About Edward and Deborah Pollack

Edward and Deborah Pollack have been distinguished art dealers for several decades. Edward was born in Brooklyn, New York. He studied electrical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI, class of ’71), and with only six months remaining in his curriculum, he lost interest in becoming an engineer, left school, and started his own fine art business. 

Although he had no background in art, Edward believed that the key to excelling in the field was by doing, rather than academic study, so in 1971 he began learning the trade by becoming a picker to many venerable Manhattan galleries. Relinquishing the generous ten-year leave of absence that RPI extended, he subsequently opened the Pollack Gallery on Madison Avenue in New York City in 1976. By then he was known by colleagues to have the best eye in the business, handling the finest nineteenth and early twentieth-century American paintings and sculptures in town. Some of his gallery’s iconic works were added to important museum and private collections, and he also specialized in rediscovering once-prominent artists who had been forgotten. Deborah, after graduating with honors from Temple University with a degree in art history, was a private art dealer, D. Courtney Fine Art, based in New York and Pennsylvania.

In 1981, they married and merged their businesses to create Edward and Deborah Pollack Fine Art, with a gallery located at 205 Worth Avenue, Suite 202 (second floor) in Palm Beach, Florida. Their gallery follows Edward’s vision of enhancing museums and private collections, and bringing artists back to their former prominence. Together, they wrote Hermann Herzog: His Remarkable Life, Unrivaled Florida Work, and Rightful Place in American Art History.

Art dealer, author, and speaker Deborah C. Pollack was born in Philadelphia. She began fine art dealing as a hobby at the age of sixteen and has been researching art history ever since. During the 1970s, she was also a New York television actress known as Deborah Courtney.

Deborah Pollack is the only recognized scholar of the life and work of Orville Bulman. She is the author of Inspired Whimsy: The Genius of Orville Bulman, and the Palm Beach best-selling monograph on the artist, Orville Bulman: An Enchanted Life and Fantastic Legacy. A contributor to the New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, she is also the author of Laura Woodward: The Artist Behind the Innovator Who Developed Palm Beach, which has been published in association with the Historical Society of Palm Beach County and led to the Education Network's (serving the School District of Palm Beach County), award-winning documentary about the book. She is honored that Florida Memorial University (HBCU) awarded her a certificate for making "a significant contribution to advancing the awareness of women's history." Other books include Visual Art and the Urban Evolution of the New South (University of South Carolina Press, in around 1,000 libraries); Palm Beach Visual Arts (Pelican Publishing Company); Felix De Crano: Forgotten Artist of the Flagler Colony (Lightner Museum); Vintage Miami Beach Glamour: Celebrities and Socialites in the Heyday of Chic (The History Press); Florida Sculptors and Their Work: 1880-2020 (Schiffer), winner of the 2023 Florida Book Award silver medal in the category of the Visual Arts; and Bad Scarlett: The Extraordinary Life of the Notorious Southern Beauty Marie Boozer (Peppertree Press), which was selected for a woman historians' conference. Articles written by Deborah have appeared in Antiques and Art Around Florida (cover stories); American Art Review; Tequesta, the scholarly journal of HistoryMiami Museum; Tustenegee (Historical Society of Palm Beach County's journal); New York History Review; and other periodicals. She is honored that her essay, "Sisterhoods of Spirit: Southern Women’s Clubs and Expositions" has been published in Central to Their Lives: Southern Women Artists in the Johnson Collection (University of South Carolina Press and the Johnson Collection, 2018) in conjunction with a 2018-2021 traveling exhibition, and that another essay, "Artists and Palm Beach Light: A Romance," has been published in Palm Beach Light: Light Moments, Steven Manolis. Deborah is thrilled that, at Bruce Helander's request, she has written his biographical essay for an exhibition catalog.

Deborah has lectured extensively on Palm Beach and other Florida artists throughout the state and in the Midwest. She has also curated and hung exhibitions at the Society of the Four Arts King Library, the Cornell Museum, and the Delray Beach Historical Society. She is a member of many organizations, including the Historical Society of Palm Beach County, South Florida Writers Association, Cultural Council for Palm Beach County, The Entertainment Community (life member and encore award recipient), and an associate of the Archives of American Art. Deborah's poem, 1999, about a loved one's traumatic brain injury recovery was published in an edition of Healthy Stories. Other poetry (Beautiful at Eighteen, The Irony of Health, To a Loving Brightness), and three short stories (Velvet Ribbons, Behave. Right Now! And Boom-Shack-Lacka) have been published in subsequent editions, Her poetry has also won prizes from the South Florida Writers Association.