Andrew Crispo, a once high-flying art gallerist in Manhattan brought low by a long series of tabloid-worthy scandals, including tax evasion, extortion and implication in the grisly 1985 murder of a Norwegian art student, died on Feb. 8 in Brooklyn.
Mr. Crispo left no immediate survivors, and word of his death emerged only recently.
Mr. Crispo opened his namesake gallery at the corner of Madison Avenue and 57th Street in 1973, and for the rest of the decade he ranked among New York City’s best-known art dealers.
Though he lacked formal training in art, he was widely respected for his exacting eye, which he used to identify promising young painters.
“He could have been another Larry Gagosian today,” said Edward Ligare, an artist whom Mr. Crispo represented in the 1970s, referring to the Manhattan mega-gallerist.
Persons:
Andrew Crispo, J, Benjamin Greene, Crispo, New York City’s, “, Larry Gagosian, ”, Edward Ligare
Organizations:
New York, Manhattan
Locations:
Manhattan, Norwegian, Brooklyn, Madison