Peter MacGill is an American

gallerist An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells Work of art, works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and build ...

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

, and art historian. MacGill is President of the Pace/MacGill Gallery, which opened in 1983 on East 57th Street in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 2006 he was the first recipient of the Harold Jones Distinguished Alumni Award at The University of Arizona.

Career

MacGill graduated with a B.A. from

Ohio Wesleyan University Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio. It was founded in 1842 by methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five – a consortium ...

in 1974 and a M.F.A. from the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

in 1977, where he was the first student to graduate from the MFA Photography program. He began working in the photography world as a college intern at Light Gallery in 1973 where he hung

Stephen Shore Stephen Shore (born October 8, 1947) is an American photographer known for his images of banal scenes and objects, and for his pioneering use of color in art photography. His books include ''Uncommon Places'' (1982) and ''American Surfaces'' (199 ...

’s first solo show. While attending the

MacGill served as a curator at the

Center for Creative Photography The Center for Creative Photography (CCP), established in 1975 and located on the University of Arizona's Tucson campus, is a research facility and archival repository containing the full archives of over sixty of the most famous American pho ...

. In 2005 he was ranked 15th on the list of "The 100 Most Important People in Photography" compiled by ''

American Photo 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 ...

'' magazine. MacGill is President of the Pace/MacGill Gallery, which opened in 1983 on East 57th Street in

. Although Pace/MacGill specializes in photography, the gallery has also exhibited non-photographic work since the mid 1990s. In 1999 the gallery sold

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 ...

's ''Glass Tears'' (1930–33) for $1.3 million, at the time the highest price ever paid for a photograph. MacGill has stated that the work sold for such a high amount because of its scarcity (only three prints were made). In 2006 MacGill set a new record when he bought

Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and curator, renowned as one of the most prolific and influential figures in the history of photography. Steichen was credited with tr ...

’s ''

The Pond—Moonlight ''The Pond—Moonlight'' (also exhibited as ''The Pond—Moonrise'') is a pictorialist photograph by Edward Steichen. The photograph was made in 1904 in Mamaroneck, New York, near the home of his friend art critic Charles Caffin. The photograph ...

'' for $2.9 million on behalf of a private buyer. In 2019 MacGill established a partnership with

RadicalMedia RadicalMedia is an independent global media and communications company. Founded by Jon Kamen and Frank Scherma, the company develops, creates, and produces film, television, advertising, branded content, music videos, live events, design, digita ...

to develop a streaming platform focused on the history of photography.http://artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=115289#.XUMrIZNKhR4

Publications

Publications by MacGill

*''Irving Penn: New and Unseen.'' New York: Pace/MacGill Gallery, 1999. .

Publications with contributions by MacGill

*''Rodchenko.'' Göttingen: Steidl, 2012. . *''Irving Penn: Paintings.'' New York: Apparition, 2018. .

Awards

*2005: Harold Jones Distinguished Alumni Award at The

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macgill, Peter University of Arizona alumni American art dealers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)