by Benjamin Genocchio



Women art dealers are now at the cutting edge of the art world. But they have long been an integral part of the American art scene, especially in New York, where art galleries run by women have played a role in the creation and development of the art market since at least the 1920s. Art history has been slow to recognize their contributions, though a slew of new books, exhibitions, and articles have done much to publicize pioneering women dealers.



Edith Halpert at the Downtown Gallery, in a photograph for Life magazine in 1952, with some of the new American artists she was promoting: Charles Oscar, Robert Knipschild, Jonah Kinigstein, Wallace Reiss, Carroll Cloar and Herbert Katzman. Photograph © Estate of Louis Faurer, courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery.



Breaking New Ground

Among the most influential, successful, and prominent pioneering 20th-century women art dealers were Peggy Guggenheim, Edith Halpert, Berthe Weill, Gertrude Stein, Simone Kahn, and Betty Parsons. Following in their footsteps, in the United States and abroad, were Ileana Sonnabend, Martha Jackson, Agnes Widlund, Linda Givon, Paula Cooper, Lia Rumma, Holly Solomon, Pat Hearn, Barbara Gladstone, Marian Goodman, Victoria Miro, Mary Boone, Krystyna Gmurzynska, Joan Washburn, and June Kelly, among many others.



“Opening this gallery and its collection to the public during a time 
when people are fighting for their lives and freedom is a responsibility 
of which I am fully conscious. This undertaking will serve its purpose 
only if it succeeds in serving the future instead of recording the past.”
— Peggy Guggenheim,  in her press release on the opening of Art of This Century, New York, 1942



Women art dealers sought to pioneer the use of gallery spaces and exhibition formats out of the mainstream, perhaps most famously Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century gallery. Part of the gallery, which spanned most of the floor of a midtown Manhattan office building, showcased the extraordinary collection of modern art she had amassed in Europe and made it a meeting place for young American avant-garde artists including Jackson Pollock and the emerging New York School of abstract painters, who she championed. Radical for the time, Guggenheim also staged exhibitions of many female artists including Louise Bourgeois, Lee Krasner, Leonora Carrington, Louise Nevelson, Meret Oppenheim, Kay Sage, and Dorothea Tanning.


Guggenheim was something of an anomaly in the history of women art dealers. Her wealth gave her enormous freedom, especially for a woman of her era. A lifelong collector and patron, she was born into a wealthy family, the niece of mining magnate Solomon R. Guggenheim who later established the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Her father was also a scion of the Guggenheim family fortune; he died on the Titanic and left her a substantial inheritance, the equivalent of over $43 million today. She opened her first modern art gallery Guggenheim Jeune, in London in January 1938, to promote the ideas of European modernist painters in England and “made a habit of purchasing at least one artwork from each of her own exhibitions,” according to art historian Simon Dickinson. Her bold inaugural exhibition presented drawings by Jean Cocteau that aroused the ire of British censors. She gave Wassily Kandinsky his first solo London show and showed works by Henry Moore, Jean Arp, Constantin Brancusi, Yves Tanguy, and Alexander Calder.


Though an American, Guggenheim focused on European art and artists for the most part, both as a dealer and art collector. She also never treated art dealing as a business, but was more interested in the creative, intellectual, and social opportunities the art world offered. She differed in this regard from one of her more entrepreneurial predecessors, Edith Halpert (Edith Gregoryevna Fivoosiovitch) who was born in Ukraine and emigrated to New York following the 1905 pogroms, where she later took classes at the Art Students League. Societal norms in the 1920s provided little opportunity for women wanting to be artists so she went off to work at the S.W. Straus & Company investment bank to support her artist husband Samuel Halpert. She eventually saved enough money to open the Downtown Gallery on West 13th Street in bohemian Greenwich Village in 1926.


Halpert ran her gallery to make money, modeling herself on the successful Parisian art dealer Ambrose Vollard. The New York galleries of the time were still focused on European art, so Halpert seized the daring opportunity to promote the work of living American artists. Over the next four decades, she showed Stuart Davis, Charles Demuth, Charles Sheeler, Max WeberMarsden Hartley, and many others, as well as artists of Asian and African descent including Jacob Lawrence, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, and Horace Pippin. In 1941, in collaboration with the critic Alain Locke, she organized American Negro Art, noted as “the first commercial exhibition of works by African American artists in New York City,” by the Metropolitan Museum of Art archives, with 75 works by 41 African American artists.


There were many dealers like Halpert in the decades that followed. Recent histories of art galleries run by women from the 1920s to the present tend to focus on how women dealers challenge male-dominated narratives of the art market, but men and women dealers often worked together, collaborating in building markets for art and artists. Perhaps the best example is Romanian Ileana Sonnabend, the former wife of the famed art dealer Leo Castelli. The couple left Europe during the 1940s and set up shop in New York where during the 1950s they promoted American Pop art. In 1961 she opened the Galerie Ileana Sonnabend in Paris where she exhibited the work of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein to European audiences and later returned to New York where she continued to show groundbreaking artists such as Jeff Koons at her gallery right up until her death in 2007. Sonnabend’s personal art collection was valued at the time of her death to be worth $876 million.



leana Sonnabend at her desk circa 1965 with Roy Lichtenstein, Kitchen Stove, 1962-62. Courtesy of Sonnabend Collection Foundation.



Shaping the Scene

Guggenheim, Halpert, and Sonnabend served as examples and influenced the women art dealers who followed. Even today their life stories and legacy as dealers, patrons, and collectors continue to fascinate and inspire. Holly Solomon was one New York art dealer who during the 1970s and 1980s styled herself on Guggenheim, blurring the lines between collector, patron, and dealer. She championed Pop art and the female-dominated Pattern and Decoration movement, which was a reaction to male-dominated Minimalism. She also commissioned numerous self-portraits from her gallery artists including Andy Warhol and Robert Mapplethorpe, Mary Boone, Paula Cooper, Barbara Gladstone, and Marion Goodman are four other important, influential women art dealers who have played a defining role in the formation of the New York art world from the 1960s to the present.


Paula Cooper opened her first gallery in Soho with $4,400 in 1968 and championed minimalist artists like Dan Flavin, Jo Baer, Donald Judd, Robert Roman, and Carl Andre. Marion Goodman opened her gallery in 1977 to showcase the work of Belgian artist Marcel Broodthaers after, as a collector and fan, she was unable to find another gallery to show his work. Her gallery played an important role in bringing European artists to the attention of New York audiences, including Christian Boltanski, Maurizio Cattelan, Tony Cragg, Richard Deacon, Tacita Dean, William Kentridge, Anselm Kiefer, Juan Muñoz, Gabriel Orozco, and others. Barbara Gladstone promoted new media and conceptual artists like Mathew Barney, Huang Yong Ping, and Shirin Neshat, while Mary Boone, who opened her SoHo gallery in 1977, championed 1980s painters Julian SchnabelDavid Salle, and Ross Bleckner as well as Barbara Kruger and Laurie Simmons. In 1982 a New York magazine profile called the stylish young dealer ‘The New Queen of the Art Scene.’ The gallery played a significant role in the 1980s art market and in 1984, Jean-Michel Basquiat joined after his first solo show there.


The Legacy Continues

Today, the world of art dealers is a much more diverse and global community that includes women dealers from different cultures and nationalities. Female dealers continue to play a central role in the development of the art market via auction houses and galleries.


“It’s my opinion that women art dealers often bring a higher level of approachability to their interactions with both artists and their clients,” says Ronni Anderson of Anderson Contemporary Gallery in New York. She believes that the success of so many women art dealers today is because women dealers may differ from male colleagues in the way they do business. “My positive and open approach fosters trust, which I consider essential for success in the art business,” says Anderson, who recently shifted her focus from maintaining a physical gallery space to doing private art deals, studio tours, art fairs, and curatorial and collaborative projects.


Valentina Puccioni, owner of Arco Gallery in New York, agrees with Anderson. “I believe that being a woman art dealer in New York City offers a unique advantage as the city embraces diversity and values innovative perspectives,” she explains. “Collectors and art enthusiasts who seek a more empathetic and personalized approach are often drawn to women in the art world. For me, this is particularly meaningful, as my focus goes beyond the transactional aspect of the art business — I’m deeply invested in fostering personal relationships with both artists and buyers. In this sense, being a woman art dealer is not just a distinction, but a strength that enriches my ability to connect and curate in a more intimate, thoughtful way.”


Networks of women art dealers in the United States and Europe have not only sought to advance the role of women art dealers and artists but also support solidarity in art promotion. AWAD, the Association of Women Art Dealers, is a 15-year-old organization with more than 100 members internationally working to foster women dealers and support women artists. ArtTable, an American organization devoted to supporting women in the arts, includes numerous prominent women dealers, artists, and museum curators.



Debra Force
Debra Force Fine Art, New York



Debra Force has been in the historical American art field for 45 years, working at Christie’s auction house and as a corporate curator and then at Hirschl & Adler Galleries in New York City before starting her own gallery. “There were more women in the contemporary field than traditional ones, so early on it was a struggle,” she says. “I found that with perseverance and showing that I was knowledgeable, I could establish credibility. That’s how you build up your reputation.” Virginia Zabriskie, Joan Washburn, and Barbara Mathes are among other women dealers who Force counts as mentors. “I started my gallery in 1999, focusing on my love for and knowledge of traditional American art,” says Force. “Since I have always been interested in various periods of this field, I chose not to specialize in any one area, but instead to feature quality works from the late 18th to the 19th century — landscapes, genre, and still life subjects in artistic styles ranging from Impressionism, Modernism, Social Commentary and Regionalism to 20th-century Abstraction and Realism.” Twenty-five years later Force has built a resume that includes sales of major paintings to museums nationwide as well as the development of many important private collections. “We handle work from the 18th century up to about 1970 or so, but I would say that our focus these days is mostly the late-19th and early and mid-20th century given changing market tastes.” That said, she says, adding with a short laugh, “we just sold an amazing 18th-century portrait by James Peale for six figures. That was a huge highlight for me.”





“I had the privilege of working closely with Motherwell throughout the entire commissioning and execution of Arabesque. It was Motherwell’s last painting, symbolizing the conclusion of an extraordinary era for one of the greatest American Abstract Expressionist artists. As the formal agent representing the corporate client, I was again entrusted with the sale of the painting following the corporation HQ’s move to another state.”

– Isabella Garrucho, Iconica Fine Art


Robert Motherwell, Arabesque, 1989. Oil on canvas, 72 x 215.9 in. Commissioned for the General Electric corporate art collection, it was the single largest piece executed by Motherwell. Now in the collection of The Dolder Grand hotel, Zürich.


Isabella Garrucho

Iconica Fine Art, Greenwich, Connecticut


Isabella Garrucho, owner of Iconica Fine Art in Westport, Connecticut, has spent 40 years in the art world, including two years working closely with American artist Robert Motherwell, a major figure in the Abstract Expressionist movement. She had a commission for the lobby of General Electric’s corporate headquarters in Fairfield, Connecticut. “They needed an 18 by 6 foot piece, very large, for the lobby. It took two years to finish the commission and I got to know him quite well during the process.” Thirty years ago she founded Isabella Garrucho Fine Art, a gallery specializing in contemporary and modern art. Over the years she has built a reputation for assembling quality art collections, working closely with both private collectors and corporate clients, and has helped develop more than 150 corporate art collections, including for General Electric, Pepsi, and Xerox. Her new gallery, Iconica Fine Art, represents, “a diverse selection of artists and serves a global clientele, providing services such as art acquisition, art sales guidance to new or young collectors, collection management, and art advisory.” Recently she sourced a Fernand Léger sculpture and two important Rufino Tamayo paintings for an American businessman based in Peru. “I often buy and sell for the same clients, when they want something new,” she says. “Collectors like to change things around with their artwork all the time.”



Left: Susan Rothenberg, Red Dance, 1986. Single color lithograph, 20 x 14½ in. framed. Edition of 31. Image courtesy of Isabella Garrucho Gallery. Right: Isabella Garrucho.





Leila Heller

Leila Heller Gallery, New York and Dubai


For four decades Leila Heller has been a fixture on the New York and international gallery scene and a pioneer in promoting creative dialogue and exchange between Western artists and Middle Eastern, Central, and Southeast Asian artists. In 2015, Leila Heller Gallery branched out, opening a second gallery in Dubai. Located in the art district Alserkal Avenue, it is 16,500 square feet with 32-foot ceilings, featuring three exhibition spaces and making it, according to the gallery website, “the largest gallery in the Middle East.” The program in Dubai mixes regional and international artists with a strong focus on artists from Iran, where Heller was born and maintains family ties. Part of the mission of the Dubai gallery, she says, “is to promote knowledge and understanding about art and artists via innovative curatorial and educational programs with an emphasis on promoting a dialogue between Western and Middle Eastern artists.” Gallery artists and exhibitors include Y.Z. KamiFarideh Lashai, Shiva Ahmadi, Maria José Benvenuto, and Wim Delvoye. “I’ve always been proud to be a female art dealer in New York, carving out a space in a field largely dominated by men,” Heller says. She has found an even greater sense of recognition in the Middle East, where she says her work is met with real respect and admiration: “It’s a region where women have long been leaders in the art world — curators, dealers, and directors — completely defying typical Western assumptions of gender relations. I love being part of a story that not only challenges those perceptions but highlights the strength and influence of women across the global art scene.”





Lorna York

Madison Gallery, Solana Beach, California


Under the direction of founder Lorna York, a 40-year art world veteran and collector, this 4,000-square-foot California gallery represents artists who, she explains, “share her powerful and eloquent vision” of art as a tool for dialogue between cultures and creating a sense of community. “I first began art collecting when traveling, as different cultures have always inspired me,” says York. “The mission of my gallery is to bring global contemporary art from artists worldwide to Southern California.” Madison Gallery presents a global exhibition program that includes Alex KatzLaura Lappi, Jaehyo Lee, Donald MartinyRetnaHunt SlonemDonald Sultan, and Claire Kirkup. The gallery specializes in Latin artists and prides itself on providing a platform for young and talented artists to launch their careers; Santiago Parra, Angel Ricardo Rios, and Ernesto Garcia Sanchez are among those who have shown with the gallery. The gallery also builds private, corporate, and public collections. “My care and attention to artist relations at the gallery give art a space to thrive in Southern California by creating a stronger sense of community here and with the wider art world,” she says.




Melissa Morgan

Melissa Morgan Fine Art, Palm Desert, California


Melissa Morgan is the founder and owner of Melissa Morgan Fine Art, in Palm Desert in Southern California, representing a stable of important, established, and award-winning artists. Her 6,000 square-foot gallery abuts a half-acre outdoor sculpture garden on El Paseo Drive in Palm Desert, and has, she says, “become a destination for art collectors and enthusiasts from around the world.” Carole FeuermanAnthony JamesEd Moses, and James Surls are among the artists she has worked with in a career that spans close to 25 years of art dealing and cultural patronage. “My ethos as a gallerist is rooted in the intimacy of art and the belief that we can learn much about ourselves, and others, through interacting and sharing interpretations of what activates us as we explore art,” she says. In addition to running her gallery, Morgan is actively involved in the Palm Desert community and is a strong advocate for the arts and education in the Coachella Valley. Each year, Melissa Morgan Fine Art plays host to multiple charity and fundraising events that benefit the Palm Springs Art Museum, Idyllwild Arts Academy, Bighorn BAM, and Think Together, among other non-profits.



Left: A gallery view at Melissa Morgan Fine Art: Bronze sculptures by Carole A. Feuerman, a Wall Portal in stainless steel, glass and LED by Anthony James, and Axe#1, 2014 by Ed Moses.



“My ethos as a gallerist is the intimacy of art and the belief  
that we can learn much about ourselves, and others, through interacting  
and sharing interpretations of what activates us as we explore art.” 

— Melissa Morgan, Melissa Morgan Fine Art




Isabel Sullivan
Isabel Sullivan Gallery, New York



After working in galleries in New York’s Chelsea and SoHo districts for a decade, Sullivan opened her eponymous gallery in 2023 on Lispenard Street in the heart of Tribeca’s design and gallery district. “The mission of our gallery is to create an inviting space that is transparent, fair, and welcoming to all visitors,” Sullivan says. Her gallery exhibits a mix of artists from radically varying backgrounds at varying moments in their careers, including Joseph SantorePia DehneElisa JensenRichard Hambleton, and Frank Webster. Her next exhibition brings together three international women painters. “We seek out exceptional talent and are dedicated to supporting our artists’ future growth, renaissance, or rediscovery,” she says. Sullivan also has a desire to make her gallery more than just a venue for showing art. “We approach our space with the desired outcome of benefiting and enriching all, and open our doors to share in diverse experiences.”



“I want to use my platform to show more women and queer artists,” says Sullivan. “While the most important thing to me is to seek out great art, and there are many wonderful male artists that I work with, I’m interested in showing more diverse points of view, ones that I can relate to and also learn from.”




Dorothy Solomon
DSA Fine Arts Ltd., New York



Dorothy Solomon has spent decades as a gallerist, art consultant and private dealer in art. Her practice frequently mirrors the process an interior designer goes through when decorating a home for their clients. “I believe art is a dialogue between space and spirit,” she says. “My philosophy is rooted in the idea that art is more than a decorative choice; it is an emotional anchor that ties together the elements of a space. With a curator’s eye, I strive to ensure that each work chosen for a space speaks directly to my clients’ hearts and reflects the essence of the art, client, and the space it inhabits.” Solomon views each project she works on as a “partnership” with her clients and their interests. “My role is to translate their vision into a cohesive, inspiring environment that is visually stunning, emotionally enriching as well as profoundly personal. Their satisfaction is my ultimate measure of success.”  As an example, she recently worked with an interior designer for a female television personality, placing work by women artists in a New York apartment and a Connecticut country home. The work chosen for the New York apartment was “Autumn Flow”, a photograph by Mexican-American artist Brenda Perry-Herrera dealing with man-made environmental issues. For Connecticut, Solomon installed a painting titled “Synergy” by Canadian artist Vicki Smith that depicts the serene image of a woman swimming in an abstracted watery landscape, part of a series that uses water as a metaphor for memory and the remembered sensations evoked in viewing the paintings.





Vicki Smith oil on canvas, Synergy.


“My philosophy is rooted in the idea that art 
is more than a decorative choice; it is an emotional anchor 
that ties together the elements of a space.”

— Dorothy Solomon, DSA Fine Arts





Madison Maushart

M Fine Arts Galerie, Boston and Palm Beach


Madison Maushart, co-founder of M Fine Arts Galerie, brings what she describes as a “cosmopolitan, wide-ranging, and interdisciplinary approach” to showing art in her galleries in Palm Beach and Boston’s hip downtown SoWa arts district. Maushart’s father was an artist and growing up with art all around her had a strong impact, she believes, on her own decision to work in the arts. It also gave her “an appreciation for art, complemented by a passion for interior design and a keen eye for detail.” She learned the gallery trade working at Axelle Fine Arts in Back Bay until 2016 when Madison and Mitch Plotkin decided to create a space of their own. They operate two gallery spaces in Boston, allowing them to display a greater range of artwork: one gallery is dedicated to solo exhibitions, every 4 to 6 weeks, while the other hosts a rotating group show along with other cultural activities including fashion events, music performances, and live painting demonstrations with gallery artists. Maushart is committed to representing a diverse range of contemporary international artists, she says, among them the important Spanish artist Diego Benéitez. Her philosophy on dealing is centered on “treating everyone who visits the gallery with equal respect and warmth.”





Margaret Campbell-Ryder

Red Hill Gallery, Brisbane, Australia


Margaret Campbell-Ryder is a trailblazer in Brisbane’s vibrant contemporary art scene. She has championed over 120 Australian artists over decades as a dealer, working in all genres including realist, impressionist, and contemporary paintings, works on paper, bronze sculptures, art glass, and ceramics. Margaret’s dealer philosophy centers on the significance of nurturing her artists. “At its essence, art forges a profound emotional and personal connection with the viewer. However, to ensure the artist’s success, it must also be expertly presented, marketed, and sold,” she says. Founded in 1986, Red Hill Gallery quickly became an integral part of Brisbane’s rich cultural landscape. “Every submission to show with us holds the promise of discovery; we’re very aware that the next great Australian artist could be around the corner. The anticipation of who might walk through our doors keeps us inspired and excited.” As an active member of the Association of Women Art Dealers and Women Chiefs of Enterprises International, Margaret has sights on the international art market. “We are committed to elevating our artists’ profiles both nationally and internationally and we are proud to bring Australian art to the global stage.”





Christelle Thomas

IdeelArt, London


IdeelArt is an online gallery dedicated to showing and selling abstract art by international artists. The gallery, founded in London in 2014, is run by CEO and site co-founder Christelle Thomas, who is a trailblazer in the emerging area of online artist representation. She describes IdeelArt and herself as “not just an online gallery but an online gallerist.” IdeelArt currently includes a curated collection of over 3,000 artworks by about 100 established and emerging artists, all at varied price points. The gallery provides online support to collectors and interior designers and offers free shipping on everything worldwide. “IdeelArt has built a unique and dynamic digital distribution model that engages an audience of over 15 million global visitors monthly, including seasoned and younger collectors, art professionals, and novices,” she says. Part of the value and appeal of the site is an online magazine with over 800 in-depth articles, artist interviews, and exhibition reviews that she says “aims to foster a deeper appreciation for abstract art.” “IdeelArt continues to set standards in the art world, making contemporary abstraction accessible,” Thomas says.





A work in progress in the studio of artist Hans Neleman.


Ronni Anderson

Anderson Contemporary, New York


Anderson Contemporary was founded by Ronni Anderson in 2015 in New York City’s Financial District in lower Manhattan. As a pioneering force in the FiDi art scene, Anderson created a platform, she says, “where artists could push boundaries and inspire new perspectives.” Anderson Contemporary has presented a diverse range of exhibitions including a show of all-women Chinese artists, street art shows, and annual interactive animation exhibitions aligned with the New York Animation Film Festival. “Our gallery mission is to support ongoing collaborations with accomplished artists in fresh and innovative ways while providing a personalized experience for both new and loyal collectors seeking artwork that resonates with them,” says Anderson, who in September 2024 shifted her focus away from maintaining a physical gallery space to selling and promoting artists via private deals, studio tours, art fairs, and curatorial and collaborative projects. The gallery has participated in art fairs such as Scope, The Affordable Art Fair, Art Chicago, and Art Miami. “Anderson Contemporary will continue with the mission to nurture creativity and foster dynamic exchanges of ideas in new and innovative ways,” she says.




Valentina Puccioni

Arco Gallery, New York


Valentina Puccioni was born in Florence, Italy, and after earning a Master’s in Art History from the University of Siena, relocated to New York where she co-founded the Vanni Archive, a collection of over 100,000 images of art and architecture. In 2014, driven by “a deep passion for connecting artists and collectors,” she founded Arco Gallery in SoHo. Her philosophy as a dealer is rooted, “in offering a personalized and thoughtful approach to collecting.”


She focuses not on market trends, but on creating meaningful relationships between artists and collectors. “I often like to say that creating art is for those with a vision while collecting art is for those who feel that vision enhances their own lives. Facilitating this connection is what brings me the greatest fulfillment.” Puccioni has helped curate numerous private and public art collections including those for New York City residential buildings built by CAMBA Housing Ventures, a non-profit affordable housing developer. “The positive impact of art on health and well-being is widely recognized, and I believe art should be accessible to all, regardless of financial status. CHV’s visionary approach has made it possible to provide that access to many New York residents who would otherwise be excluded from this.”


“I often like to say that creating art is for those with a vision while 
collecting art is for those who feel that vision enhances their own lives. Facilitating this connection is what brings me the greatest fulfillment.”

– Valentina Puccioni, Arco Gallery







Pamela Bryan

Octavia Art Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana


Octavia Art Gallery was founded in New Orleans by Pamela Bryan in 2008. The mission of the gallery is, as Bryan explains, “to showcase contemporary artists from everywhere along with modern masters, emphasizing the preservation and conservation of unique, authentic artistic cultures worldwide.” To this end, the gallery has fostered close relationships with artists living in Cuba and often presents exhibitions featuring Cuban and Cuban-American artists. The gallery represents the estate of first-generation Abstract Expressionist artist Fritz Bultman and the Art Deco sculptor Enrique Alférez. Bryan also manages a busy art consulting service nationally, advising new and established corporate and private art collections on their acquisitions and collection management, and says she finds this the most rewarding part of the job. Her clients include Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and New York Presbyterian Hospital.





Margery E. Goldberg

Zenith Gallery, Washington, D.C.


“There are certainly a lot of observations I’ve made over the years, being a woman art dealer,” says Margery E. Goldberg, sculptor, furniture designer, and art dealer, who founded Zenith Gallery in Washington D.C. five decades ago. “When I first came into the business in 1978, the people who made decisions on buying art were men. If a woman came in she would have to drag her husband in to decide if they were going to buy it. The clients in the business today have changed, meaning that now you are dealing with single people, gay people, women deciders, a whole different variety of people are now buying art.” The gallery began at Zenith Square in D.C., a 50,000-square-foot complex established by Goldberg as an affordable haven for young artists to work, live, and share their art. Today, the gallery is located in the residential area of Shepherd Park and maintains its history and tradition of supporting artists of all genders and ethnicities. “I show more women than men artists and always have done so,” she says. “I show a lot of black artists, too, and always have from the time I opened 46 years ago.” Her most recent show was on Kamala Harris and Tim Walz — she asked her artist friends, almost 40 of them, to do portraits of the Democratic presidential political team. “I like to show all kinds of art, especially art with social impact. I like artists who think, who dream up their own techniques, who use imagination.”