Erwin S. Barrie

Who was Erwin S. Barrie?

Erwin S. Barrie was an American businessman in the arts. He was most closely associated with New York City's Grand Central Art Galleries, which he managed from its founding in 1922 until he retired in 1975. Barrie, whose middle name was Seaver, was born in Canton, Ohio. He attended Cornell University and then studied landscape painting at the Art Institute of Chicago. After his studies he became manager of the art collection at Carson Pirie Scott; it was at this time that he befriended Hovsep Pushman and other artists.

In 1922 Barrie was hired by businessman and art patron Walter Leighton Clark to manage the Grand Central Art Galleries, which he was in the process of establishing. Clark had secured space in Grand Central Terminal, and his goal was to create "the largest sales gallery of art in the world." The galleries extended over most of the terminal's sixth floor, 15,000 square feet, and offered eight main exhibition rooms, a foyer gallery, and a reception area. The architect was William Adams Delano, best known for designing Yale Divinity School's Sterling Quadrangle.