The Valentine Gallery

The Forgotten Story of Valentine Dudensing, Matisse, Picasso, and the US Market for Modern Art (1926–1947)
The first book to examine the key role played by art dealer Valentine Dudensing in shaping the canon of modern art in the United States and presents an overview of his life while exploring the wider context of the New York art market of the time.

This is the first book to examine the key role played by New York gallerist and dealer Valentine Dudensing (1892-1967) in shaping the canon of modern art in the United States.

It reveals how Dudensing developed relationships with the country’s leading art collectors, establishing the market and bringing some of modernism’s most celebrated artists to American consciousness in the process. Many of the paintings that he imported from Europe are now the cornerstones of US museum collections.

Before the Museum of Modern Art opened in 1929, there were few places in New York to see contemporary art from Paris – the Valentine Gallery was one of them. In the intimate and elegant rooms of the gallery's townhouse premises on 57th Street, the public witnessed the first solo US shows of Giorgio de Chirico and Joan Miró, the first retrospective of Henri Matisse, and Piet Mondrian's only lifetime solo exhibition. In 1939, Pablo Picasso's masterpiece Guernica made its US debut there. Despite its preeminent reputation as a leading centre for modern art for over two decades, the Valentine Gallery name has been lost to history. Dudensing quietly closed the gallery in May 1947 and seemingly disappeared. His death two decades later went unreported in the press.

Drawing on a wealth of primary source materials, including the gallery's long-lost sales records, The Valentine Gallery unearths the story of this preeminent forum for modern art, revealing how a pioneering gallerist brought the School of Paris to eminence in the US, and ultimately changed the country's artistic taste forever.

UK Delivery:

• Free delivery on all orders of £10 or more.
• £1.49 delivery fee on orders below £10.
• UK orders are shipped via Royal Mail 2nd Class.

International Delivery:

• Flat rate delivery charges vary by country.

Dispatch and Delivery Times:

• All orders are shipped from our warehouse in Northampton, UK within 48 hours of receipt during working hours.
• UK mainland orders typically arrive within 3-5 working days via Royal Mail 2nd Class.
• International estimated delivery times:
• Europe & Channel Islands: 7 to 10 working days
• USA: 7 to 15 working days
• Rest of the World: 9 to 21 working days

View our full delivery infomation here.