I just get inspired to take a picture by the beauty and vulnerability of my friends.
Nan Goldin, High Museum of Art
Mark McDonald has always been at the epicenter of the world that is mid-century design, to a large extent, it is a world he created. For over forty years, Mark has pioneered whole fields of collecting, providing the scholarship and creating the market for mid-century furniture, studio jewelry, ceramics and Italian glass.
In 1983, Mark opened Fifty/50 with partners Mark Isaacson and Ralph Cutler. This groundbreaking gallery defined collectors’ taste. At the time, modern works were still largely overlooked; Mark and his partners collected and presented the rarest and most interesting pieces, often working with the makers themselves, to create compelling exhibitions accompanied by catalogs documenting the work.
In the 1990s, Mark opened Gansevoort Gallery, where he continued to curate collections and exhibitions of lasting impact. Over the years, he established relationships with artists and their estates becoming the go to authority on the designs of Art Smith, Ilonka Karasz and Leza McVey, among others. His enthusiasm for the material extended beyond the gallery floor to the back room where lucky visitors got to flip through Mark’s impressive design reference library and discuss the importance of works with him.
A connoisseur and wealth of knowledge, Mark became a resource for prominent collections across the globe—private and public alike. He inspired a generation of collectors and dealers introducing designers and their production to an audience that continues to grow. In 2002, Mark closed Gansevoort and established 330 gallery in Hudson, New York. Now, semi-retired, Marks splits his time between New York and Florida. He still collects, curates, supports, and shepherds the scholarship of mid-century design.
Nan Goldin b. 1953
A pioneer of diaristic photography, Nan Goldin is an influential American artist and activist known for her intimate and compelling portrayal of the lives and experiences of marginalized communities, especially her own immediate circle of friends. Born on September 12, 1953, in Washington, D.C., Goldin grew up in a middle-class Jewish family. Her early years were marked by a tumultuous relationship with her parents and her sister’s death by suicide when Goldin was 11 years old.
Goldin's interest in photography began during her teenage years, when she received her first camera as a gift. She attended the Satya Community School in Massachusetts and later studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It was during this time that she started capturing her friends and acquaintances in their everyday lives, exploring themes of love, identity, queerness, sexuality, and addiction. Goldin moved to New York City in the 1970s, where she immersed herself in the city's vibrant art scene, becoming part of a transgressive community of artists, musicians, drag queens, and other individuals who would later form the subject of her most famous work, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency. Comprised of hundreds of photographs accompanied by music, the groundbreaking slideshow presented an unflinching and honest portrayal of love, lust, addiction, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Beyond her work as an artist, Goldin has been a passionate advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and the fight against HIV/AIDS. In 2017, she founded the influential organization Prescription Addiction Intervention Now, or P.A.I.N., with the goal of holding the Sackler family responsible for their role in the opioid crisis. She is the subject of Laura Poitras’s 2022 documentary All the Beauty and the Bloodshed. Goldin's work has left an indelible mark on the world of photography, and her ability to capture the beauty and pain of human existence in a deeply personal and unapologetic way continues to resonate with audiences worldwide.
Auction Results Nan Goldin
