Mario Amaya (October 6, 1933
– June 29, 1986) was an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
art critic
An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...
, museum director and magazine editor, and (1972–1976) director of the
New York Cultural Center
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
and (1976–1979) the
Chrysler Museum of Art
The Chrysler Museum of Art is an art museum on the border between downtown and the Ghent district of Norfolk, Virginia. The museum was founded in 1933 as the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences. In 1971, automotive heir, Walter P. Chrysler Jr. ...
in
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...
. He was also (1969–1972) the chief curator of the
Art Gallery of Ontario
The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Beve ...
and the founding editor of London's ''
Art and Artists
Hansom Books was a British publisher founded in 1950 by Philip Dosse to produce the magazine ''Dance and Dancers''. Magazines in a similar format were then founded to cover other arts, so forming the Seven Arts Group. The other titles were '' Ar ...
'' magazine. He studied
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
for 35 years, for some of this time under the teaching of the artist
Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Latv ...
.
Background
Mario Anthony Amaya
was born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
in 1933. After graduating from
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus.
Being New York City's first publ ...
in 1958, he travelled to England and was from 1962 to 1968 the assistant editor of the
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...
magazine ''About the House''. While still in England he was (from 1965–1968) the (founding) editor of ''
Art and Artists
Hansom Books was a British publisher founded in 1950 by Philip Dosse to produce the magazine ''Dance and Dancers''. Magazines in a similar format were then founded to cover other arts, so forming the Seven Arts Group. The other titles were '' Ar ...
'' magazine.
Shooting
On June 3, 1968, Amaya was in
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
's office when radical feminist
Valerie Solanas
Valerie Jean Solanas (April 9, 1936 – April 25, 1988) was an American radical feminist known for the ''SCUM Manifesto'', which she self-published in 1967, and for her attempt to murder artist Andy Warhol in 1968.
Solanas had a turbulent child ...
opened fire and shot both him and Warhol. Amaya, 34 at the time, was discharged from hospital after receiving treatment of bullet grazes on his back.
Curatorial work
While in his curatorial positions he mounted major exhibitions of
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
. Examples include "Realism Now" (1972), "Blacks: USA" (1973), "Women Choose Women" (1973), and "Bouguereau" (organized with
Robert Isaacson, 1975); he also arranged a retrospective of photographer
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 Surrealism, Surrealist movements, although his t ...
(1975). When he became the director of the
New York Cultural Center
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
in 1972, he helped strengthen the Center's position as one of the liveliest of New York's museums at the time. Amaya used his position at the Cultural Center to house over 150 shows in three years. Amaya also contributed to many galleries, and lectured and acted as a visiting professor at the
State University of New York at Buffalo
The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...
.
Writings
Amaya wrote books on art. ''Pop As Art: A Survey of the New Super Realism'' (1965), ''Art Nouveau'' (1966), and ''Tiffany Glass''.
In the early 1970s, when living in London, Mario Amaya was engaged in research for a proposed biography of
Lee Miller
Elizabeth "Lee" Miller, Lady Penrose (April 23, 1907 – July 21, 1977), was an American photographer and photojournalist. She was a fashion model in New York City in the 1920s before going to Paris, where she became a fashion and fine art ...
(with which she co-operated), but the project came to nothing.
Death
Amaya died from complications of
AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
on June 29, 1986, in hospital in
Kensington and Chelsea, London,
[Deaths England and Wales 1984–2006](_blank)
/ref> at the age of 52.
References
Notes
Sources
*Amaya, Mario. ''Art Nouveau.'' Studio Vista, Ltd., London, 1966;
*Bourdon, D. "New York Museum Crisis: Two Bite Dust." ''Art in America,'' vol.63, No.5, 1975;
*Russell, John. "Mario Amaya, 52, Art Critic, Editor and Museum Director," ''The New York Times'' June 30, 1986;
*Russell, John. "Obituary," ''Art in America,'' vol.74, 1986;
*''The Globe and Mail'' No. 36968, June 4, 1968.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amaya, Mario
1933 births
1986 deaths
AIDS-related deaths in England
American art critics
American expatriates in England
American shooting survivors
Directors of museums in the United States
Brooklyn College alumni
Writers from Brooklyn
20th-century American non-fiction writers
Journalists from New York City
University at Buffalo faculty