Phillip A. Bruno
January 3rd 1930 - September 22nd 2023
When Phillip A. Bruno donated more than 70 artworks from his personal collection to the Hunterian Gallery in Glasgow in 2019, it was a hugely magnanimous way of celebrating his 90th birthday. The resulting exhibition, A Gift from New York to Glasgow, cemented the New York based gallerist’s relationship with both the Hunterian and the city that had become something of a second home.
This came about after the former Associate Director of the Marlborough Gallery was introduced to Clare Henry, the Scottish art critic and New York émigré with whom Bruno would go on to spend the rest of his life. The couple met in 1999 at a New York loft party. They married in 2002, putting the seal on a relationship in which art and life were entwined in a transatlantic adventure that continued for almost a quarter of a century.
The announcement of Bruno’s death aged 93 marks the end of a remarkable life, even as it sets down a legacy by way of the vast amount of work Bruno collected, much of which came from the artistic connections he made throughout the twentieth century.
Bruno’s encounters included brushes with Matisse and Giacometti, and he once stayed with the Van Gogh family in Holland. Bruno first visited Glasgow to peruse the architecture of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, including Glasgow School of Art. He went on to exhibit at the Hunterian with a collection of hand-written Christmas cards from various artists.
Bruno’s internationalist sweep was there from the start. Born in Paris, he grew up in New York, where his father dealt in French provincial furniture. With Paris having opened him up to European aesthetic sensibilities, he studied History of Art and Architecture at Columbia University, and was captivated by Lust for Life, Irving Stone’s fictionalised account of the Van Gogh. As a student, Bruno contacted Van Gogh’s nephew and invited him to speak at Columbia. It was a bold move, but one that connected Bruno directly to a great artist in a way he found inspirational.
While still a student, Bruno learnt about the art market working part time at the famous Weyhe Art Gallery and Bookstore. After graduating, he worked for art dealer Grace Borgenicht, then in the process of setting up her gallery to showcase contemporary American Art. Bruno eventually set up by himself, organising exhibitions and forming bonds with artists.
Bruno went on to head up the Henry Clews Foundation American Exhibition Programme at the Chateau de la Napoule Art Foundation near Cannes. He then became director of World House Galleries on Madison Avenue, then for thirty years from 1959 worked with dealer George Staempfli as co-director of Staempfli’s newly opened gallery.
Bruno joined Marlborough Gallery in 1989, where he remained until 2007, representing a host of international artists, including, from Scotland, Steven Campbell and Stephen Conroy. For over thirty years Bruno also worked with American kinetic sculptor George Rickey, creator of Three Squares Gyratory (1972), one of the great artworks to feature in the University of Glasgow. Throughout all of this, Bruno forged connections with major artists across the globe, building up his own collection as he went.
Bruno’s approach to art and life was summed up in the catalogue for A Gift from New York to Glasgow. “I couldn’t draw;” he said. “I couldn’t paint or sculpt, but was grateful all my life to have the sensitivity to be aware of the creativity of artists.”
Scottish Art News, September 2023
ends
Comments