Terrain Gallery

The Terrain Gallery at 141 Greene Street in SoHo is built upon a distinct philosophical foundation rather than just a collection of art. It was established in 1955 by painter Dorothy Koppelman and others to explore the ideas of the poet and critic Eli Siegel, specifically his theory that beauty is the making one of opposites. The gallery’s guiding principle, displayed on its exhibition announcements, is that in reality opposites are one, and art is the proof of this. This approach led the gallery to organize exhibitions that were highly unusual for their time, such as pairing abstract and figurative works together or hanging a contemporary print next to a historical reproduction to show a shared aesthetic connection. By doing so, the gallery aimed to show that the techniques used to create art are the same ones people need to solve the problems in their own lives.