Martin Diamond Collection

Martin Diamond took a circuitous path to gallery ownership. After returning from service in the Pacific theatre during World War II, Martin and Harriette Diamond were married. While working as a salesman, Martin Diamond began a long self-education in the field of art. Initially, in order to decorate their home, the couple cut pictures out of calendars. Martin Diamond began to purchase books on American art. Eventually, he became an associate of the art gallery owner Bernard Danenberg, and, when Mr. Danenberg returned to Europe, the Diamonds opened Martin Diamond Fine Arts on their own.

The gallery, which was located on Madison Avenue during the late 1970s and early 1980s, specialized in American modernism between 1909 and 1949. The Diamonds were instrumental in focusing attention on the work of lesser-known abstract artists, notably members of the American Abstract Artists group and the Transcendental Painting Group.

The work and reputations of these artists had been overshadowed by the later art of European Surrealists working in the United States, as well as the Abstract Expressionists. In exhibiting work from this long-neglected period, Martin and Harriette Diamond's gallery encouraged a renaissance of interest in early twentieth-century American modernist artists. Indeed, in an inscription in a catalogue by art historian Barbara Bloemink on the artist Florine Stettheimer, the author simply thanked the Diamonds "for making modernism possible for us all."

Martin and Harriet decided to close Martin Diamond Fine Arts in November 1985 in order to have more time for themselves and to spend with their grandchildren. They continued to be very involved in art world as consultants and by building their book collection.