Purple Diary
[January 8 2012]
our dear friend John McWhinnie died dramatically friday
Rare book dealer and curator John McWhinnie drowned in Tortola on Friday while snorkeling with his wife, Maria Beaulieu. The forty-three year old academic turned gallerist was a close collaborator of Richard Prince, an expert in 20th Century American literature and an enthusiastic friend. His shops in East Hampton and on East 64th Street in New York staged exhibitions for Matthew Barney, Elizabeth Peyton, James Frey, Tauba Auerbach, Adam McEwen, Will Cotton, Kim Gordon, Brigid Berlin, Ryan McGinness, Richard Hell & Christopher Wool, Terry Richardson and Richard Prince, among many others. John was featured in the spring/summer 2009 issue of Purple Fashion magazine. We loved him and admired his true passion for books, magazines and catalogs.
Photo by Olivier Zahm and text by Bill Powers
