Leslie A. Feely

Leslie Feely, well-known New York art dealer, passed away on March 29, 2024 at New York Presbyterian Hospital. The cause of death was due to complications following surgery for a recently discovered recurrence of cancer.

Leslie was born at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California in 1945, while her father was still overseas in the Pacific Theater. Soon after the war’s end, her family moved to Washington DC, and then on to New York, finally settling in Manhasset, NY.

Leslie graduated from Manhasset High School in 1962, then attended Connecticut College. After spending a semester abroad in France, Leslie discovered her attraction to the world of art and artists. Upon her return to Connecticut College she switched her Mathematics Major to one in Art History.

Her affinity to France and skill with its language landed her with an unusual first job at the Crazy Horse Champagne Bar at the 1964 Worlds Fair Pavilion of Paris. Her skill with languages made her an asset to the international work her future positions in the art world would require. She was a lifelong student of art, viewing seemingly every significant exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Guggenheim Museum alongside many other museums and galleries.

In the late-1960s, Leslie worked in the office of the Robert Elkon Gallery, before joining the team at the Lawrence Rubin Gallery. It was with the Rubin Gallery that Leslie began her long association with and deep understanding of Post-War Abstract Expressionism and Color Field painting. She also developed life-long friendships with many artists, including Richard Diebenkorn, Friedel Dzubas, Frank Gehry, Kenneth Nolan, Jules Olitski, and Frank Stella, all of whose work she handled over many decades.

In the early 1970s, Leslie moved to the then venerable Knoedler and Company, working in their expanding Contemporary Art division. In 1981, Leslie founded her own business—Leslie Feely Fine Art— and began operating as a private dealer. In 2007, she opened a public gallery, designed by Frank Gehry, on New York's upper east side, which now operates under the name Leslie Feely Gallery.

For more than four decades, Leslie established a strong reputation in the field of Post-War art. She dedicated her life to building prestigious private art collections worldwide and placed numerous works in prominent institutions, such as MoMA, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Princeton University Art Museum, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, The Naples Museum of Art, and The Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, to name a few.

Like many Post-War artists, Leslie fell in love with the rural beauty of eastern Long Island where she found a home that allowed her ample time to pursue her other passions—playing tennis, swimming in the ocean, and enjoying wonderful farm produce and fresh seafood.

Leslie is survived by her brother Jim (Herta) Feely, sister Joan (William Coulter) Feely, nephews Wake Coulter, Jack Feely, and Max (Megan) Feely, former spouse Richard Cohen, many Feely and Skinner cousins, numerous friends, especially Anne Isaak and Dakota Sica, who was also her business partner. She was pre-deceased by her parents Jim Feely (1969) and Odette Feely (2002), and sister Beth Feely (2017).

A memorial visitation & service for Leslie will be held Thursday, April 18, 2024 from 1 PM to 4 PM at Frank E. Campbell - The Funeral Chapel, 1076 Madison Ave, New York, New York 10028.