A year later, I was working as a gallery assistant at John Weber in the 420 West Broadway building, upstairs from the galleries of Barbara’s friends Leo Castelli and Ileanna Sonnabend. Barbara remembered me from the Wesleyan class tour when I re-introduced myself during one of her visits to the gallery. It was the start of a friendship and an ongoing conversation that lasted 50 years.
Barbara was central to the art discourse from the late 1950s to 2025. She was an inspiration and confidant to many leading artists, architects, designers, writers, curators and gallerists. She was an influential collector, patron, curator and writer, but her most important role was to connect and develop opportunities for the talented people whom she discovered and nurtured. Barbara was one of the unique people in the art and design world who could make things happen.
Barbara had an uncanny ability to recognize artistic talent. She developed relationships with many of the great artists and architects of our time, but she was also brilliant at recognising promising curators, writers and dealers at the beginning of their careers. Her fascinating collection reflects this unique network of relationships. Beginning with her acquisition of a Jasper Johns Target as a budding collector in the late 1950s, she went on to acquire great works by some of the most important artists and designers, from modern masters like Josef Albers to the present generation.