Happenings: New York 1958-1963

"But what actually happened at the Happenings? Because they were so ephemeral, and documentation is so patchy, art historians have spent decades trying to figure that out. So have their creators.... the most prolific photographer was Robert R. McElroy, a college acquaintance of [Jim] Dine’s, who hung out with the artists and photographed their work.... The thousands of images he made languished in storage until about five years ago, when Milly Glimcher, director of special projects at Pace Gallery, finally gained access." —The New York Times

"The timing for Mrs. Glimcher’s Happenings could not have been better. This exhibition is much more than a memento. . . The Happenings were indeed the necessary bridge that brought optimism into the 1960s and changes into our society through an awareness of life and art that many will never forget." —Robert C. Morgan, Whitehog Magazine

"This period of artistic experimentation paved the way for the future of performance art, defining in new terms for contemporary audiences what could and would be considered 'art'. The show is presented in conjunction with the release of Mildred L. Glimcher's new coffee table book, Happenings, New York, 1958-1963. Both the exhibit and book focus on the principle figures of the ‘Happening', including artist Allan Kaprow who introduced performance art to America in 1959, and coined the term ‘happening', as well as Jim Dine, Simone Forti, Red Grooms, Lucas Samaras, Carolee Schneemann, Robert Whitman, and Claes Oldenburg.... Glimcher's book includes original interviews with the artists, documenting not only a period of artistic evolution but the world in which it occurred." —Harper's Bazaar