To merely call Leo Castelli a famous art dealer would be an understatement.  One of the most influential people in American art, Castelli single handedly altered public consciousness by introducing Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Conceptual Art and Minimalism to the landscape of New York City’s gallery scene.  Always the champion of up and coming artists, the Leo Castelli gallery was a launch pad for some of contemporary art’s most famous names. 

Born Leo Krausz in Trieste, Italy (his Jewish family name changed under Mussolini’s fascist laws), Castelli’s foray into the art world came in 1951 with his curation of the ground breaking 9^th Street Art Exhibition.  The show featured a thoroughbred stable of new Avant-garde artists, with works by Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko.  The show, which cost Castelli only a few hundred dollars, established him as a tastemaker and forecaster. “Leo was more interested in what was coming up than in what had already bloomed,” explained his first wife Ileana.   In 1957 he opened the Leo Castelli gallery, at its first location on E 77^th St.  The following year saw the addition of Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg to the gallery.  Castelli was, reportedly, immediately taken with Johns’ uniquely American vision, offering him a show within minutes of meeting him.  Soon to follow was a twenty-three year old Frank Stella.  Castelli had an immense talent for discovering genius, but not without contention.  When he brought on Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, both Rauschenberg and Johns protested the inclusion of the Pop artists.  The Leo Castelli Gallery also saw Minimalism’s inauguration into the art world, recruiting Donald Judd, Don Flavin and Robert Morris to the gallery. 

Castelli died on August 21,1999 in his apartment in Manhattan.  The Leo Castelli Gallery continues to operate at 18 E 77^th St.  His legacy to art is immeasurable.  Rare Posters caries several posters from the galleries’ historic exhibitions by Richard Serra, James Rosenquist, Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Bruce Nauman, Robert Rauschenberg and more!