Margot Palmer Poroner has been a dear friend and an essential part of Gallery&Studio for many years, so it was with great sadness to learn about her passing.
She was born in Quebec, Canada in 1925, to a family that was descended from the first French settlers who immigrated in the 1700s. She grew up in Quebec and attended McGill University, after which she worked as a translator for a local labor union. She made frequent trips to New York where she finally settled, married to Bruno her husband and brought up her twin boys Michael and Daniel.
New York was where she amassed the vast knowledge about the art world. She was a director at both the Camino Gallery and Tanager Gallery, both a part of the famed 10th Street Galleries of the 1950s and 1960. Margo and Bruno also owned their own East Hampton Gallery (1961-1975).
In 1978, Margo and Bruno set up the monthly international arts magazine ARTspeak. She was one of the pioneers using the internet to promote artists and their works. Ed McCormack, my husband met Margot in the 1980s when he started writing art reviews for her and continued until 1997 when they closed the magazine. She in turn guided us through the complicated details of starting and publishing an arts magazine when Gallery&Studio began.
In 2019 Margo became a member of the board of directors for Gallery&Studio Arts Journal when the magazine became a non-profit organization, offering us sage advice. She also continued into her 90s, to edit and proofread the magazine, often catching errors that everybody else missed and offering depth and history to our articles. Over the years Margot, Ed, Karen Mullen, our layout designer, and I spent many weekends checking final proofs for the next issue. We would
always take a break from the tedium of scrutinizing the pages for errors. Ed and Margot would engage in lively conversations about artists they knew and the art world, with Margo often telling stories about artists from the 10th Street days, such as Elaine de Kooning, Jackson Pollack and others. This was always a fun time. One such lunch break, we had some lively 60s music on the radio and Ed got up from the table and started doing a very silly dance which made us all laugh. Margo who was at the time in her late 80s got up from her chair, sandwich half finished, and danced with Ed like a 20-year-old Go Go dancer.
Karen and I were stunned! We miss Margot’s lively presence and intelligence. We can only hope that her wisdom, artistic sensibility and spirit will continue to guide us in every issue of Gallery&Studio. I hope she and Ed are still dancing!
Margot is survived by her sons Daniel and Michael, daughters-in-law Frances and Julie, and five granddaughters —Nicole, Cleo, Samantha, Tiana, and Olivia.
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