The 6 Gallery was one of the most iconic spaces in San Francisco where Beat Generation artists and poets shared their ideas and art. Founded in 1954 at 3119 Fillmore Street, the small venue served as focal point for exhibitions, poetry readings, and theatrical events. The six titular founders, Wally Hedrick, Deborah Remington, Hayward King, David Simpson, Jack Spicer, and John Allen Ryan, were committed to the ideas of removing barriers for others to exhibit. Their cooperative structure empowered young artists, including a 17-year-old Joan Brown, to show their work to the public. Other, more established artists like Hassel Smith and James Weeks were equally as eager to exhibit, and the involvement of these and other professors who taught the founders at the California School of Fine Arts (later the San Francisco Art Institute) propelled the 6 Gallery into the limelight. The close ties between artists and poets only strengthened at the 6 Gallery, where Spicer and Ryan brought their cohort of fellow writers. The most famous of all those poetry events, Allen Ginsberg’s reading of Howl, took place on October 7, 1955.
This exhibition honors the legacy of that day that marks one of the most important moments in Beat history and the place where it took place. The artists, poets, and writers who shaped the 6 Gallery would all go on to illustrious careers, but their experiences at the 6 Gallery remain as some of the most powerful reminders of the special, interdisciplinary connections of the Beat Generation.
Please come join us at the John Natsoulas Gallery for this singular exhibition in honor of the 70th anniversary of Ginsberg’s reading. Featuring the works of many of the most prominent artists who showed at the 6 Gallery, this will be an unparalleled look into the styles and subjects that gripped the Beat Generation. A new publication will accompany this exhibition, and the Davis Jazz Beat Festival on October 11 will honor the legacy of the many poets and musicians.
Manuel Neri, Woman Bath, 1955, Mixed media on canvas, 42 x 56 in
Leo Valledor, Jainos, 1956, Oil on board, 18 x 14 in
Bruce Connor, Puzzle, 1957, Mixed Media, 29 x 29 x 1.5 in
Edward Corbett, Untitled (7/50), c. 1955, Lithograph, 25 x 22 in
Jay DeFeo, Untitled (Berkeley), 1953, Tempera and acrylic with paper collage on rag board, 22.13 x 28 in
Joan Brown, Cucumber and Lemon, 1965, Oil on plywood, 16.25 x 15 in
David Simpson, Untitled, 1956, oil on canvas, 35 x 35 in
Elmer Bischoff, Woman with Towel, 1959, Ink Wash on Paper
Elmer Bischoff, Reclining Woman, 1959, Graphite on paper, 12 x 9 in
Fred Martin, Architecture, 1955, Oil on Masonite, 10.5 x 14 in
Jess, Untitled, 1957, Oil on canvas with velvet frame, 17 x 21 in
Manuel Neri, Untitled Floral Study No. 1, 1957, Tempera and pencil on wove paper, 19 x 22 in
Miriam Hoffman, Untitled (Female Form), c. 1953, Ceramic and cement, 12 x 4.5 x 6 in
Roy De Forest, Red Abstraction, 1952 Lithograph, 19.5 x 28 in
Miriam Hoffman, United, 1957, charcoal and ink on paper, 12 x 8.25 in
Wally Hedrick, Untitled, 1952, Oil on board in artist frame, 39.5 x 33.5 in
Jack Jefferson, Mission #9, 1956, oil on canvas, 58 x 52
Sonia Gechtoff, Happy Birthday Madeleine, 1953, Oil on canvas, 44.5 x 70.5 in
Madeleine Dimond, Truman, 1950, Oil and mixed media on canvas, 36 x 30 in
Deborah Remington, On the Scene, 1954, Lithograph, 22 x 16 in
Roy De Forest, Fredie, 1957, Watercolor and paper on board, 44 x 28 in
Jack Jefferson, Front Street, Harrington #3, 1964, Oil on canvas, 62.5 x 55.75 in
John Allen Ryan, Untitled, 1954, Oil on canvas, 18 x 24 in
Hassel Smith, Ride Home, 1950, Crayon on paper8.5 x 11 in
Michael McClure, Self Portrait with Ghost, 1956, Ripolin enamel on paper30 x 20 in
Studio Door Nine Mission 83 x 33 x 3 in