Writer's Reading Annie Cohen-Solal on Leo Castelli and His Circle

Famed art dealer Leo Castelli shaped American art for the 20th century and beyond. In her acclaimed new biography, Leo and His Circle, Annie Cohen-Solal explores the life of the man who introduced us to Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, Robert Rauschenberg, and many other seminal artists.

Cohen-Solal was a friend of Castelli’s, and she has used the access that afforded her to create a rich, detailed picture of him including the troubled history of his Jewish ancestors in Europe over many generations. Cohen-Solal’s previous books include Painting American (2001) and Sartre: A Life (1985), which has been translated into sixteen languages. She holds a Ph.D. from the Sorbonne and is currently Visiting Arts Professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Born in Algeria, she first came to New York in 1989 as the Cultural Counselor to the French Embassy in the United States.

Cosponsored by Ohio State’s Melton Center for Jewish Studies and Departments of Comparative Studies, French and Italian, Germanic Languages and Literatures, and History of Art.