About Arte Primitivo

Arte Primitivo, located at 3 East 65th Street in NYC, is a gallery specializing in Pre-Columbian Art, Classical and Egyptian Antiquities, Asian Antiquities and Antiques and Ethnographic Art. The gallery conducts absentee internet auctions approximately 6 times a year, plus special exhibitions, retail, and private sales.

The owner, Howard S. Rose, started his career in the Antiquities business in 1971. Before taking over the Arte Primitivo gallery, Rose was the director of Harmer Rooke Galleries on 57th Street, for nearly 25 years, and more recently director of Greg Manning Galleries. Rose has authored over 100 auction catalogues, is a licensed and bonded New York auctioneer, is a full member of both the NADAOPA (National Association of Dealers in Ancient, Oriental and Primitive Art) and ATADA (Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association) and has performed hundreds of appraisals as well as advising the IRS and the NYC DEA on property evaluations.

The Arte Primitivo Gallery of Pre-Columbian Art and Books was originally founded in 1961 by William and Mildred Kaplan, dedicated to the needs of archaeologists, scholars, collectors, and students. The name and location of the gallery in midtown Manhattan were acquired by Rose, who renovated the premises and re-opened the gallery in early September 1996.