Howard Wise

Howard Wise (1903-1989) was an important American art patron and gallerist who left an indelible mark on the American art scene.

After beginning his career as an industrialist, Wise sold off his family business to pursue his interests in the arts. He opened his first gallery in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio in 1957, where he exhibited works by prominent contemporary European artists that proved to be unpopular with his Midwestern audience. In 1960, Wise made the decision to relocate his business to New York City and opened his gallery on 57th Street to great acclaim. Over the next several decades, the Howard Wise Gallery became a hub for the international avant-garde art scene.

Milton Resnick, Ernest Briggs, John Grillo, Edward Dugmore, Lee Krasner, and Piero Dorazio all had exhibitions at the gallery during its early years, but it was Wise’s growing interest in technology, computers, sound, and video that cemented his historical role in the art world. Wise foresaw the future of art as being intersected with technology, and Wise supported its use as a tool for artists to use in the creative process.

In 1964, Wise organized a survey of Kinetic Art titled “On the Move,” featuring works by Yaacov Agam, Julio Le Parc, and Vassilakis Takis among other notable contemporary artists. This exhibition was followed by a number of other pivotal exhibitions, including “TV as a Creative Medium” -- the first-ever gallery exhibition devoted to video art as an art form, featuring works by Earl Reiback, Thomas Tadlock, and Nam June Paik.

Barbara Wise (1929-2011), Howard’s second wife, played a huge part in the gallery’s success, as she helped cultivate the growing social scene at the gallery and was a strong advocate for many actors and artists throughout her life. Although the gallery was a for-profit business, Howard and Barbara Wise ran the gallery more as a museum exhibition space than as a business and wanted it to be used as an experimental showcase. After the gallery closed in 1971, the W ises established a foundation known as the Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), which provided assistance to artists and organizations working within the emerging video art movement.

In 2013, an exhibition at Moeller Fine Art in New York City paid tribute to the legacy of the Howard Wise by featuring works by Group Zero, as well as kinetic and video artists he championed, including Billy Apple, Christo, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Piero Dorazio, Edward Dugmore, Heinz Mack, Charlotte Moorman, Nam June Paik, Otto Piene, George Rickey, Peter Sedgley, Eric Siegel, and Takis.

John Moran Auctioneers is pleased to bring works from the collection of the late Howard and Barbara Wise to auction for the very first time.

68 Ernest Briggs (1923-1984)

Untitled (#222), 1959 Oil on Canvas

Signed and dated verso; dated again and titled on a gallery label affixed verso 50” H x 34.5” W

$25,000-30,000

Provenance: Howard Wise Gallery, New York, NY David Wise and Audry Taylor, Los Angeles, CA, by descent from the above

Exhibited: Cleveland, OH, Howard Wise Gallery, “Group Show: Briggs, Dugmore, Grillo, Krasner, McNeil, Mitchell, Pace, Resnick,” October 4-29, 1959

Provenance: Howard Wise Gallery, New York, NY David Wise and Audry Taylor, Los Angeles, CA, by descent from the above