Steven Harvey Fine Arts

Some people are devotees of painting. They analyze the trace of every brushstroke and savor the in’s and out’s of its histories. Steven Harvey is one of those people. His tiny storefront on tree-lined Forsyth Street is an oasis for anyone who loves painting, especially if it was made in New York within the last 75 years.

The painters featured here are linked, directly or in spirit, with the New York Studio School of Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture, which was founded in 1964 and still thrives today. Many of the best Postwar American artists and European émigrés taught or studied there.

Step into the gallery, which smells faintly of turpentine and old wood, and you’re pulled into this lineage. You’ll see still lifes, landscapes, portraits, and easel-sized nudes that nod to 20th-century French traditions, but vibrate with the restless energy of downtown NYC. Classic, yes. But alive, vital, and very much of this city.

Steven Harvey’s entire life has always revolved around painting. Born in New York City to working artists, he grew up in the 1970s and 80s art scene. He studied at the New York Studio School, then moved through roles as art advisor, curator, and writer before opening his namesake gallery on the Lower East Side gallery in 2007.