First Street Gallery celebrates its Fortieth Anniversary this December, with an exhibition featuring drawings, paintings, prints and sculpture by 70 current and former members.

A full color catalogue is available, made possible in part by a grant from the Puffin Foundation. David Cohen (Art Critic and Contributing Editor, The New York Sun, Editor and Publisher of artcritical.com and Gallery Director of the New York Studio School) describes the genesis, history, and character of First Street Gallery and its artists, in his introductory essay, FIRST FORTY:

"Born of the spirit of radical times, here were artists determined to take presentation into their own hands.  For four decades, in five venues and three neighborhoods, and with a changing cast of often illustrious, always fearless, players, this venture has offered art to New York gallery goers without the intervention of dealers, curators, or — in Harold Rosenberg's unflattering term — 'art botherers.'"