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Life lived as a sacrament: an interview with notable fine art photography dealer Bonni Benrubi
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Georges Dambier. Bettina Arachnée, 1954. Gelatin Silver Print. Courtesy of Bonni Benrubi Gallery
Over the last couple of months I’ve had the honor and privilege of interviewing and speaking with dozens of photographers, artists, curators, and dealers in the fine art photography world of New York City.
In turn, I’ve come to realize there are essentially two kinds of dealers in this enclave of the art world.
You have the younger set of dealers who have been in the business for ten years or less, who aren’t afraid of experimenting, who are constantly on the look out for new and exciting emerging artists, who have embraced the digital age, and who are not limited to the traditional modes of the medium.
Then there is the old guard, old school dealers who have been in the business on average for twenty-five years or more and are the wiser for it. Many of them are AIPAD members, a lot of them love black and white photographs, and they also usually offer primarily one-of-a-kind prints that were created before 1970.
Moreover, despite the trying economic climate, a lot of the latter are comfortable with their position in the industry, they’ve weathered storms like these before, and more importantly, they are confident about the focus of their careers, the breadth of their accomplishments and where they stand in life.
And lately, because many of them have reached important milestones such as the 20th, 25th and even 30th anniversaries of their galleries, so they’ve been doing a bit of reflecting on what has and has not been important for them over these swaths of time.
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One such person is Bonni Benrubi, who I recently had a chance to speak with at length at her office. Albeit, she did not outright say it to me during our interview, it became obvious to me that one of the more meaningful things of her life has been her family.
She spoke proudly of her two sons—the oldest who is currently away at college studying diplomacy; and the youngest who is not only the captain of his football team, but also recently composed a piece for his high school orchestra, because he’s somewhat of a “musical prodigy” as his mother proudly put it.
In a charming, almost-sardonic way, typical of many native-born New Yorkers I know, she also touted the accomplishments of her husband, Dennis Powers, while simultaneously making sure to distinguish his work from hers.
I had asked her what influence he bore upon her choices and she staunchly stated, “He’s from the West Coast. I do what I want, my vision is my vision,“ after making sure to mention that he had recently received an Emmy for his work.
The prestigious award came from directing the 30-minute pilot for a new HD television series, which features acclaimed Aperture photographers utilizing celebrity enthusiasts as a link between their work and the television audience. Before beginning his documentary film company he had a long and distinguished career in advertising.
Despite these differences, I still gathered that Bonni was happy with her husband, to whom she’s been married to for over twenty years and with whom she has raised an accomplished family.
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Prior to marrying Dennis in 1987, Bonni grew up long knowing that she wanted to be an art dealer.
Born in 1953 in the Bronx, she grew up directly across the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, NJ, with a scenic view of New York City. She shared a home with her younger brother and their parents—Harry and Salle Benrubi, born in 1927 and 1932 respectively. Having parents who were children of the Great Depression, might explain Bonni’s current appreciation of photographers of that era—Walker Evans and Dorothy Lange, who are both best known for their work for the FSA, the Farm Security Administration.
In 1966, at the age of thirteen, Bonni read biographies about Bernard Berenson and Joseph Duveen and immediately was turned onto the partnership between art and commerce.
In the early twentieth century Berenson and Duveen formed a secret relationship, which led to some of the most notorious insider trading in the art world. Berenson had become an American art historian who helped established the authenticity of works from many of the masters of the Renaissance. Duveen was the Larry Gagosian or Leo Castelli of his time, by far the period's most influential art dealer, who often relied heavily on Berenson's opinion to make the sale to the rich robber barons.
Duveen reportedly said, "Europe has a great deal of art, and America has a great deal of money." He took advantage of this observation by creating a fortune by buying works of art from declining European aristocrats and selling them to the millionaires in the United States who included Henry Clay Frick, William Randolph Hearst, Henry E. Huntington, J.P. Morgan, Andrew Mellon, and John D. Rockefeller.
Inspired, Bonni eventually left her panoramic perch to pursue her childhood dream by attending Boston University where she studied art history. Subsequently, she studied at Radcliffe College, virtually following in the footsteps of Bernard Berenson, who also attended both Boston University and Harvard.
She began selling art in 1975 at the age of 22. And after school, she went to work at the Daniel Wolf gallery for ten years before establishing her own gallery in 1987, the same year she married Dennis Powers. The gallery specializes in 20th Century American photography and emerging contemporary photographers. She offers vintage works by Andreas Feininger, Louis Stettner, Lewis Hine and Walker Evans; and some of the more notable contemporary artists she represents include Abelardo Morell, Massimo Vitali, Simon Norfolk and Matthew Pillsbury.
Following are excerpts from the conversation we had on April 22 at the Bonni Benrubi Gallery located at 41 E 57th Street.
What kind of art dealer are you?
There are two kinds of art dealers—there are the old fashioned dealers like Duveen who thought about the money more than anything. Clients came before the artists.
Then you have those like Leo Castelli and Marion Goodman, who take care of and nurture their artists.
I like to model myself after the latter group, which tends to be run by a bunch of liberal arts people who together create a unique, homespun way of doing business.
Does your philosophy as a dealer reflect the kind of artist you chose to represent?
Absolutely. All the people we represent all have a calling to be artists. They’re patient and understand that sometimes it takes a lifetime to create art. Most of them have to make art, just like some have to make music or have to be a rabbi.
How’s the economy affecting your business?
The recession is a positive thing and is conducive to the making of great art. Artists are less pressured to produce, and thus have more time to put their heart and soul into their work.
Yet, I have to say that the downturn in the economy hasn’t hurt my business much. I’m still getting 50 e-mails a day and 25-100 books a week from artists who want to show me their work.
Overall, it hasn’t been that quiet and I still don’t have a lot of time to do all I need to do.
If you had more time, what would you do?
I’d curate more, do more books, teach more, take time to go to other galleries to look at work.
I’d also spend more time collecting those things I love in addition to photography.
Such as?
15th to 19th century Indian miniature paintings. Turn-of-the-(twentieth)-century paintings of Tahiti. Globes of the world made before Russia dissolved. And books, especially art and photography books.
What are some of your favorite books?
Many Are Called, a three-year photographic study of people on the New York subway by Walker Evans during the 1930s.
Robert Frank’s seminal work, The Americans (1958).
And Photography Rediscovered: American Photography, 1900-1930, which was published by the Whitney Museum in 1979.
You’ve been selling art for over thirty years now, what are some of the greatest lessons you’ve learned?
- Don’t lie, that way you don’t have to worry about you’ve said.
- Be true to what you believe. In other words, only show what you think is good, not what you think can sell.
- Be patient with artists.
- Don’t be swayed by critics and trends. Stay true to your own vision.
What kind of artists and work do you have a penchant for?
For me there’s a distinct difference between classic photographers from the east coast and those from the west coast.
West coast photographers like Ed Weston, Ruth Bernhard and Ansel Adams were part of the Group f/64 era that created work that was about the place, the land, nature.
Thus, being a New Yorker and growing up on the East coast, I find myself inclined toward the East coast contingency of classic photographers like Walker Evans and Dorothy Lange, whose work tends to be more cerebral and is more about the subject and the cause.
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At the turn of the twentieth century, Bernard Berenson wrote, “From childhood on, I have had the dream of life lived as a sacrament. . . The dream implied taking life ritually as something holy.”
Perhaps than it is no coincidence that Bonni Benrubbi has the same initials as the art historian who inspired her to become one of the most notable fine art photography dealers in New York City today, because she has likewise followed a dream that shows that life is holy, life is art, and worthy of the investment of a lifetime.
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Artists & Photographers | Curators & Dealers Howard Greenberg |
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Georges Dambier ·
Paulo Pellegrin ·
Simon Norfolk ·
Matthew Pillsbury ·
Abelardo Morell ·
Louis Stettner
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