Samuel Adams Green

Samuel Adams Green (May 20, 1940 – March 4, 2011) was an American art curator and director, most associated with his promotion of American pop art, particularly the early works of his friend Andy Warhol. Amused by the coincidence of their names, Bellamy hired Green on the spot to man the galleries front desk. Art writer John Gruen later described Green Gallery as "An important stepping-stone for every major American Pop artist". To then protest against the proposed redevelopment of Easter Island as a United States Air Force refueling station, Green shut down the 59th Street Bridge and both lanes of Park Avenue to allow installation of a giant Moai head sculpture in the forecourt of Seagram's Plaza. The case was ultimately settled confidentially by his Estate.

Greta Garbo

The well connected Baroness Cecile de Rothschild's summer home was located in Saint-Raphaël, Var on the French Riviera. In the first summer that he assisted Beaton, Green accompanied him to stay at Rothschild's house. Rothschild had been concerned for her friend, the by-then retired actress Greta Garbo, and so began vetting Green to be a new companion for her.

Whenever Garbo and Green were both in New York, they would walk twice a week, regardless of the weather. It is thought by some that Garbo wore many layers of clothes and large sunglasses to avoid notice. Garbo also stayed at Green's houses in both Fire Island, New York, and Cartagena, Colombia, both isolated locations. In his last will and testament, he bequeathed his papers and audio material relating to other celebrities to Yale University.

Yoko Ono and John Lennon Green, an admirer of New York-resident Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, met her flat mate Yoko Ono in the 1960s on one of his regular visits to their apartment. The piano bears a plaque "For Sam Love From Yoko and John 1979". When Lennon and Ono would visit Green, Lennon would often play the piano.

Three years after Lennon died, Green loaned the Baldwin piano, given to him by John and Yoko, to Andy Warhol, and it was in Warhol Studios from 1983 to 1986.

In 1986, Green loaned the piano to the New York Academy of Art, where it was used for special occasions until 1999, when it was sold by someone in the NYAA without Green’s permission or knowledge. In 2000, Green filed a lawsuit against NYAA asking for $1.7 million or the return of the piano. It became a media scandal, and the piano acquired the nickname “The Lost Lennon Piano”, as it was lost to Green. After it was found, he was saddened not to be able to recover ownership of it again, but was advised to drop the lawsuit.

In 2023, three years after Mercersburg Academy, the fifth owner after Lennon, received the piano in a Deed of Trust, they put it up for auction at Alex Cooper Auctioneers in Baltimore to benefit student scholarships.

Preservationist For the last 30 years of his life from the early 1980s onwards, Green worked to preserve various ancient art installations around the world, including Bhutanese monasteries and Buddhas carved in the mountainsides of Sri Lanka.

Late Work At the time of Green's death, the ICA in Philadelphia was planning an exhibition based on his 1965 exhibition of Warhol's work. The exhibition (titled "That's How We Escaped": Reflections on Warhol) ran at the ICA from April 21 to August 7, 2011.