The archive documents Irit Krygier’s career as a gallerist, independent curator, and art writer. Materials include gallery finances (invoices and budgets), correspondence with artists, collectors, and other gallerists, and 35mm slides depicting installation views from Ace Gallery, and various exhibition documentation. The Krygier archive also contains press clippings, magazine reviews, and research files on artists and collectors compiled while curating and selling art. One banker’s box holds materials related to a film project on William Eggleston, including a treatment and accompanying research.

Irit Krygier was born in Israel in 1949 and grew up in New York City before making Los Angeles her home for much of her adult life. Krygier moved to Los Angeles to work as Director at Ace Gallery on La Cienega Blvd from 1976 to 1979.

In the early 1980s, she established the Irit Krygier Gallery on Beverly Blvd. In 1982 the gallery began representing painter Suzanne Caporael. Caporael had received her BFA and MFA from Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design and her abstractions are often credited as helping the gallery stay financially afloat. Irit Krygier Gallery was also strongly supported financially by real estate developer and contemporary art patron Robert A. Rowan. Rowan had taken over his father’s firm, R.A. Rowan & Co., and eventually became a trustee of the Pasadena Museum of Modern Art, which later became the Norton Simon Museum. He was also actively involved with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. R.A. Rowan & Co., founded in 1904, had played a significant role in the development of downtown Los Angeles, with buildings such as the Alexandria Hotel, the Los Angeles Athletic Club, and the Rosslyn Hotel.

The gallery later evolved into Krygier/Landau Contemporary Art in partnership with Susan Landau until its closure in 1991.

After closing the gallery, Krygier worked for Margot Leavin Gallery and continued her work in the arts as a guest curator and consultant. There is information linking Robert F. and Patricia G. Ross Weis with hiring Krygier. In 1996 she founded Muse X Editions, a publisher that embraced digital print technologies for creating artist editions. She had a close relationship with photographer William Eggleston, collaborating extensively with his studio on a documentary production.

Krygier remained deeply engaged with contemporary art beyond curating and consulting. She produced the podcast Conversations on the Arts with Irit Krygier, recording a dozen interviews with artists, curators, and critics. She also contributed regularly to Coagula Art Journal a publication known for its tabloid-style commentary on the contemporary art world. In addition, she participated in or produced documentary projects, including a film on Eva Hesse co-produced and directed with Karen S. Shapiro.

Krygier passed away on October 28, 2024, at the age of 75. She is buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Parks & Mortuaries in Forest Lawn.

4 boxes

This archive offers valuable insight into how artists and dealers navigated the Los Angeles art scene from the 1970s through the 2000s. The materials share how galleries fostered relationships and sustained themselves financially. LACA has archived these materials to provide further context into understanding artist conditions today.

Selections of the archive have been made available until processing.

No further accruals are expected.