views, and his series of lectures published as ''The Shape of Content''. Biography Shahn was bor ...

* Mitchell Siporin *

William Steig William Steig (November 14, 1907 – October 3, 2003) was an American cartoonist, illustrator and writer of children's books, best known for the picture book '' Shrek!'', which inspired the film series of the same name, as well as others that i ...

Harold Tovish Harold Tovish (July 31, 1921 – January 4, 2008) was an American sculptor who worked in bronze, wood, and synthetic media. He was famous for exacting standards, and even refused to complete many of the sculptures he began. Tovish focused o ...

Mel Zabarsky Melvin Joel Zabarsky (1932–2019) was an American figurative painter who created representational work in the narrative tradition. Known for a bright, bold palette, his work often explores political, historical and cultural themes to surreal a ...

By representative work

(Selection was limited by availability.) File:Leonard Baskin Isak 01.JPG,

(1922–2000) ''Isak'', bronze, 1972, Marabouparken, Sundbyberg, Sweden. File:Stuart Davis detail study for Cliche.jpg, Stuart Davis (1892–1964) U.S. postage stamp, featuring a detailed study of Cliché, 1964. File:Uprights, Mars Violet and Blue by Arthur Garfield Dove.jpg, Arthur Garfield Dove (1880–1946) ''Uprights, Mars Violet and Blue'', 1940. File:Obra sin título por Gibran Khalil Gibran.jpg,

Khalil Gibran Gibran Khalil Gibran ( ar, جُبْرَان خَلِيل جُبْرَان, , , or , ; January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931), usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran (pronounced ), was a Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist ...

(1883–1931) ''Obra sin título''. Oil on canvas, n.d. File:"One Third of a Nation" MET DT2949.jpg, Osvaldo Louis Guglielmi (1906–1956) ''One Third of a Nation, 1939''. File:Colors for a Large Wall (Ellsworth Kelly, 1951).jpg,

(1923–2015) ''Colors for a Large Wall'', 1951. File:Yasuo Kuniyoshi - Strong Woman and Child - Smithsonian.jpg,

Yasuo Kuniyoshi was a Japanese-American painter, photographer and printmaker. Biography Kuniyoshi was born on September 1, 1889 in Okayama, Japan. He immigrated to the United States in 1906, choosing not to attend military school in Japan. Kuniyoshi original ...

(1889–1953) ''Strong Woman and Child'', 1925. File:Jacob Lawrence-During World War I.gif,

Jacob Lawrence Jacob Armstead Lawrence (September 7, 1917 – June 9, 2000) was an American painter known for his portrayal of African-American historical subjects and contemporary life. Lawrence referred to his style as "dynamic cubism", although by his own ...

(1917-2000) "During World War I there was a great migration north by southern Negroes." Panel 1 from ''Migration of the Negro'', 1940. File:Rico Lebrun's Genesis at Pomona College.jpg,

(1900–1964) '' Genesis at Pomona College'', 1960. File:Marin Sunset 1922.jpg, John Marin (1870-1953), ''Sunset'', 1922. File:MuralMeridaCorzo01.JPG,

(1891–1985) ''Center part of the mural at the Municipal Palace of Chiapa de Corzo'', Chiapas, Mexico. File:Brooklyn Museum - Blue 1 - Georgia O'Keeffe.jpg,

, ''Blue 1'', watercolor and graphite on

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distrib ...

, c. 1916. File:Queen Lili’uokalani Statue (2857823595).jpg,

(1925–1996) A bronze statue of Hawai'i's Queen Lili'uokalani, 1980, on the State Capitol, south. File:Sacco&Vanzetti3.jpg,

(1898–1969) ''The Passion of Sacco & Vanzetti''. Oil on canvas, 1931-32. File:Charles Sheeler - Kitchen, Williamsburg.jpg, Charles Sheeler (1883–1965) ''Kitchen, Williamsburg''. 1937. Oil on hardboard panel. File:Illinois (United States Series) Siporin.jpg, Mitchell Siporin (1910–1976) ''Illinois: United States Series'', 1947. File:Sitting Eve by Elbert Weinberg.jpg,

Elbert Weinberg Elbert Weinberg (May 27, 1928 – December 27, 1991) was an American sculptor. He was born in Hartford, Connecticut. Displaying an early interest in art, he enrolled at the Hartford Art School at night while attending Hartford, Connecticut#Pri ...

(1928–1991) ''Sitting Eve'', 1968. File:Karl Zerbe - Beacon Hill - 43.114 - Detroit Institute of Arts.jpg,

(1903–1972) ''Beacon Hill''. Oil on canvas.1943. File:Benjamin Franklin by William Zorach National Postal Museum.jpg,

William Zorach William Zorach (February 28, 1889 – November 15, 1966) was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and writer. He won the Logan Medal of the arts. He is notable for being at the forefront of American artists embracing cubism, as well as fo ...

(1887-1966), ''Benjamin Franklin'', National Postal Museum, Washington, D.C., 1936.

By photo

(Selection was limited by availability.) File:Robert Birmelin in Studio HiRes.jpg, Robert Birmelin in his NYC studio, 2016. File:Kahlil Gibran Artist at Work.jpg, Kalil Gibran in Boston in 2005. File:Ellsworth Kelly (cropped).jpg,

in Los Angeles in 2008. File:Yasuo Kuniyoshi from the Archives of American Art.jpg,

photographed by Peter A. Juley & Son, n.d. File:Portrait of Jacob Lawrence LCCN2004663192.jpg,

(1917-2000), photographed in 1941. File:Archives of American Art - Julian E. Levi - 2226.jpg, Julian E. Levi photographed by

Max Yavno Max Yavno (1911–1985) was a photographer who specialized in street scenes, especially in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. Personal life The son of Russian immigrants, Louis and "Lizzie" (Rudnick) Yavno, Max was born in New York City ...

, 1940. File:John Marin by Alfred Stieglitz, 1922.jpg, John Marin, photographed by Alfred Stieglitz, 1922. File:Carl Gustaf Nelson.jpg, Carl Gustaf Nelson in Sweden in 1920. File:Georgia O'Keeffe MET CT 41512.jpg,

(1887-1986) photographed by Alfred Steiglitz, 1921. File:ARTHURPOLONSKY350400fin.jpg, Arthur Polonsky in 2013. File:Niles Spencer by Yasuo Kuniyoshi c. 1921.jpg,

Niles Spencer Niles Spencer (16 May 1893 – 15 May 1952) was an American painter of the Precisionist School who specialized in depicting urban and industrial landscapes. His works are in the permanent collections of several major museums including the Metr ...

, c. 1921. File:William Zorach-by-Man Ray.jpg,

(1889–1966) photographed by

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to eac ...

, 1917.

Legacy

American art

Boris Mirski's family donate
the records of the Boris Mirski Gallery
(1944-1979) in stages, between 1989 and 2017 to the

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...

. Several key figures in Boston Expressionism, with links to Mirski, have also given oral history interviews to the Archives, including

, Arthur Polonsky,

and Ralph Coburn.

Related galleries

On and off, Mirski employed both of the Swetzoff brothers: Seymour and Hyman. Hyman, however, had also worked at the nearby Institute of Modern Art, and he ultimately served as Mirski's Gallery director. In 1948, he and his brother decided to open a gallery of their own. Their gallery began as the Frameshop Gallery on Huntington Avenue, but Hyman became director in 1953, and moved it to Newbury Street, renaming it the Swetzoff Gallery (1948-1968) in the process. The gallery closed in 1968 when Hyman died. Alan Fink served as Mirski's gallery director for 16 years. A "founding member of the Boston Art Dealers association", he founded the Alpha Gallery (1967–present), also on Newbury Street, along the Mirski model in 1967. Already married to painter

, a former Mirski artist, Fink began by representing "Swan's work and later that of their son Aaron, a figurative expressionist painter, eir daughter, Joanna, ran the gallery for many years." The gallery, which continues to operate, eventually relocated to the South End of Boston.

References

Bibliography

* * * * *Giuliano, Charles (2017)
Boston Art Dealer Alan Fink is Dead: Art Was the Family Business
Retrieved October 26, 2020. * * * * * *