Christian Haub

New York, NY​

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Looking back, it seems somehow appropriate that the Visual Arts Program's building at 185 Nassau Street started out as the Princeton Grammar School, though I’m guessing that the halls were quieter while we were there, finding our footing as we engaged with one another and with an ever-evolving mix of (mostly New York-based) artists.

On any given day, we might have paused in these halls to join in discussion or debate with classmates and counterparts from across the campus – and beyond. Those encounters and relationships still resonate deeply for me today. Here are some of the names

 

One of the art world's most important journals, October, was incubated at 185 Nassau in 1974-75 by faculty members Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe, Lucio Pozzi, and Rosalind Krauss, along with film historian Annette Michelson. Its cover and layout, unchanged after all these years, was designed by 185 alum Charles Read ’75.

In these halls, I first met art critic and historian Tiffany Bell '76, currently at work on the catalog raisonné of painter Brice Marden, having completed one for Agnes Martin.
 

There was English major, Hal (Hattie) Foster '77, lured to Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe's painting class, where he was introduced to the writings of Rosalind Krauss and others, leading eventually to his editorship at October, and to heading up Princeton's Art History Department. He was my first loft-mate in NYC's Chinatown.
 

There were numerous other non-artists who also painted at 185 and who were part of our group: Jon Haber '76, intrepid critic and astute observer of the NYC art scene, and Whitney Landon '76, loyal art collector and passionate promoter of his classmates' art. 

 

Barbara Savedoff '77 went on to be a philosophy professor at Baruch College, writing on photography – and still painting.

Tom Finkelpearl '79, an artist, has had an important career in New York City as a museum director and as Commissioner of Cultural Affairs.

 

John (Johnny) R. Pepper ’76 painted at 185, working energetically under Rosalind Krauss. He is now a photographer, exhibiting desert landscapes and winter swimmers in Lake Baikal, living in Todi, Italy. An Instagram star.

Marjorie Kernan, Princeton High School student and daughter of Dean Alvin Kernan, was always at the swirling center of it all.
 

And not forgotten by most are Diane Jacobs '75, Marilyn Martin '77, Matthew Barry '77, and Jane Palmer '75. RIP.
 

While teaching tennis in NYC shortly after graduation, I once found myself scheduled to give a workout to painting legend, Frank Stella '58. Frank was happy enough to talk painting in the clubhouse. He plays tennis as far out of the box as he paints.
 

Looking back one last time, during senior year, Dean Rudenstine asked me why I hadn't just gone to art school. Aside from the obvious advantages of the university – llike "Physics for Poets" with Professor John Wheeler, and all of those hallway encounters – I appreciated studying art with students who had no intention to make the arts their lives' work. They understood that, like musicians, we were playing. And here we are, still playing, after all these years.

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