Active Dates: 1852-present (Driscoll Babcock)
Gallerist: John Snedecor
Location:
1852: Founded1“Who’s Who Among Art Dealers,” American Art Annual, Volume XVII (Washington DC: American Federation of Arts, 1920), p. 423. New York Public Library. (Scanned by Google Books)
1855-1861: 544 Broadway and 38 White Street2 Kevin J Avery et al. Art in the Empire City: New York, 1825-1861. (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000), 74.
1860: auction at 544 Broadway3Classified Ad, New York Times, January 30 1860.
[1860?-mid-1870s]4:* All locations in brackets derived from map in “Venerable Gallery in Modern Move,” Wall Street Journal, August 10th, 2012. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390443404004577581462636419698 768 Broadway (as Snedecor’s Gallery, 1869)5On Free Exhibition, at John Snederor’s Art Gallery: No. 768 Broadway, New York, Paintings by Four of Our Most Eminent American Artists. Thomas Hill, Geo. L. Brown, Eastman Johnson, A. Bierstadt (1869). Exhibition Catalogue at New York Historical Society. [Not scanned.]
[mid-1870s-mid-1880s]: 176 Fifth Avenue
[mid-1880s- 1899?]: 110 W. 18th St.
[1899?- 1911?]: 366 Fifth Avenue
[1911?-1918]: 107 W. 56th St.
[1918-late 1920s]: 19 E. 49th St (as Babcock Galleries)
[late 1920s-mid 1930s]: 5 E. 57th St.
[mid-1930s-mid 1950s]: 38 E. 57th St.
[mid 1950s-late 1970s]: 805 Madison Avenue
[late 1970s-late 1980s]: 20 E. 67th St.
[late 1980s-2012]: 724 Fifth Avenue
[2012-present]: 525 W. 25th St. (as Driscoll Babcock)
Present: 22 East 80th Street6Driscoll Babcock Galleries LLC (website), Accessed April 21st, 2020, http://www.driscollbabcock.com/
Specialty: American and European Art
Gallery History
The Babcock Galleries were founded by John Snedecor in 1852, as the first New York gallery to specialize in American Art.7“Who’s Who Among Art Dealers,” 423. Early on, Snedecor served as an auctioneer and seller of artists’ supplies, frames, and mirrors as well as American paintings. 8Appendix entry in Art in the Empire City, 74“Snedecor’s Gallery,” experienced successes including its 1866 sale of George Inness’s work, involving Peace and Plenty, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.9John Driscoll and Micheal St. Clair. Traditions. The gallery offered free exhibitions such as a show in 1869, “Paintings by Four of Our Most Eminent American Artists. Thomas Hill, Geo L Brown, Eastman Johnson, A. Bierstadt.”10On Free Exhibition, at John Snedecor’s Art Gallery: No. 768 Broadway, New York, Paintings by Four of Our Most Eminent American Artists. Thomas Hill, Geo. L. Brown, Eastman Johnson, A. Bierstadt (1869). Exhibition Catalogue at New York Historical Society [Not scanned]
John Snedecor died in 1896 and was succeeded as Director by his son Charles. When Charles died in 1917, the partner E.C. Babcock, who had joined the firm as a partner in 1911, assumed the position of Director and changed the gallery’s name to Babcock’s Galleries in 1918. The gallery continued to specialize in American paintings, handling work by Asher B Durand, Sanford Gifford, Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, Mary Cassat, Childe Hassam, and Marsden Hartley.11Driscoll Babcock Galleries LLC.
The Babcock Gallery mounted numerous exhibitions during the years of World War II, under the directorship of Carmine Dalesio.12Doris Straus, “You Buy Art, We Buy Bond: Art Galleries in NYC during WWII.” In addition to American Art, the gallery exhibited European art in the late 20th century. Since its original opening in 1852, the gallery has moved thirteen times, occupying buildings in Downtown, Midtown, and Chelsea. John Driscoll, who bought the gallery in 1987, oversaw many of these moves. The Driscoll Babcock gallery is currently located on East 80th Street. John Driscoll passed away in April 2020 from Covid-19.
John Driscoll Obituary: http://www.driscollbabcock.com/exhibitions/installation/john-driscoll-1949-2020#press-release
Illustrations
Date Written: April 21st, 2020
Authors’ Initials: PF, CT
Snedecor’s/Driscoll Babcock Galleries Bio PDF
Primary Sources
“Babcock Galleries,” Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America, Frick Collection. https://research.frick.org/directory/detail/690
Classified Ad, New York Times, January 30 1860.
The New York Historical Society Archives, materials 1920-1958. https://bobcat.library.nyu.edu/primo-explore/search?vid=NYHS
“Who’s Who Among Art Dealers,” American Art Annual, Volume XVII. Washington DC: American Federation of Arts, 1920.
Secondary Sources
Avery, Kevin J, Carrie R. Barratt, Dell Upton, Elliot Bostwick Davis, Morrison Heckscher, Thayer Tolles, Amelia Peck, Jeff L. Rosenheim, Caroline Rennolds Milbank, Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, Deborah Dependahl Waters. Art in the Empire City: New York, 1825-1861. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. https://books.google.com/books?id=j8dzQHVdv9oC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Driscoll, John and Micheal St. Clair. Traditions: The Babcock Galleries and American Art. New York: Babcock Galleries, 1989.
Driscoll Babcock Galleries LLC (website). Accessed April 21st, 2020. http://www.driscollbabcock.com/
Straus, Doris, “You Buy Art, We Buy Bond: Art Galleries in NYC during WWII,” New York Public Library Blog, December 7, 2015. Accessed April 20th, 2020. https://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/12/07/nyc-art-galleries-wwii
“Venerable Gallery in Modern Move,” Wall Street Journal, August 10th, 2012. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390443404004577581462636419698