From Elaine Horwitch’s founding in downtown Santa Fe to Robert Gardner and Kenneth Marvel’s expansion into the Railyard, LewAllen Galleries celebrates fifty years representing contemporary art.
In an art-saturated and sometimes transient town like Santa Fe, if staying in business for five years merits recognition, then fifty years must warrant a parade, or at least some kind of medal. What’s now known as LewAllen Galleries was founded in 1976 on Palace Avenue by Southwest art doyenne Elaine Horwitch, who presided over it until her sudden death in 1991. Her family members ran the gallery until 1994, when it was purchased by Arlene LewAllen, who owned it until her (also unexpected) death in 2002.
The most recent owners, life and business partners Robert Gardner and Kenneth Marvel, assumed stewardship in 2003. The gallery has expanded in their tenure, growing to two locations in 2007, the original downtown space plus a new 14,000-square-foot building in the Railyard—designed by Santa Fe’s DNCA Architects, who are also responsible for New Mexico Museum of Art’s Vladem Contemporary and the forthcoming expansion of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. In addition to double-height ceilings and smaller, more intimate galleries, LewAllen’s Railyard location boasts an outdoor sculpture terrace and climate-controlled underground storage.
The main galleries in the new building have the scale and feel of a museum, which, according to Marvel, is also by design. “We made the decision in 2007 that to properly pursue our goals of excellence in the artistic program, we needed to match it with a level of excellence in our exhibitions of that art,” he explains. LewAllen’s roster is diverse, ranging from Forrest Moses’s Northern New Mexico landscapes and Carol Mothner’s delicate florals to John Kiley’s bright glass sculptures. This disparate work is united under LewAllen’s curatorial philosophy. “We base our decisions on a consistent guiding principle,” Marvel says. “Art should affect the viewer with deep aesthetic interest. […] Art should produce joy, have the capacity to transform and improve, and maybe even make the heart skip in wonder.”
