Mark McDonald
Located in Hudson, New York, Mark McDonald Gallery is the latest exhibition space for Mark McDonald, a preeminent dealer in mid-twentieth century decorative arts, including furniture designed by architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Gerrit Rietveld, Alvar Aalto and Frank Gehry.
McDonald’s expertise in the field is the result of three decades of experience, organizing landmark exhibitions on Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles and Ray Eames, Art Smith and the Studio Jewelry Movement, Nordic Design, American Studio Ceramics and the Abstract Expressionists. He began in New York City in1982 at his ground-breaking Fifty/50 Gallery in Greenwich Village. In 1995 he moved to Manhattan’s Meatpacking District on Gansevoort Street. And in 2002, McDonald embarked on a new venture, moving north to the Hudson Valley.
McDonald’s current gallery is housed in a preserved three-story building that was originally constructed as a department store in 1910. The first floor houses furniture, textiles, books, ceramics and lighting and features jewelry by Alexander Calder, Harry Bertoia, Margaret De Patta, Art Smith and Claire Falkenstein. The second floor is used for gallery exhibitions and the third houses offices and a research library.
McDonald and the gallery are perhaps best known for advising important collectors and museums such as: Vitra Design Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts, The Daphne Farago Jewelry Collection (recently given to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), the John Waddell “American Modern” exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Art Smith “Village to Vogue” exhibit at The Brooklyn Museum.