In December of 2011, a friend of mine, knowing my love of art, suggested that I take a look at her mother’s paintings.
Harriette Joffe was living in Great Barrington, MA, and was painting in a small attic studio above her apartment.
The bulk of her canvasses, over 175 in total, were in a self-storage unit down the road.
Harriette’s work captivated me… we decided to create a partnership. I became a collector, as well as Harriette’s agent.
Her 50-year career spanned from post-World War II to the present. She was part of the first generation of abstract expressionist painters on the east end of Long Island, working alongside some of the most important artists of the time, such as Willem and Elaine de Kooning, Philip Pavia, Ibram lassaw, John Little, and Balcomb Greene.
Recognizing Harriette’s extraordinary talent and the huge asset of inventory in storage, I brought in – to partner with me – an architect and an artist who had extensive firsthand experience and knowledge of the New York art world.
Together, we secured her art fairs, exhibitions, and eventually an east end gallery for a retrospective and a monograph written by a highly respected critic.