Ellsworth Kelly Residence & Studio / Agnes Martin Residence & Studio

History

In the mid-1950s, a small group of progressive artists settled in the largely vacant loft spaces in the old seaport counting houses on and just off of Coenties Slip in Lower Manhattan. The group included Robert Indiana (then still known as Bob Clarke), Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, James Rosenquist, Leonore Tawney, Ann Wilson, and Jack Youngerman. They would become some of the most influential artists in post-war America. According to Prudence Peiffer, in her comprehensive examination of this artist’s colony:

The artists of the Coenties Slip group worked in various styles and used a wide variety of materials, but all were inspired by their location, either borrowing motifs from their urban environment or adapting materials and motifs found in and on the old buildings. They also established a close community, socializing together and in some cases establishing loving partnerships.

Ellsworth Kelly Residence & Studio
The first artists moved onto Coenties Slip in 1956. Robert Indiana (1928-2018) rented a loft at 31 Coenties Slip (demolished), later moving to No. 25 (demolished), and Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015) rented the top floor of 3 Coenties Slip in July 1956 for a monthly rent of $45. Kelly and Indiana soon became lovers. Kelly lived above an Irish pub in a loft that Peiffer describes as “an expansive if dirty space that, after cleaning and scraping walls and rafters for a week, he painted and immediately filled with his art and plants.” Kelly lived here for seven years during which time he perfected the style of refined, color-saturated canvases with simple forms and masses that was to define his career. They reflect his efforts to perceive shapes in space. This is especially evident in an important series of large paintings that juxtapose curved and rectilinear shapes in red, green, and blue. These paintings were, as art historian Hugh M. Davies notes, “strikingly new and exciting.” Kelly explored the Lower Manhattan neighborhood and was inspired by the waterfront, the Brooklyn Bridge, and other physical attributes of the area.

Just before moving to Coenties Slip, Kelly had his first exhibition, at the Midtown Manhattan gallery owned by Betty Parsons, who would represent many of the Coenties Slip artists. While living at Coenties Slip, Kelly continued to exhibit with Parsons, notably at a one-man show in 1963.

In 1958, famed arts photographer Hans Namuth photographed Kelly as part of a commission to record American artists whose work was on display at the Brussels World’s Fair; Kelly insisted on the inclusion of his Coenties Slip colleagues, resulting in a series of images reflecting the camaraderie amongst these artists.

Agnes Martin Residence & Studio
In 1957 Agnes Martin (1912-2004) moved to New York at the behest of gallerist Betty Parsons. In 1959 she moved into the vacant third floor loft at 3 Coenties Slip. She and Kelly had breakfast together for a year and a half and Kelly called her “the earth mother, a kind of sage.” While living and working on Coenties Slip, Martin experimented with canvases that displayed large abstract geometric forms. Art historian Tiffany Bell suggests that this reflects the influence of Kelly. In about 1959, her canvases began to evolve into the austere crosshatched grids for which she is famous. Although extremely reductionist, art historian Arne Glimcher explains that:

In c. 1962 Martin moved into a loft at 28 South Street (demolished). While living Downtown Martin developed a close, probably romantic relationship with textile artist Leonore Tawney who lived at 27 South Street (demolished), and also had an affair with Greek-American artist Chryssa.

As the neighborhood around Coenties Slip changed dramatically with the demolition of many of the old loft buildings, the artists moved elsewhere. In 1963, Kelly relocated to a studio on the ninth floor of the Hotel Des Artistes at 1 West 67th Street. He lived there until 1970, when he began purchasing property in Spencertown, New York, where he stayed until his death, sharing his life with photographer Jack Shear. In 1967, when her South Street building was scheduled for demolition, Martin purchased a camper and headed west, eventually settling in New Mexico.

Entry by Andrew S. Dolkart, project director (September 2026).

NOTE: Names above in bold indicate LGBT people.