URT

THE HISTORY OF ARTISTS AND ART PRODUCTION OF LOWER MANHATTAN

Created by DANIELLE FICHERA OCTOBER 12TH, 2011

SoHo's Initial Invasion

Following World War II artists began moving into commercial buildings in downtown Manhattan. “On Broadway just south of 14th Street (De Kooning, Jasper Johns, Franz Kline, Jackson Pollack and Mark Rothko), on Greene Street (Marie Menken), on the Bowery (Robert Frank, Alfred Leslie, Elaine De Kooning), in the East Village, and further downtown like places Coenties Slip (Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, James Rosenquist, Ken Jacobs), which was demolished in the Sixties, and a highrise erected on the side (the downtown branch of the Whitney Museum of American Art is now located there) (Melton).” New York City is made up of approximately 6,720 square miles, yet a group of artists in the late 1950s began to cluster South of Houston, west of Lafayette Street, east of West Broadway and North of Canal Street. Why did they choose SoHo? What external forces were making it possible for artists to live in SoHo? What essentially was the pull? In my research, I stumbled upon Amos Hawley's Theory of Human Ecology. Human ecology offers a natural approach to examining social change. It places a great emphasis on the environment in which social systems operate (Hudson 7).

SoHo has transformed itself from a wasteland, to one of the most regarded districts to live or visit in New York City. The transformation is largely due to the artists which entered SoHo during the mid-1950s and 1960s. According the the Theory of Human Ecology, the population adapts to the limiting conditions. Artists entered at a time when SoHo was deemed a wasteland; large spaces were available at a cheap price. If we use Hawley's paradigm, Human Ecology provides a framework for conceptualizing the process by which cities grow or decline. What was going on which allowed for such growth? According to Hawley there is the initial invasion, followed by the succession (Hudson 19). "Succession refers to “the series of events or stages involved in the replacement in an area of one type of occupant or land use by another (Hawely)”. After the land has been settled, matured and fixed patterns emerge eventually a new group of people will follow. The initial invasion is settled by what, James Hudson refers to as "pioneers". The term "pioneers" apply to the early entrants into a new environment. They make it possible for succession to be possible.

George Maciunas entered SoHo when it was illegal for people to live there. When he purchased 80 Wooster Street the building contained no running water and no heat. Prior to Maciunas entering SoHo, Robert Rauschenberg established himself on Front Street in a cold water flat. When Robert Rauschenberg and George Maciunas entered downtown New York there was no original population to be replaced. There was nothing which resembled a neighborhood. There were no supermarkets, no restaurants and no schools for children to legally attend (Hudson 31). Everything in SoHo was zoned for manufacturing, not living. The previous patterns of tearing down outmoded structures and building new constructions did no occur. The initial appeal to SoHo was the availability of large spaces and low rent. Fluxus artists, along with the abstract expressionists, surrealists, minimalists and pop artists produced large works which required large spaces. The combination of good working spaces, which could be used as work residences and low rent drew artists into the area. The favorable elements drew the artists in; turning the initial invasion into succession (Hudson 31). SoHo did not follow the traditional process of residential invasion and succession. The manufacturing businesses did remain, but began to serve the incoming residents (Hudson 33). For example, a local paint shop began to carry brushes and paints artists requested. In 1968, Paula Cooper moved her midtown gallery to SoHo. She was the first gallery in SoHo, and many followed her.

According to Hudson, "The process of succession can be measured by changes in size, density, age, and other demographic features of the population; by the number and kinds of social institutions in the area; and by the variety and number of businesses found in communities under going succession” (Hudson 77). Individuals and groups establish new relationships, develop social networks and exchange information to create and maintain a community. In order for the initial pioneers in SoHo to survive and thrive they needed one another in order to maintain themselves. Relationships resulted in the unification through mutual support. The early residents of SoHo encountered a series of hardships in converting raw spaces into useable spaces where one could work or live. Their efforts were always in jeopardy, due to city inspections threatening them with fines for illegally inhabiting commercial spaces. Their constant anxiety generated a solid commitment to maintaining their neighborhood (Hudson 83). It is not clear if the first settlers who entered SoHo had any intention or purpose, outside finding affordable work-resident spaces. As the population of artists grew, their became a clear sense of purpose. A social network developed, which made it possible for a community and a committment to develop. 

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