Iron & Glass

On Exhibition: The History of Pratt Manhattan Center and its Gallery

Post contributed by Alyse Delaney, Special Collections & Archives Graduate Assistant 

As the Graduate Assistant in the Special Collections & Archives, I have been working on cataloging archival items from Pratt Institute’s Department of Exhibitions. A typical day at work involves combing through boxes of exhibition documents from the Archives, creating records of the exhibitions, and entering metadata for each item into its online record. I recently finished cataloging items in the Pratt Manhattan Series, and I was fascinated to learn that Pratt has a rich exhibition history that extends well beyond the gates of its Brooklyn campus. As a current MSLIS student taking most of my classes at the Manhattan campus, I was excited to study the history of the building I’ve been spending much of my time in. Along the way, I’ve come to understand that exhibitions have been important means for providing Pratt students with what is likely their first opportunity to exhibit their work on a public stage, for showcasing the work of prominent faculty members, and for bringing notable contemporary artwork from around the world to the school. Since opening its doors in 1970, the Pratt Manhattan Center has lived in four different locations throughout the city and has hosted over 240 exhibitions in its 53 year history. By cataloging the documentation of its exhibitions, I came to understand how interconnected the exhibitions were to the history of each location, and how they evolved as various directors took charge and students, faculty, and alumni exhibited their work. 

46 Park Avenue: The First Pratt Manhattan Center

The first iteration of Pratt Manhattan Center was at 46 Park Avenue, a small property the Institute acquired in the late 1960s. Albert Christ-Janer, the Dean of the School of Art and Design at the time, was appointed Director of the Center, and was responsible for overseeing the exhibition program. Initially, Pratt Manhattan Gallery’s primary purpose was to dedicate exhibition space to Pratt students, alumni, and faculty in the heart of New York City. The inaugural exhibition featured works by American painter Edwin Dickinson, whose first instruction in art was from 1910-1911 at the Institute. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Pratt in 1961 and represented the United States at the Venice Biennale in 1968. 

Left: Announcement for the inaugural exhibition, “Edwin Dickinson” at the Pratt Institute Manhattan Center, March 1970. Right: Selected painting of Dickinson’s, “Carol Wolf” 1942-43, edwindickinson.org.

The press release for the Dickinson exhibition states that 46 Park Avenue was “envisioned as a meeting area for alumni and other Pratt-related groups.” In just four years, between 1970 and 1974 the Pratt Manhattan Center held an astonishing 57 exhibitions. Group shows like Back to Basics featured the handcrafted work of Fashion Merchandising seniors at the School of Professional Studies, and annual fundraisers, like the 2nd Annual Show and Sale of Student Work, provided the opportunity for students to sell paintings, pottery, photographs, sculpture, and more. In addition to current student work, the gallery held numerous solo exhibitions featuring the work of alumni like photographer Sylvia Plachy and prominent teaching members such as Fritz Eichenberg. 

Back to Basics exhibition photographs, January 12, 1971.

Poster and photographs of the 2nd Annual Show and Sale of Student Work, December 10, 1971.

Sylvia Plachy exhibition announcement and photograph, . January 1972.

Exhibition announcement and print by Pratt faculty member, Fritz Eichenberg, January 1972. 

160 Lexington Avenue: The Pratt/Phoenix School

In 1974, the Pratt Manhattan Center moved to its second home at 160 Lexington Avenue. The building was originally home to the New York School of Applied Design for Women (NYSADW) founded in 1892 by Ellen Dunlap Hopkins. The school provided women with unique opportunities to develop their professional design skills. 160 Lexington was built in 1909 and designed specifically as an art school by architect Harvey Wiley Corbett. The building thus takes into special consideration the unique characteristics needed by such an institution. In 1944, the NYSADW merged with the New York-Phoenix School of Design and became co-educational. Thirty years later, Pratt Institute took over the Phoenix School and became the Pratt/Phoenix School of Design. For the next five years, Pratt’s Manhattan outpost adopted this name rather than “Pratt Manhattan Center.”

Left: Invitation to the Dedication Ceremony in 1977. Right: Brochure accompanying the dedication.

The lasting legacy of both the NYSADW and the New-York Phoenix School of Design can be seen in the program Pratt undertook at 160 Lexington Avenue. The academic programs focused heavily on teaching commercial and industrial design skills to adult students. The Pratt/Phoenix School offered three-year certificate programs in fashion illustration, fine arts, textile design, photography, and magazine and book illustration. 160 Lexington Avenue was also home to the Continuing Education program and the Pratt Graphics Center, which frequently co-sponsored exhibitions in the gallery. The first exhibition in the new space was Art Therapy: Catalyst for Self-Discovery, which displayed drawings, paintings, and sculpture by clients of Pratt’s Master of Professional Studies candidates in Art Therapy and Creative Development. Another exhibition, Pratt on Paper, displayed a collection of prints, drawings, and photographs by faculty members, including Clare Romano, Vasilios Toulis, Al Blaustein, Nan Benedict, Phoebe Helman, and more. 
 

Exhibition announcement for the first show held at 160 Lexington Avenue in 1974: Art Therapy: Catalyst for Self-Discovery

Exhibition announcement for Pratt on Paper, held in the Pratt/Phoenix Gallery, February 1975. 

In 1979, the Pratt/Phoenix School officially changed its name back to the Pratt Manhattan Center. That same year, Ellen Schwartz was named Curator of Exhibitions. As curator, she was responsible for overseeing exhibitions both at Pratt Manhattan Center and at the Institute Galleries (which would later become the Rubelle and Norman Schafler Gallery). Starting in the 1970s and continuing through the early 2000s, exhibitions were typically shown in two iterations, one at each gallery. Notably, Ellen Schwartz departed from the tradition of exhibiting works exclusively by Pratt students, faculty, and alumni. Instead, she started to showcase the work of contemporary artists working throughout New York City, the country, and the world. Her first exhibition was Subject: Space which featured abstract works that challenged the two-dimensionality of painting. Artists included William Conlon, Richard Friedberg, Fred Guyot, Nabil Nahas, Tony Robbin, and John Schnell. 

Exhibition catalog and installation view of Subject: Space, January 1980. Installation photograph (left to right): John Scnell. Untitled. 1977. Acrylic on Canvas. 73 x 96” (as featured on the exhibition catalog cover); Nabil Nahas. Untitled. 1979. Acrylic on Canvas, 60 x 60”. 

Reflecting trends in contemporary art of the 1970s and 1980s, Schwartz’s exhibitions often featured conceptual and performance-based works of art. Religion Into Art examined religious iconography and included a performance titled “Speaking Bitterness” by feminist art pioneer, Mary Beth Edelson. Other notable contemporary artists of the time, like performance artist Carolee Schneeman and longtime Pratt Faculty member Vito Acconci, were among the artists featured in the exhibition, Tracking, Tracing, Marking, Pacing. This exhibition examined the notion of movement in contemporary drawing through choreography and performance.
 

Right: Opening reception for Religion Into Art; Left: Performance photograph of “Speaking Bitterness” by Mary Beth Edelson from the exhibition’s opening, March 6th, 1981.

Exhibition announcement for Tracking, Tracing, Marking, Pacing, including a list of featured artists, April 1982.

Ellen Schwartz continued curating exhibitions at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery until the mid-1980s, after which Eleanor Moretta became the next gallery director. Moretta would go on to curate exhibitions at Pratt Manhattan until the late 1990s, and ushered the Pratt Manhattan Gallery into its next home in Lower Manhattan. 

295 Lafayette Street: The Puck Building

Left: View of the Puck Building façade; Right: An empty floor in the Puck Building. Buildings and Grounds Collection.

In 1986, the Pratt Manhattan Center moved into two rented floors in SoHo at 295 Lafayette Street, a building more commonly known as the Puck Building. The Puck Building was originally constructed in 1885 to house the print operations of Puck Magazine, a satirical comic magazine published until 1918. A gold statue of Shakespeare’s mischievous fairy Puck can still be seen above the building’s entrance on Lafayette Street. The character became a mascot of sorts for the Pratt Manhattan Center. In a yearbook for the Class of 1987, Puck personifies the building and congratulates the recent graduates on the work they accomplished at Pratt Manhattan Center. 

1987 Yearbook, featuring the first group of students to work in the Puck Building. 

It is unclear what, exactly, prompted the Pratt Manhattan Center’s move out of 160 Lexington Avenue, but the Institute was likely following the shifting center of New York City’s art world from Midtown to Lower Manhattan. The Puck Building had been recently redeveloped in 1982 as a commercial condominium dedicated to the arts. The first three floors of the building housed galleries, theaters, and workshops open to the public, while other floors were home for professional offices for organizations in the visual arts, architecture, film, graphic design, and photography. Residing in the Puck Building provided the opportunity for Pratt to position its students within a community of accomplished artists and designers while amplifying the reach of its gallery exhibitions. 
 

Announcement card from Pratt’s first exhibition at the Puck Building, which occurred before they had a permanent home in the space. It featured the Class of 1984’s work in Communications Design and was shown from May 21st through June 1st, 1984 at the Puck Building Gallery. 

Pratt Manhattan Gallery’s program at the Puck Building, under Eleanor Moretta’s guidance, followed similar themes as it had at 160 Lexington. A typical exhibition season included a mix of shows from Pratt students, faculty, and alumni, as well as prominent contemporary artists. However, rather than focusing heavily on painting, sculpture, and drawing, the exhibition schedule began to highlight more architectural, technological, and industrial design shows such as the 1987 exhibition High Tech/High Touch, 1993’s What is Socially Responsible Design?, and 1996’s Habitat II: Buckminster Fuller Centennial Exhibition.
 

Announcement card for the exhibition, High Tech/High Touch: Computer Graphics in Printmaking, November 1987. Curated by Mel Alexenberg, Issac Kerlow, and Eleanor Moretta, the exhibition displayed a variety of printmaking works that utilized computer-generated imagery, .

Excerpts from the exhibition catalog for “What is Socially Responsible Design”, 1993. 

The exhibition was co-organized by Pratt faculty member Stephan Marc Klein, Ph. D, and architect David Chapin to highlight the work of schools, students, and teachers who had been working towards “human fulfillment and emancipation” in their design processes. On the left is David Capogna’s entry from Parsons School of Design for a modular shoe, meant to encourage recycling and reduce waste.

Installation photographs of Habitat II: Buckminster Fuller Centennial Exhibition at the Puck Building, January 1996. The exhibition celebrated the notable architect’s career and surveyed other important developments made by pioneers in design science and their applications to architecture. It was held in multiple iterations and was also called Contemporary Developments in Design Science.

Group alumni shows, like Alumni International and Confluence of CULTURES, were also common in the Pratt Manhattan Gallery’s program at the Puck Building and brought together recent work of Pratt graduates, often from around the world. Alumni International featured the work of 36 artists representing countries as wide and far as Norway, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Greece, Korea, and more. Confluence of CULTURES was co-hosted by Gallery Korea in Manhattan to mark the 20th anniversary of the Korean Cultural Service Center in New York. The exhibition featured recent works by two generations of Korean Pratt alumni and current students. A total of 52 artists displayed their work between November 11th and December 8th, 1999. 

Selected works from Confluence of CULTURES. Left: Hyun Jung Shin (MFA ‘85), Fish Civilization, 1999, mixed media; Right: Chang-Ho Hung, Point IV, 1994, mixed media on paper. 

Between 1986 and 2002, the Puck Building hosted approximately 72 Pratt Manhattan Gallery exhibitions. It marked a period of great growth for the Pratt Manhattan Center. However, the two rented floors of the Puck Building soon proved to be too small for the center. Finally, in 1999, the Institute was presented with an opportunity to purchase a building that would be entirely its own. 

144 West 14th Street: Home, Sweet Home

The façade of 144 W 14th Street, photographed in 2003. Records of the Department of Communications.

Pratt Manhattan’s current home is 144 West 14th Street, which is located in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. The building was acquired by the Institute in 1999 for $11.5 million. Like the previous homes of the Pratt Manhattan Center, the building at 144 West 14th Street has a storied history. It was originally home to industrial companies, and was built by the architects Brunner & Tryon between 1895 and 1896 for the textile firm Deering, Milliken, & Co. The design of its façade reflects the influence of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and the rise of the City Beautiful movement. Over the years, the building passed through various owners and housed an assortment of commercial tenants including R.H. Macy’s, who produced American flags and silk underwear in the building and the string instrument manufacturer Epiphone. It was in their workshop that jazz guitarist Les Paul assembled the first solid body electric guitar. New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as a protected landmark in 2008. 
 

Right: Invitation and photographs of the Hard Hat & Kick-Off Party to celebrate the construction of 144 W 14th Street, May 2001.

It took three years of construction before the new Pratt Manhattan Center opened up on West 14th Street. While construction was underway, the Institute hosted a Hard Hat & Kick-Off Party to celebrate breaking ground on the new building. Attendees donned hard hats and caution-tape sashes, as they admired floor plans, sipped cocktails garnished with screwdrivers, and anticipated what was to come. 

Selected works from “Extreme Existence.” Left: Andrei Roiter, Pointless Optimistic Criticism, 2001, acrylic on canvas; Middle: Patty Chang Losing Ground, 2000, as seen in the exhibition catalog; Right: Marc Quinn, Spherical Morphology, 1997, glass and silver.

The inaugural exhibition at the new space was Extreme Existence, an exhibition curated by Klaus Ottmann that challenged existential questions of the Human Condition. The exhibition “includes works of art that challenge a world barren of passion or decision. Each work in the exhibition pushes the existential questions of the Human Condition past the political, ethical, and historical ‘leveling’ that appears to characterize the beginnings of this new millennium toward a new extreme humanism: the shameless pursuit of subjectivity, a passionate heroism without irony, and radical strategies of Being." Artists included Chantal Akerman, Tania Bruguera, Patty Chang, Lucy Gunning, William Kentridge, Lotte Konow Lund, Hirsch Perlman, Marc Quinn, Andrei Roiter, and Bill Viola. 

One of my favorite early exhibits held at West 14th Street is The World as I Found It by Alain Paiement, which displayed collaged aerial photographs by the Canadian artist. The series captures a day in the life of a Montreal building, which houses a bakery on its first floor and an apartment on its second. The images show a wonderful juxtaposition between public and private, condensing the space into one. 

Excerpts from the The World as I Found It exhibition catalog, 2003 . 

Installation view of The World as I Found It at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery, 2003. 

Today, 46 Park Avenue, 160 Lexington Avenue, and the Puck Building are all still standing in New York City. All three buildings have been converted to a combination of apartments and commercial spaces. 46 Park Avenue is now home to the Consulate General of El Salvador; 160 Lexington is home to clothing store Dover Street Market, and if you have ever visited the flagship REI store in SoHo, you have stepped foot in the Puck Building. Regardless of their current purposes, these various locations left a lasting impact on the generations of students at Pratt Manhattan. Exhibitions at Pratt Manhattan Gallery continue to provide students, faculty, alumni, and other artists with opportunities to exhibit their work in Manhattan. Currently on view in the gallery is, Hsin-Chien Huang: The Data We Called Home, curated by Professor Linda Lauro-Lazin, Assistant Chair, Department of Digital Arts. 

Digitized materials from the Archives of the Department of Exhibitions available on our Digital Collections portal.