1. Mary Pinchot Meyer

    Mary Pinchot Meyer’s (October 14, 1920 – October 12, 1964) exhibition at Jefferson Place in November 1963, was given a rave review by Leslie Judd Ahlander in The Washington Post. Ahlander wrote “Using the tondo, or circular, canvas, Mary Meyer divides the area into curved and sinuous areas that sometimes seem to set the tondo to […]

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  2. An Interview with Curator and Archivist Susan Rosenbaum

    A curator and archivist by profession, Susan Rosenbuam inherited an artistic mantle from her famous artist father, Benjamin Abramowitz. What follows is an interview with Ms. Rosenbaum concerning her memories of the Jefferson Place Gallery, and the Washington D.C. art world at that time. RB: Thank you for agreeing to chat with me about the […]

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  3. Sam Gilliam + Olivia: an Interview with Carol Harrison

    Carol Harrison has been a professional photographer, taking images of individuals, artworks, events, and buildings in Washington, D.C., for nearly four decades. Through her work she developed a friendship with the artist Sam Gilliam, and over two decades took a series of portraits of Sam with her daughter, Olivia. Those images (one of which appears […]

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  4. An Introduction to Jefferson Place Gallery

    The Jefferson Place Gallery is considered to be the first DC art gallery almost exclusively focused on representing and supporting the local avant garde artist community. Founded in 1957 by several faculty members from American University—William Calfee, Robert Gates, Helene McKinsey, Mary Orwen*, Ben Summerford—along with Alice Denney, who assumed the role of the gallery’s […]

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  5. Inauspicious Beginnings

    It happened in a class at American University in the spring of 1957. Alice Denney was taking a course in painting from Ben Summerford. He paused by her canvas, looked at the work, and uttered seven words that would change the course of her life and the DC arts scene. “Mrs. Denney… you really must […]

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  6. The Landlord

      60 years removed from the founding of the Jefferson Place Gallery, many of the memories are condensed to vignettes: a blurry snapshot rich in color. Some just add to the texture.   Alex Dematatis was the owner of 1216 Connecticut Avenue NW, the first location of the Jefferson Place Gallery. When Alice Denney put […]

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