Charles Cowles (born 1941) is an American art dealer and a collector of contemporary art. Cowles was also a curator of Fine Art at the Seattle Art Museum from 1975 until 1979.
He opened his contemporary art gallery at 420 West Broadway in SoHo in lower Manhattan in 1979, mounting the first public exhibition there in April 1980. The Charles Cowles Gallery was finally located on 537 West 24th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues in Chelsea in New York City.
After thirty years as a successful art dealer he closed his contemporary art gallery and retired to a more private life. In June 2009, Charles Cowles announced his retirement and closed the gallery.[1]
Charles Cowles was the publisher of Artforum magazine from the mid-1960s until the early-1980s. He graduated from Stanford University in the early-1960s and originally operated the magazine in 1965 from Los Angeles, California. By 1967, he moved Artforum to Manhattan where it quickly became one of America's leading contemporary art magazines. His family was also connected to publishing via the Cowles Media Company.
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During its years of operation from April 1980 through July 2009 the Charles Cowles Gallery exhibited several artists including: Charles Arnoldi, Dennis Ashbaugh, David Bates (artist), Howard Ben Tré, Mark Boyle, Marsha Burns, Beatrice Caracciolo, Sandro Chia, Dale Chihuly, Gene Davis, Ronald Davis, Laddie Dill, Elizabeth Enders, William Eggleston, Vernon Fisher, Caio Fonseca, Richard Hamilton (artist), Tom Holland (artist), Patrick Ireland,[2][3] Harry Kramer (artist), Ronnie Landfield,[4] Terence LaNoue, Frank Lobdell, Michael Lucero, Doug Martin (artist), Wilhelm Moser, Robert Motherwell, Manuel Neri, Nathan Oliveira, Beverly Pepper, Joanna Pousette-Dart, Mimmo Rotella, Al Souza, Toshiko Takaezu, Peter Voulkos, Martin Saar, Italo Scanga, Frank Stella, Darren Waterston, William T. Wiley, Xiaoze Xie, Robert Yoder[5]