Jill Kornblee, Art Dealer, 84

[DGH]

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Jill Kornblee, an art dealer whose Manhattan gallery handled the work
of many well-known contemporary artists early in their careers, who
lived in Weston, Connecticut, died on January 29, 2004, in Branford,
Connecticut, the cause being cancer, said her daughter Elisabeth
Kornblee, at the age of 84.

Born in New York City, New York, in 1920, Ms. Kornblee studied at Bryn
Mawr College and later took art history courses at New York
University's Institute of Fine Art. In 1961, with two partners, she
bought the Barone Gallery on Madison Avenue near 79th Street. She soon
took over her partners' interests and began operating the gallery
under her own name.

An energetic dealer, receptive to new talent, Ms. Kornblee gave shows
in the 1960's and 70's to a number of artists whose work is now well
known. Among them were the British painter Howard Hodgkin, whose first
solo exhibition in this country sold out at the gallery in 1973.
Others included Dan Flavin, Malcolm Morley, Rackstraw Downes, Al
Hansen, Janet Fish, Richard Smith, Peter Phillips, Mon Levinson and
Michael Mazur.

She also had close friendships with other dealers, among them Leo
Castelli, Ivan Karp, Allan Stone, John Bernard Myers and Betty
Parsons. The Kornblee Gallery mounted several shows of work by Ms.
Parsons, who was also an artist.

In the mid-1960's Ms. Kornblee moved the gallery to 58 East 79th
Street, and in the late 70's to 20 West 57th Street, where it remained
until she retired in 1986.