A Brief History
Tony Siani was born in 1939 in New York City. His family moved to Denver, Colorado in the late 1940’s. In 1962 he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Colorado in Boulder, where he studied with Roland Reiss, befriended Paul Georges and audited Clyfford Still.
Still shaped his understanding of abstract art, and most of the paintings produced in these years reflect this influence.
1939 - 1962
After moving to Hoboken, New Jersey in 1962, he moved away from abstraction and undertook several years of exploring figurative and mythological subjects.
During this time, he integrated in to the vibrant downtown New York City art world. He made regular appearances at The Club, frequented by many of the abstract expressionists, and at the Cedar Tavern.
There he formed lifelong friendships with Aristodimos Kaldis, Paul Resika, Howard Daum and Peter Heineman.
Another popular venue for social interaction was the Tuesday openings of many of the galleries on 10th Street. Summer months In the late 1960s were spent in Sag Harbor and East Hampton, on Long Island, where there was a thriving art scene initiated in the 1950s by the abstract expressionists.
1963 - 1967
By 1968, there was a growing division between the commercially successful uptown artists and many of the downtown artists who were exploring figurative subject matter.
Siani, who had been politically active during his college years in the civil rights movement and other social democratic activities, believed that what was needed was a concrete way to increase public awareness of figurative art.
Tony Siani, Larry Faden, Howard Kalish, and Sam Thurston organized a meeting of figurative artists who were interested in creating recognition for the art they were creating.
The initial meeting on February 14, 1969 was successful beyond their expectation, and soon led to the formation of The Alliance of Figurative Artists (AFA).
So successful were its weekly Friday night meetings that the location moved from private studios to the Educational Alliance on the Lower Eastside. For the next 20 years, it provided a forum for a generation of young artists to discuss the many, often divergent, points of view on the form and direction figurative art should take.
Its success also contributed to the formation of many, mostly cooperative galleries in the area such as the Bowery Gallery, First Street Gallery, Green Street Gallery and the Prince Street Gallery, all of which remain active today.
Siani was a founding member of the Bowery Gallery, which opened on October 31, 1969.
1968 - 1970
During the 1970s and throughout the ‘80s he held 5, one-man shows, and contributed to 8 group shows in the Bowery Gallery. He also mounted one-man shows at Gallery 120, on Broadway and Lafayette Street, and the Louise Ross Gallery on 57th Street, as well as other venues around the country.
It was a very productive period in his career, during which his focus expanded to include the exploration of Biblical themes which he considered to be a pillar in the architecture of Western civilization.
1970 - 1990
In 1969, Tony Siani, Paul Georges, Harry Kramer and Red Grooms purchased and renovated a 5 story, cast-iron loft building at 85 Walker Street in lower Manhattan as studio/living spaces.
They were among the first artists to legally dwell in a building in the burgeoning SOHO area…a lengthy, arduous process. However, one of the costs of this project was the dissolution of the friendship between Siani and Georges. Personal and artistic differences between them were increasingly acrimonious.
In 1972, Paul Georges exhibited a painting titled, The Mugging of the Muse depicting Siani and close friends Jack Silberman and John Bradford, ready to attack “The Muse” (George’s daughter).
Siani was convinced that Georges' personal animus exceeded the bounds of artistic license, and he made repeated requests that Georges modify or not exhibit the painting.
These efforts were rebuffed. Siani and Silberman filed a libel suit in civil court in lower Manhattan claiming defamation of character.
The case took 10 years to wend its way up the legal docket, but on September 29, 1981, the trial opened under the jurisdiction of Judge Bruce Wright. After 3 days of testimony, the jury awarded $30,000 each to Siani and Silberman.
The verdict was a shock to the art world, and many regarded it as a threat to commercial interests. It was appealed to the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court, which overturned the judgment on December 10, 1982.
The case received extensive national coverage. Siani never disavowed his belief that he had been maligned.
1969 - 1982 (The Lawsuit)
Tony Siani continued his prolific art production, using a wide variety of materials, themes, and methods until ill health overtook him in the mid-'90s.
He passed away at the age of 55 in 1995, but his work continued to be seen in several shows thereafter, including a Memorial Show at the Bowery Gallery in 1996, and the Bowery Gallery Founding Members show in 2014.