Larry Benton Qualls

Larry Benton Qualls (1945-2022) died at his home in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, on Saturday, December 3, 2022, from complications of ALS. Larry was a theater scholar, a translator, an art historian, and an archival documentarian. He was an editor of ART & CINEMA from 1975-1983 and Associate Editor of PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art from 1983-2004. His documentation of over thirty years of New York gallery exhibitions is a centerpiece of ARTSTOR; see there the "Larry Qualls Archive" with over 100,000 images. He also was a curator, curating exhibitions at Five Myles (Brooklyn) and the Voelker Orth Museum (Queens), as well as a retrospective of Lino Brocka's films sponsored by the Amauan Workshop at Anthology Film Archives. Up until mid-November, he was still posting his blog DOCUMENTS ON ART & DESIGN, which has proven a valuable resource for people wanting information on the happenings in the New York City artworld. From 1975 through 1985, he and Daryl Chin created over thirty performance pieces at such venues as Anthology Film Archives, Danspace at St. Mark's Church on the Bowery, Just Above Midtown/Downtown, and Theater for the New City.

Daryl Chin, his partner of fifty years, survives along with his twin brother, Barry V. Qualls of Highland Park, NJ, his nephew Jimmy Key of Allen, Kentucky, and his cousin Julianne Perry of Paintsville, Kentucky. Born in Martin, Kentucky, on May 13, 1945, he grew up in Plant City, Florida. His parents were Jamima D. Qualls and Benton V. Qualls. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from the College of William and Mary in 1967, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received his Master's degree in English from Columbia University in 1972 and his Masters of Philosophy in 1975.