{"id":38567,"date":"2025-12-25T00:31:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T00:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/the-year-in-gallery-closures-a-collapse-or-a-transition-to-a-smarter-market\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T00:31:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T00:31:02","slug":"the-year-in-gallery-closures-a-collapse-or-a-transition-to-a-smarter-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/the-year-in-gallery-closures-a-collapse-or-a-transition-to-a-smarter-market\/","title":{"rendered":"The Year in Gallery Closures: A Collapse or a Transition to a Smarter\u00a0Market?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\u201cAll happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,\u201d Leo Tolstoy wrote in the opening of Anna Karenina<\/em>. The line is so iconic that it gave rise <\/a>to a principle: for success to occur in any complex endeavor, all key factors must be present and functioning properly, while failure requires only a single missing element. This year, as the art market faltered, many dealers learned that lesson the hard way.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt is possible that every such business, like every unhappy family, has its own reasons for calling it quits, and in fact there are varying explanations for the raft of gallery closures this year. But when the numbers overall tell indisputably of a shrinking market, it\u2019s hard to believe that many don\u2019t come down to the same thing: too much money going out the door on implacable overheads, not enough coming in from buyers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSure, some have questioned<\/a> whether the doom-and-gloom reporting is excessive. ARTnews<\/em>\u2019s Alex Greenberger rejoiced in February<\/a> at the appearance of small new galleries. Galleries large and small also expanded. And it\u2019s true that ever since Art Basel Paris, the mood in the art market has brightened, and November saw the New York marquee auctions move some $2.2 billion in art, which for many indicated heightened confidence.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut overall, when it came to galleries, the dominant vibe was one of endings more than beginnings\u2014and it continued a building drumbeat. Those who closed or significantly downsized in 2025, after all, joined others that have expired in previous years. These may all be part of natural cycles; Miami dealer Frederic Snitzer recently called<\/a> it \u201ca healthy, natural thinning of the herd in terms of quality.\u201d But the scene is such that Artnet News <\/em>even recently published a guide for those throwing in the towel, titled \u201chow to close your gallery<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLet\u2019s quickly run down a fairly comprehensive list of the doors that have slammed shut in the last twelve months\u2014leavened with some of the expansions and new ventures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe growing necrology gained most of its new entries in the year\u2019s second half. Many were shocked when Tim Blum told ARTnews<\/em><\/a> <\/em>in July that he would \u201csunset\u201d his gallery (with locations in Los Angeles and Tokyo and a New York outpost in the works) and pursue a new model. A week later, collector Adam Lindemann shuttered<\/a> his New York gallery Venus Over Manhattan in July after 14 years, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s time to wave the white flag.\u201d On a contrasting note, Swiss-based megagallery Hauser & Wirth announced<\/a> in July a new outpost in Palo Alto (where Pace closed in 2022<\/a> after six years) to open in 2026.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Portrait<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>

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\t\t\t\t\tPortrait of Tim Blum, 2024<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto Hannah Mj\u00f8lsnes<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tIn August, Clearing Gallery of New York and Los Angeles revealed<\/a> that it would shutter after 14 years, and New York\u2013based Tanya Bonakdar chose to wind down<\/a> her L.A. space of seven years. In the plus column, a trio: Claire Oliver Gallery expanded<\/a> in Harlem; Sebastian Gladstone expanded<\/a> in the City of Angels; and Ben Hunter expanded<\/a> in London. And one gallery often described as closing was really more like a rebrand<\/a>: five years after the founder\u2019s death, Kasmin transitioned to Olney Gleason, run by two senior staffers.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe back to school season saw abundant red ink. New York\u2019s Tilton Gallery announced in September<\/a> that it would close (eight years after the founder\u2019s death); Los Angeles\u2019s veteran LA Louver shuttered<\/a>; New York\u2019s Sean Kelly Gallery opted<\/a> to stop mounting shows at its Los Angeles venue; Pace closed<\/a> its Hong Kong gallery; and San Francisco stalwart Claudia Altman-Seigel closed<\/a> after some 16 years, saying the market had become \u201ctoo difficult.\u201d Galerie Francesca Pia of Zurich, founded in 1990, called it quits<\/a> in October, and Almine Rech revealed<\/a> she would drop her London gallery after more than a decade\u2014if temporarily and while continuing to operate eight other locations, from New York to Shanghai.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>

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\t\t\t\t\tSperone Westwater.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy Sperone Westwater<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tAs Thanksgiving approached, New York\u2019s Sperone Westwater revealed<\/a> that it would close after half a century amid a legal battle<\/a> between the founders. Stephen Friedman, of New York and London, announced<\/a> that he would close his Manhattan outpost\u2014less than 30 months after arriving. London\u2019s Project Native Informant called it a wrap, as did Munich\u2019s Nir Altman. On the upside, Artnet<\/em> revealed<\/a> that a pair of New Yorkers, Lomex gallery founder Alexander Shulan and art advisor Ralph DeLuca, would team up on Lomex Las Vegas in a Sin City ranch home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd just in time for the December holidays, mixed tidings: Paris\u2019s taste-making gallery High Art announced<\/a> that it was closing its physical space, and South Africa\u2019s Stevenson Gallery said it would close its Johannesburg location<\/a> after 17 years\u2014while continuing on in Cape Town and Amsterdam. In the wins column, Hauser & Wirth bought<\/a> a historic palazzo in Sicily, where it will open a new gallery by 2030, and Pace, Di Donna, and David Schrader formed a new partnership<\/a> that will ramp up in spring.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo\u2014what does it all mean? At least one market insider warns against giving in to pessimism.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBarbara Banks Photography<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\t\u201cClosures tell different stories,\u201d said Kinsey Robb, executive director of the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA), in a phone interview. ADAA represents over 200 member galleries in nearly 40 U.S. cities and runs an annual New York art fair<\/a>. \u201cSome reflect exhaustion or high overhead or a shifting business model but then you have others, we really should acknowledge, that are part of a natural generational turnover, as we\u2019re in a field where many galleries are owner-run small businesses.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think this period has looked difficult for some, but I don\u2019t see it as a collapse for the market but rather as a moment of transition,\u201d she said. \u201c2025 has felt dramatic as a whole year, not just in the art world. I try to keep that perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRobb pushed back on some of the reporting, resorting to a common expression: \u201cIt\u2019s not all doom and gloom,\u201d she said, \u201cbut more a cautious, more selective, smarter, more flexible art market.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAll happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,\u201d Leo Tolstoy wrote in the opening of Anna Karenina. The line is so iconic that it gave rise to a principle: for success to occur in any complex endeavor, all key factors must be present and functioning properly, while failure requires […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-art"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-25 14:46:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}