For most of the 1960’s, Peter Agostini had a studio on 12th Street in Manhattan, between Avenues B and C. In the early 70’s, he purchased a building on Greene Street in Soho, and the12th Street studio was left unused for several years.
David Carrow, who was a student of Agostini’s at the New York Studio School, and later, his graduate assistant at UNC Greensboro, remembers telling Agostini he wanted to photograph the old studio before it was cleared out. “The place had become sort of a tomb," he told me recently. "It was very quiet and dusty. There was no activity in there, which was so interesting. I remember just saying, I gotta get in here and take some pictures because this is just fantastic with the light coming in on all the plaster and just the kind of decay and deterioration that was there, because nobody had been moving things around for a while.”
The resulting photographs, 20 in number, show the studio as it stood sometime in the early 70’s. Agostini worked mostly in plaster during his years on 12th Street, making many of his famous swells, cast balloons, drapery and found objects, and these pieces can be seen as they sat on that day, abandoned and in disrepair, covered in dust, beautifully lit by a combination of natural light and fluorescents.
The studio space measured 125 by 25 feet, with concrete floors, a sink, one skylight and a four-burner stove, the only source of heat. Eventually the building, across the street from Public School 61, was condemned and became a parking lot. Where the pieces in the photos are today is unknown, as is the exact date these photographs were made.
See more of these photos on our Flickr page.
Click photos to enlarge.
See more of these photos on our Flickr page.
Click photos to enlarge.
Learn more about Peter Agostini on his profile.
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Thanks for posting these and thanks to David for taking them. I visited Peter's basement on Greene St once but it was too dark and messy to be able to see anything.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great site. It is a total pleasure to see so much of the work, and thus the man, in one spot so many years since I last saw Peter. I was a student and friend in 1969 at the Studio School. I am more impressed with the work now than I was at the time. I think he was an artist whose work was never given its full due.
ReplyDeletei'm Peter AGOSTINI'S niece and would love to hear stories about him and his art. i live in nyc near Union Square
ReplyDeleteI studied with Peter from 1981-85 at UNCG... he was a mentor to me and many others , i would be happy to share stories, experiences and recollections of our years at Gboro. it was the best period of my youth because of him. email me at espasser@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteI’ll never forget seeing Peter in a bar in Greensboro, NC. I noticed that he noticed me, and I was “smitten.” His expression was analytical and I felt a bit scared, but also happy. His background of being from Hell’s Kitchen was apparent, because he did not seem to care about himself. I cannot remember how he got my number, but he did. All I remember is standing outside his apartment door and he was telling a friend by phone that he was expecting “a beautiful young woman” at any minute. All I can say is he had a powerful presence but was not vain. He might be the most perfect man I ever met, because he wasn’t self absorbed at all. The next week he went to teach at a New England school and wrote me the most beautiful letters. I never saw him again. And I guess I lost those letters. I noticed that his niece would like to know more about him, and all I can say is he was a product of his harsh upbringing though he never complained, and he was very self sufficient and never complained about his childhood. My husband Parker Whedon was very much like him. He was 22 years older than I and never criticized me. For a woman brought up in the South who was a debutant, it was a miracle that I met him at all. He is on the top of my list of other celebrities I have met (Art Buchwald and Buddy Hackett, both of whom made me laugh). I met Art when he came to give the graduation speech at UNC Greensboro where he said he never graduated from high school even. One of my housemates told her bf that I wanted to meet Art and lo and behold I saw Art coming down the sidewalk and he said, “I hear you wanted to meet me!” My other favorite comedian I met when I was working in an exclusive shop called The World of Fragrance and Buddy Hackett walked in with his preppy friend and I said, “Why Ronnie Curry, I haven’t seen you since college!” He said, “I’m not Ronnie Curry.” And then it dawned on me who he was! The best part of this meeting was when he started talking about how overpriced everything was in the shop. We talk about his dear friend Terry Thomas who had died that was in The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm. Thank you for listening to this long story. Virginia Simpson Whedon
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