Helen Gee

Helen Gee (1919-2004) was an influential art gallery owner.[1][2] She was born as Helen Charlotte Wimmer in Jersey City, New Jersey, and went to New York when she was sixteen to live with a modernist painter named Yun Gee.[3] They were married in 1942, but when Yun was diagnosed with schizophrenia and threatened to become violent, Helen left him, taking their infant daughter Li-lan.[1][3] She later married Kevin Sullivan, but that ended in divorce.[1] Gee taught herself transparency retouching for a living.[1] In the 1950s, she came across a photography show at the Museum of Modern Art, which inspired her interest in photography.[1]

In 1954 she opened New York's first important post-war photography gallery, the Limelight, on Seventh Avenue South and Barrow Street.[2] Although the gallery closed in 1961 due to financial pressure, it had pioneered sales of photographs as art.[2]

In the late 1970s Gee worked as a photography curator, lecturer and writer.[1]

In 1997 she published her memoir of her time with the Limelight, itself titled Limelight: A Memoir.[2][4]

Gee's gallery was inside a coffee shop, and the Village Voice's first Obie Awards ceremony was held at her café.[2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Loke, Margaret, "Helen Gee, Pioneer in Sales of Photos as Art, Dies at 85", New York Times, 13 October 2004, accessed on 21 November 2013
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Aletti, Vince, "Helen Gee 1919–2004", Village Voice (New York, NY), 12 October 2004, accessed on 21 November 2013
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Staff, "Helen Gee, 85; Her Gallery Pioneered Sales of Photographs as Art", Los Angeles Times, 14 October 2004, accessed on 21 November 2013
  4. ↑ Tallmer, Jerry, "Helen Gee, 85, proprietor of famed Limelight cafe", The Villager (New York, NY), 20–26 October 2004, accessed on 12 November 2013