Allan Stone Now and Then

One of my favorite galleries of all time on the Upper East Side is the Allan Stone Gallery. Back in the day when the gallery was located on the corner of 86th and Madison it was a regular stop on my Walk Around The Block. It was a gallery on the Upper East Side that was unlike any other gallery in the city. When you entered you entered another world. The space then was delightfully packed full of extraordinary treasures beyond the show that was up. There were primitive masks, sculptures that peeked out from behind stacked paintings and assorted bric and brac. I would go there and just slowly stroll around and around trying to make out all the hidden surprises. Back then Allan Stone was one of the only galleries that allowed artists to walk through the door on a usually chosen day carrying their original art work to show his assistant, Ms. Wolff, who, if the work showed any promise, would call in Allan Stone, who would look it over and then report to her, who would give the artist the low down. No slides just work. It was a heavenly honest art gallery that inspired a sense of what making, presenting and collecting art is supposed to be but really isn't. Now days Allan Stone resides on East 90th Street between Lexington and Park in a renovated firehouse (I think). The gallery is still nice but has pandered to the white wall and spaciousness that is the blight of all galleries these days. The art is still grand without the nuance of a collectible shop which I miss. The artist showing now is James Havard who inspires me to think about the old Allan Stone. His work is playful and is worth a look, but as I spin around the airy gallery that has a garden in the back and a desk in the middle, nostalgia sticks to me like super glue and I long for the mysterious shade of the then Allan Stone Gallery as I leave the white and bright and very tight now Allan Stone Gallery...