The Annina Nosei Gallery was a New York City gallery founded in 1981 by the Italian-American curator Annina Nosei. Based in SoHo and, after 1995, in Chelsea, the gallery was instrumental in introducing to a market largely dominated by minimalism and conceptual art the work of Italian and German figurative painters as well as young Americans painting in the style that was to become known as Neo-Expressionism. From its inception until its closing in 2005, the Annina Nosei Gallery continued to promote young artists. Annina Nosei was born in Rome, Italy, and received doctorates in literature and philosophy from the University of Rome, where she studied under the art historian Giulian Carlo Argan, writing a thesis on Duchamp for him. She received a Fulbright in 1964 to study in the United States, where she taught at the University of Michigan and later at UCLA, St. John's University in Manhattan, and Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn. While teaching at UCLA in 1965, Nosei met the art dealer John Weber, to whom she was married from 1966 to 1973. Her first gallery experience was in helping to organize and install shows at Weber's gallery in Los Angeles. In 1979, Nosei began to show and deal art in a loft owned by Larry Gagosian at 421 West Broadway, New York City, across the street from the Leo Castelli Gallery. In 1980, Nosei opened her own gallery in SoHo at 100 Prince Street. In 1995, the gallery moved to 530 West 22nd Street, in Chelsea, and closed in 2005. Nosei is probably most known for being Jean-Michel Basquiat's first dealer, from 1981 to about 1983, and for providing him with materials and with a space to work (the gallery's basement). Though known primarily for representing German and American Neo-Expressionists and Italian New Image painters, the Annina Nosei Gallery represented or exhibited a diverse range of artists, such as Barabra Kruger, Robert Longo, Julio Galan, Ghada Amer, Jenny Watson, Shirin Neshat, Tsibi Geva, Graciela Hasper, and Alan McCollum. Sources: Chernow, Burt. (2000). Christo and Jeanne-Claude: a biography. New York: St. Martin's Press. (2002). The New York Times Guide to the Arts of the 20th Century, Vol. IV, 1980-1989. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Krantz, Les. (1985). American art galleries: the illustrated guide to thir art and artists. New York: Facts on File Publications. Private communication with Annina Nosei, March 16, 2011. Smith, Roberta. (June 1, 2008). "John Weber, 75, Contemporary-Art Dealer, Is Dead." The New York Times. From http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/arts/design/01weber.html Thompson, Donald N. (2008). The $12 million stuffed shark: the curious economics of contemporary art. London: Aurum Press. de Coppet, L. & Jones, A. (1984). The Art Dealers. New York: Cooper Square Press.
From the guide to the Annina Nosei Gallery Archive, 1963-2009, (© 2010 Fales Library and Special Collections)
