It is with great pleasure & esteem that PBS announces the official publication of

By Lauren Grosskopf | | No Comments | Uncategorized

Goodbye to Tenth Street
by Irving Sandler

“It’s not unusual for an art historian or critic to mingle with artists; it is unusual for an art historian to turn those interactions and the firsthand knowledge that results into the basis for scholarship,” Blair Asbury Brooks wrote on the website Artspace in 2014. “This was Sandler’s gift.”

Irving Sandler and Lois Dodd in Tanager Gallery 1956.

Guggenheim photo of the Cedar Street Tavern in the ’50’s.
From the impactful, inspiring and influential art historian and critic, known as a champion of artists, Irving Sandler’s Goodbye to Tenth Street, is a captivating read for art and historical fiction lovers.

Goodbye to Tenth Street is the first novel written by Irving Sandler, one of America’s finest and most acclaimed art critics. Sandler vividly portrays the New York art world from the death of Jackson Pollock in 1956 to the emergence of Andy Warhol in 1962. Goodbye to Tenth Street explores the business and the culture of Abstract Expressionism, including the soul-searching quest for artistic authenticity, the alcohol, the sex, and the intense rivalries among its proponents. Based on Sandler’s personal experiences, the art world of his invention brings to life a tight-knit but deeply competitive community of artists, critics, curators, and gallery owners, where connections are forged and betrayed, ideologies clash, and relationships blossom and implode with dizzying speed. Several of the characters are well known personalities—Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Andy Warhol, et al.—and others hint at real people or are amalgams of art world denizens that may be identified by the astute reader.

Art theory and art history are interwoven throughout the plot of this crisp and sparkling narrative. Sandler paints a dynamic portrait of the Abstract Expressionists and their visual breakthroughs and makes us ponder the pursuit for meaning, emotional honesty, and objectivity via artistic expression. With the arrival of Pop Art as the newest avant-garde, where commercialism supplants emotional expression, Sandler reveals the changing attitudes in the art world, the conflict between the older and younger generation of artists, and the necessity of these periodic upheavals in keeping art relevant to our times. Written from the perspective of a contemporary, Sandler gives a “behind-the-scenes” look at the personalities and events of this important period in American art history.

Much gratitude goes to Jack Estes, Catherine Sandler, Irving’s devoted daughter, and Lucy Sandler, Irving’s beloved wife, for all of their incredible help and support with this publication. A special thank you to Catherine for her exacting detail-oriented help writing the letter with Jack and I, refining the look/editing of PR and book; and for her front cover design. I made the back to match. Thank you, as always, to all of our readers and supporters of this small indie press…we couldn’t be here without you!
 

Click the Artists Space logo above to link to the website and the above Irving Sandler image for a link to a bevy of Instagram posts/photos, placed in rows for automatic viewing of many people’s tributes to Irving Sandler..

“Artists Space has been the site of provocative discussion and experimentation within contemporary artistic debate….Artists Space was founded in 1972 by arts administrator Trudie Grace and critic Irving Sandler as a pilot project for the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), with the goal of assisting young, emerging artists.” 

In Artforum in 2004, critic Robert Storr called Sandler’s sweeping narratives “readable and deeply informed by their author’s unrivaled access to the artists and art-worldlings about whom he writes.”

He added: “No one has seen more exhibitions in New York galleries or sat on, or in on, as many panels for as many years. Nor has anyone more scrupulously set down what people said in such forums, at openings, or in intimate studio or bar conversations than Sandler. Name a painter, sculptor, curator, critic, or idea man or woman and he will have talked to them and made notes.”

We hope you enjoy this book, and perhaps discover more art, artists and knowledge through his others books, as I have with his wonderful Swept Up By Art.

Finally, please share a comment to help spread the word and gain momentum on Amazon, Goodreads or Pleasure Boat Studio. Thank you and Happy Holidays!