A Tenth Street Artist Co-op of the ‘50s and ‘60s in New York City: Alice Forman and the Camino Gallery

Alice Forman (1931- ), a founder of the Camino Gallery (est. 1956) on Tenth Street in New York City, and a member of the Young America 1960: Thirty American Painters Under Thirty-Six show at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1960, is one of the last surviving members of the seminal Tenth Street artist co-ops of the ‘50s and ‘60s in New York City. Supported by artists’ dues and administered democratically, these co-ops allowed young artists to begin their professional careers, show their work, and create networks and community with other young artists, as well as with uptown gallery owners and museums. By pooling resources, exchanging ideas, and sharing professional plans, these artists helped each other establish their new artistic vision (most notably the Abstract Expressionists) and establish a place for themselves in the bustling art world of post-WW II New York. Using interviews with Forman, as well as primary documents of the period and relevant secondary literature, this paper reconstructs what imperatives and concerns motivated Forman and her colleagues in founding one of the leading artist co-ops of the time, what social and artistic contexts they were responding to, and what challenges they faced. Their pivotal role in furthering the establishment of modern American art in New York City galleries is analyzed and assessed.