All entries tagged with “obituary”

Allyn Gallup Remembered as Sarasota Art Leader

Posted by Philip Lederer on Friday Nov 7, 2014 3:04 pm

Sarasota today bids a regretful farewell to a cultural titan. Allyn Gallup, owner of Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art Gallery and one of Sarasota’s most cogent and outspoken voices in the artistic community, died this morning at Sarasota Memorial Hospital after suffering a stroke in the early hours of the morning in his office off Palm Avenue. He is survived by his wife Sheila Moore.

Since his arrival in Sarasota in July 1991, Gallup has been one of the area’s foremost authorities on contemporary and modern art. With his network of regularly contributing local artists and through his carefully curated shows Gallup and his gallery gave contemporary art a foothold in a town dominated by classical traditions.

“I wanted to open it in Sarasota because I was seduced by Florida, by Sarasota,” Gallup told SRQ in an interview this past summer. Characteristically brusque but in good cheer, Gallup was never above having a little fun at his own expense. “I made an assumption that my taste in art would be accepted and I would be able to get wealthy selling art. It didn’t happen.”

But material concerns aside, his passion and his dedication led to the unfolding of a theretofore neglected branch of our cultural community. Through the power of great art, he elevated this whole enterprise and in that way Allyn Gallup was as good a Sarasotan as any, possibly better than most.

“He upheld a standard that held the visual arts in Sarasota to a particular caliber that helped to create Sarasota's visual façade,” said Tim Jaeger, interim assistant director of exhibitions and galleries at Ringling College. “He loved artists, people, his wife, children and contemporary art. This community has lost another cultural pillar, and will be missed by all of us that were lucky enough to know him and his gallery.”

The future of the Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art Gallery is uncertain with the loss of its namesake and curator (differing media reports through the day Friday suggested it could remain open or may close), but Moore said it will not close before presenting Gallup’s final show, curated by local professor, art historian and curator Mark Ormond, entitled “Bruce Marsh: Now and Then,” set to open next week.

“We’re all so devastated. The art community is devastated,” said Moore. “But I’ll keep on. That’s all we can do.”

Funeral and memorial arrangements are currently underway.

“My role is to educate and present art to the public which is not merely pretty pictures,” said Gallup when asked why he opened his gallery all those years ago. “It’s supposed to be good for you and your soul.”

It is and he did, perhaps too well, and now we don’t know what to do without him.

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