Margo Feiden

Margo Feiden (Fī´- děn; b. 2 December 1944) is the proprietor of Margo Feiden Galleries Ltd. in New York, which operates an art gallery at 15 East 9th Street in New York City. She is also a producer, director, author and playwright.[1][2]

Career

In 1961, when she was 16 years old, Feiden (as Margo Eden) produced and directed a high-school version of Peter Pan in New York.[3][4] The following year, she penned the play, Out, Brief Candle.[5] In 1963, Feiden become the agent, as well as producer, director, and publicist, of Kuda Bux, a mystic and mentalist performer. Bux and Feiden appeared on stage and on television together, with Feiden answering questions while Kuda Bux performed.[6]

Feiden, a licensed pilot, took photographer Diane Arbus flying so that the photographer could take pictures of Manhattan from the air.[3][7]

In 1969, Feiden opened a gallery, and hosted an exhibition of Arbus' photographs. In 1970, Feiden exhibited the photographs of Joel-Peter Witkin.[3] Witkin photographed Feiden, and a Witkin photograph became the basis of one of Hirschfeld's portraits of Feiden.[3] Also in 1969, Feiden began working on the restoration of documents and works of art on paper, removing adhesives, de-acidifying the paper, and reweaving damaged paper fibres.[8][9]

Feiden's gallery specializes in American art of the 20th century. She has exhibited work by: Diane Arbus, Joel-Peter Witkin, Raphael Soyer, Will Barnett,[10] Don Freeman, Kurt Vonnegut, Gloria Vanderbilt, Louis Lozowick, Ruth Gikow, Chaim Gross, Isac Friedlander, and Gino Beghe.

Al Hirschfeld

Feiden exhibited the original drawings and limited edition prints of artist Al Hirschfeld, and became his exclusive representative;[11] this representation continued after his death.[12] Hirschfeld created a portrait of Feiden to be used as her gallery’s logo.

In November 1994, Feiden arranged for the closure of the street outside her gallery and had craftsmen reproduce a Hirschfeld self-portrait on the asphalt forty feet long, with Hirschfeld’s finger pointing to the entrance of her gallery. The New York Times ran an aerial view of this portrait, the title of which was “A Portrait of the Artist on a City Street."[13]

Feiden negotiated with the United States Postal Service for Hirschfeld to create a series of postage stamps;[14] the Postal Service declared her gallery to be an official US post office. Letters that were mailed from her gallery were stamped by United States Postal Service officials "First day of issue, Margo Feiden Galleries Ltd"[15]

In 2000, Feiden was in the news when artist Al Hirschfeld sued her over contractual disagreements.[16] During their disagreement, Hirschfeld and Feiden continued to work together every day. Their differences were resolved, and Feiden continued to represent Hirschfeld.

In 2016, Feiden and the Al Hirschfeld Foundation sued each other over contractual disagreements.[17] In 2020 Feiden lost the case with the Al Hirschfeld Foundation. The United States District Court, Southern District of New York awarded the Foundation a total of $452,767.62 in damages because the Feiden Parties breached the parties' 2000 settlement agreement and purloined a number of Hirschfeld original works. All relationships between the Foundation and Margo Feiden/The Margo Feiden Galleries were terminated.[18]

Andy Warhol

In her 2014 biography, Valerie Solanas, Breanne Fahs states that Solanas was at the Actor's Studio that morning looking for Lee Strasberg, asking to leave her play for him.[19] Sylvia Miles states that she told Solanas that Strasberg would not be in until the afternoon, and accepted a copy of the play from Solanas.[20]

Fahs records that Solanas then traveled to Feiden's residence in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, as Solanas believed that Feiden would be willing to produce her play. As related to Fahs, Solanas talked to Feiden for almost four hours, trying to convince her to produce the play and discussing her vision for a world without men. Throughout this time, Feiden repeatedly refused to produce Solanas's play. According to Feiden, Solanas then pulled out her gun, and when Feiden again refused to commit to producing the play, Solanas responded, "Yes, you will produce the play because I'll shoot Andy Warhol and that will make me famous and the play famous, and then you'll produce it." As she was leaving Feiden's residence, Solanas handed Feiden a copy of her play and other personal papers.[21]

Fahs describes how Feiden then "frantically called her local police precinct, Andy Warhol's precinct, police headquarters in Lower Manhattan, and the offices of Mayor John Lindsay and Governor Nelson Rockefeller to report what happened and inform them that Solanas was on her way at that very moment to shoot Andy Warhol."[22] In some instances, the police responded that "You can't arrest someone because you believe she is going to kill Andy Warhol," and even asked Feiden "Listen lady, how would you know what a real gun looked like?"[22] In a 2009 interview with James Barron of The New York Times, Feiden said that she did know that Solanas intended to kill Warhol, but could not prevent it.[23][24][25]

Fahs additionally cites Assistant District Attorney Roderick Lankler's handwritten notes on the case, written on June 4, 1968, which begin with Margo Feiden's stage name, "Margo Eden", address, and telephone numbers at the top of the page.[26]

Author

In 1983, Feiden wrote the text for a Hirschfeld print catalogue illustrated by Hirschfeld, A Selection of Limited Edition Etchings and Lithographs by Al Hirschfeld. The catalogue had at least three editions between 1983 and 1990.

In 1983, Da Capo Press re-issued Hirschfeld's Show Business is No Business.[27] Originally published in 1951 by Simon & Schuster, the Da Capo edition included a forward and end notes by Feiden.

In 1989 Feiden wrote the reference book, Margo Feiden’s The Calorie Factor which was published by Simon & Schuster.[28] In 1989, Feiden won the Library Journal Award, which cited her book as one of the ten best reference books of that year.

Media

Feiden appears in the Oscar-nominated documentary film The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story, and she was also in the book and the film entitled Faces of New York by Peter Tunney and Antonio Guccione.[29]

Personal

Feiden is a member of Mensa. [3]

Feiden is a licensed pilot and an avid camel racer.[3]

References
  1. "Valerie Solanas: Who Shot Andy Warhol?". PopShifter, January 30, 2012 Less Lee Moore
  2. McWhirter, Norris (1983). Guinness Book of World Records. New York: Bantam Books. p. 262. ISBN 9780553231113.
  3. Finn, Robin (October 24, 2000). "Public Lives; She's Happy. Hirschfeld's Happy. The Secret?". Public Lives (New York Times). The New York Times.
  4. "Seeking Solace in SCUM". The Awl, Jun 3, 2014. by Haley Mlotek
  5. McWhirter, Norris (1983). Guinness Book of World Records. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 9780553231113. Feiden.
  6. "Houdini Death Blow: Halloween Shocker!". www.houdinifile.com. Retrieved 2017-10-04.
  7. Boswell, Patricia (1984). Diane Arbus: A Biography. New York: Random House. p. 283.
  8. Fields, Sidney (October 6, 1971). "A Pilot's Gallery". Daily News.
  9. "Framed for Good Reasons". DuPont Magazine: 16. March–April 1974.
  10. Russell, John (December 7, 1975). "Page 209 The New York Times Archives". The New York Times.
  11. "Buyers beware! Al Hirschfeld's townhouse comes with wallpaper, not a mural". Page Six, Feb 9, 2016
  12. Witchell, Alex (December 14, 1995). "At Home With: Al Hirschfeld; Anarchy Behind a Santa Beard". New York Times. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  13. Keating, Edward (November 19, 1994). "A Portrait of the Artist on a City Street". New York Times. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  14. Linn's Stamp News. 64 (3267). June 17, 1991. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. Brozan, Nadine (September 4, 1991). "Chronicle". New York Times. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  16. "Al Hirschfeld Sues Gallery, Asserting It Cheated Him". International New York Times, By Judith H. Dobrzynski, May 17, 2000
  17. "Non-profit for late caricaturist Al Hirschfeld sues NY gallery". Reuters, Jonathan Stempel, June 8, 2016.
  18. "Al Hirschfeld Foundation Has Regained Complete Control Of All Al Hirschfeld's Work". Broadway World, News Desk, Oct. 2, 2020.
  19. Fahs (2014), pp. 133–134
  20. Fahs (2014), p. 133
  21. Fahs (2014), pp. 134–137
  22. Fahs (2014), p. 137
  23. Barron, James (June 23, 2009). A Manuscript, a Confrontation, a Shooting, New York Times, retrieved on 2009-07-06.
  24. "Ghomeshi, Jian, host, Q: The Podcast, from CBC Radio 1". Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved 2009-07-07.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), as accessed November 18, 2012 (interview of Margo Feiden overall approx. 1:14–18:56 from start) (fragment approx. 5:06–5:45 from start) (based on cbc.ca link before archive.org link provided here).
  25. O'Brien, Glenn (March 24, 2009). "History Rewrite". Interview Magazine: 1–3. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  26. Fahs (2014), p. 347
  27. "Margo Feiden Galleries printed material regarding Al Hirschfeld, [ca. 1935]-1983".
  28. Corning, Blair (July 5, 1989). Express-News, San Antonio, Texas. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  29. Faces of New York, Guccione, Antonio and Peter T. Tunney, Publisher: Peter T. Tunney, 1992, ASIN: B000ENSW2Q

Sources
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