AGE: 69

HAILS FROM: New York

PRESIDES OVER: Alexander Gallery, 1020 Madison Avenue, New York

GALLERY’S SPECIALTY: 18th- and 19th-century American paintings, Old Masters and European works of art, Asian art, rare collectibles and historical items, and decorative arts

ARTISTS SHOWN: Albert Bierstadt, Karl Bodmer, Frederic Church, Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, William Harnett, Louis Remy Mignot, Thomas and Edward Moran, Frederic Remington, Gilbert Stuart, and Richard Caton Woodville

FIRST GALLERY SHOW: William Holbrook Beard in April 1981

Tell us about your background and your first experiences with art.

I grew up in Harlem and in the projects in the Bronx, so, needless to say, there wasn’t any artwork hanging on the walls. My first exposure was through my mother’s prayer cards that were printed with Carlo Dolci’s religious paintings.

Do you remember the first work of art that captured your attention?

Years later, after returning from the Marine Corps, I moved into my parents’ tiny apartment. Hanging over the sofa where I slept was, finally, a print of the early Hudson River artist Victor de Grailly’s painting Passamaquoddy Bay, Maine.

What drew you to the business, and when did you open your first gallery?

I started dealing in coins when I was 12. My hunting grounds were the subway stations from the Bronx to Brooklyn, where I had a network of stationmasters whom I traded with. From sales of coins and rare comics, which I scavenged from a recycling plant run by a friend’s dad, I bought my first painting. It was from the Vincent Price collection, sold at Sears Roebuck in 1966. I sold it immediately and was instantly hooked. Ten years later I opened my first gallery at 996 Madison Avenue.

What sets your gallery apart?

A colleague once said that I have no respect for money. That’s true; my gallery is about passions. I never buy with a client or profit in mind. I am the sickest of all collectors: I buy what I love and spend every dollar in my account on it. As a dealer, when I meet someone who feels the same way about a piece, the ownership just seems to transfer naturally.

Describe the local art market and any changes you have noticed.

I deal in art for connoisseurs, not for collectors of hot names. Right now there are a lot of lemmings buying lemons and breaking records doing it. So it may seem that the traditional arts have fallen into obscurity, but it’s more that the market is subtler and stealthy these days. Collectors in my crowd are cautious with their money and choices. Madison Avenue has long ceased to be hallowed ground; the party is at the fairs, and the calling card is the artwork itself.

In which art fair do you most enjoy participating? Why?

The Winter Antiques Show in New York and Masterpiece London, even though they couldn’t be more different. I love the Winter Antiques Show because it attracts the most knowledgeable American collectors and curators, and Masterpiece has a diverse and informed crowd.

What has been your strangest, most humorous, or most memorableexperience in the art trade?

In the early ’80s, I bought an unsigned Martin Johnson Heade painting at auction for $90,000. I sold it right away for a small profit to a new client. Later I learned that the man who consigned the work had peddled it with no luck all over Florida for $800. Upon hearing the price it realized, he keeled over with a heart attack. I felt terrible. Three months later his widow pulled up in front of my gallery in a brand-new car looking for “the man who bought the Heade.” Her car was filled with paintings each priced at $90,000. I politely declined.

If you could own any artwork, price no object, what would it be?

Hands down, the Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck. The best birthday present I’ve ever received was spending a morning behind the bulletproof glass with the team in charge of its recent conservation.

Beyond the art world, what are you passionate about? If you were not an art dealer, what would you be doing?

Golf. If I weren’t a dealer, I’d be making divots at the Augusta National Golf Club.