Leo Castelli
The art dealer Leo Castelli had an unwavering ability to identify important work and championed contemporary American art for decades. Born to a wealthy family in Trieste in 1907, Castelli worked in banking and insurance through the 1930s, settling in Paris with his wife Illeana Sonnabend (also a now well known art dealer) and coming into contact with surrealist artists. In 1941 the family moved to New York to escape the ravages of World War II and Castelli joined the U.S. Army, working in military intelligence back in Europe. After the war, Castelli represented the Kandinsky estate and began talking to American artists, mostly unknown, who nevertheless he considered promising. In 1957 he opened the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City. From abstract expressionism, to Pop art, to minimalism, Castelli took on artists who went on to become extremely influential, and expensive. He provided monthly stipends to artists, giving them some financial footing as they continued to work. He was the first to show Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg and also took on Jackson Pollock, Frank Stella and many others. In 1971 he moved the gallery from its uptown location to Soho, again leading the way for a flourishing art scene in this New York neighborhood. Castelli was a generous patron of the arts and made important gifts to American museums and public collections. Leo Castelli died in New York in 1999.
