Employees outside New York Central Art Supply. (Photo: Nick McManus)
The East Village has lost another art store. Photographer Nick McManus was there Friday as New York Central Art Supply shut its doors after 111 years on Third Avenue.
The store, owned by the same family since Benjamin Steinberg opened it over a century ago, announced in July that it would shutter. “The building we have called home since 1905 is being sold and we must vacate it,” it was announced.
Customers at New York Central Art Supply during it’s last business. Managers Chris Colvin and Mark ‘Papi’ Papellero are top left. (Photo: Nick McManus)
During its long run, New York Central sold supplies to legends like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Willem de Kooning. The Wall Street Journal quotes East Village artist Kiki Smith, still a customer, as saying she cried when she heard that it would close.
For local artists, this is the area’s biggest loss since Pearl Paint closed a couple years ago.
Staff portrait, August 18.
The shop wrote online, “There truly is no other store like Central in the world. And no other staff. The individuals on our staff have more experience than entire other stores combined.”
McManus gathered some of those staff members, including 15-year veteran Mark ‘Papi’ Papellero and assistant manager Chris Colvin, for a group portrait back in August. He then returned on Friday, the last day, for some Parting Shots of the customers and the remaining employees. “Their clearance sale had been a big success as most of the shelves were bare except for some random odds and ends,” McManus told us.