Incollect Magazine - Issue 9

80 www.incollect.com Margery E. Goldberg Zenith Gallery, Washington, D.C. “There are certainly a lot of observations I’ve made over the years, being a woman art dealer,” says Margery E. Goldberg, sculptor, furniture designer, and art dealer, who founded Zenith Gallery in Washington DC five decades ago. “When I first came into the business in 1978, the people who made decisions on buying art were men. If a woman came in she would have to drag her husband in to decide if they were going to buy it. The clients in the business today have changed, meaning that now you are dealing with single people, gay people, women deciders, a whole different variety of people are now buying art.” The gallery began at Zenith Square in D.C., a 50,000-square-foot complex established by Goldberg as an affordable haven for young artists to work, live, and share their art. Today, the gallery is located in the residential area of Shepherd Park and maintains its history and tradition of supporting artists of all genders and ethnicities. “I show more women than men artists and always have done so,” she says. “I show a lot of black artists, too, and always have from the time I opened 46 years ago.” Her most recent show was on Kamala Harris and Tim Walz — she asked her artist friends, almost 40 of them, to do portraits of the Democratic presidential political team. “I like to show all kinds of art, especially art with social impact. I like artists who think, who dream up their own techniques, who use imagination.” Pamela Bryan Octavia Art Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana Octavia Art Gallery was founded in New Orleans by Pamela Bryan in 2008. The mission of the gallery is, as Bryan explains, “to showcase contemporary artists from everywhere along with modern masters, emphasizing the preservation and conservation of unique, authentic artistic cultures worldwide.” To this end, the gallery has fostered close relationships with artists living in Cuba and often presents exhibitions featuring Cuban and Cuban-American artists. The gallery represents the estate of first-generation Abstract Expressionist artist Fritz Bultman and the Art Deco sculptor Enrique Alférez. Bryan also manages a busy art consulting service nationally, advising new and established corporate and private art collections on their acquisitions and collection management, and says she finds this the most rewarding part of the job. Her clients include Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and New York Presbyterian Hospital.