The board of trustees of Marlborough Gallery, a prestigious blue-chip gallery with a 78-year legacy, has announced its closure. Marlborough has long represented numerous renowned artists and estates, including photographer Bill Brandt, sculptor Deborah Butterfield, painter Vincent Desiderio, and architect Santiago Calatrava. The gallery stated that it will gradually wind down operations at its branches in New York, London, and Madrid.
Effective this June, Marlborough will cease presenting exhibitions and representing artists and estates in the primary art market. The gallery’s extensive inventory, amassed over decades, will be dispersed in the coming months.
“After careful deliberation, we have concluded that it is time to close our nearly 80-year-old firm,” stated Franz Plutschow, a board member and longstanding associate of the gallery’s founders.
The decision to shutter Marlborough follows a period of significant turmoil within the organization. In 2020, internal conflicts nearly led to the downfall of the veteran enterprise. The board terminated its president, Max Levai, leading to the departure of numerous artists. Additionally, the gallery’s original location on West 57th Street was closed at the onset of the pandemic, and plans for expansion were abandoned. Legal disputes ensued between Levai and the gallery, resulting in multimillion-dollar lawsuits in New York court, which have since been resolved according to court records, with claims including fraud, defamation, and an attempted coup.
Regarding the future of the gallery’s inventory, Marlborough stated that it has engaged an advisor to assist in the process of “thoughtfully dispersing” the collection. A portion of the proceeds from the sales will be donated to nonprofit cultural institutions that support contemporary artists.
In addition to selling the thousands of artworks in the Marlborough inventory, which encompass works on paper, photographs, and major paintings by over 50 artists, the gallery will also sell its premises in prime locations across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain. Previous reports have estimated the value of the gallery’s inventory at $250 million.
Further details regarding the closure of the galleries, the dispersal of the inventory, and the philanthropic program will be announced by the gallery in the coming months.
