Independent Curators International (ICI) will honor Marian Goodman with the 2016 Leo Award. The award honors the legacy of pioneering art dealer Leo Castelli, an early supporter of ICI, which helps support contemporary art curators, and recognizes Goodman’s commitment to and advocacy on behalf of her artists and her major contributions to the field.
Goodman, the first gallerist to be so honored, will receive her award at ICI’s Annual Benefit & Auction, which will take place in New York on Wednesday, October 26, 2016. The organization will also recognize a to-be-named emerging curator, selected from nominations by leading international curators, with the biannual Gerrit Lansing Independent Vision Award.
“Last year, ICI marked its 40th anniversary, a milestone that Marian Goodman Gallery will celebrate just a year from now,” said Renaud Proch, ICI’s executive director. “We’re proud to honor Marian Goodman for her steadfast support of so many of the artists who move us, impact society, and help us make sense of the world in which we live.”
In a press release, the organization praised Goodman for her “deep commitment to fostering the careers of some of the most significant and respected artists of our times, with a distinctive vision—international in scope, thoughtful, and always intimately supportive of the creative process—that is in many ways connected to ICI’s mission.”
Marian Goodman Gallery first opened its doors in 1977, with an inaugural exhibition of Marcel Broodthaers, the first US show for the Belgian artist and pioneer of “institutional critique.” The gallery has since expanded to Paris (1997) and London (2014). Before that, Goodman ran Multiples, a publisher of prints, multiples, and books by artists, including John Baldessari, Broodthaers, Roy Lichtenstein, and Gerhard Richter founded in 1965.
Past recipients of the Leo Award include Michael Govan, director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Greek art collector Dimitris Daskalopoulos; Roy and Dorothy Lichtenstein; fashion designer Miuccia Prada, co-founder of Milan’s Fondazione Prada; and Dasha Zhukova, Russian-American philanthropist, art collector and founder of the Garage Museum for Contemporary Art in Moscow.