The Marlborough Gallery is to shut in June, shutting places in London, New York, Barcelona and Madrid and bringing to an finish one of the vital influential “blue chip” galleries on this planet.
The choice to shut after virtually 80 years got here “after lengthy and cautious consideration”, in response to the board of trustees on the gallery, which was as soon as on the bleeding fringe of the worldwide artwork market however lately had didn’t sustain with the evolution of the sector and was riven by inside energy struggles.
On Thursday, the board member Franz Plutschow introduced the choice to “sundown” the enterprise, which had as soon as had Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach, Henry Moore, Lucian Freud, Barbara Hepworth and Paula Rego on its books.
The Marlborough was opened in 1946 by Frank Lloyd and Harry Fischer, who have been later joined by David Somerset and Lloyd’s son Gilbert. For the primary 20 years of its life the gallery established a fame for extremely shrewd offers and well timed, agenda-setting reveals.
Within the Nineteen Fifties, well-received exhibitions of Juan Gris positioned the Marlborough as an thrilling new house in London, whereas its relationship with Francis Bacon and its resolution to open an outpost in New York in 1963 made it one of many first “mega galleries”.
The Guardian described Lloyd and Fischer as “two companions [who] provide the eyes and ears of the enterprise at residence”, whereas Lord Somerset was referred to as “a type of éminence grise frequently roving the continent”.
It was on a kind of excursions that the gallery secured the type of “astounding” deal it was initially recognized for. In 1960, the Marlborough purchased a part of the gathering of the Norwegian delivery magnate Ragnar Moltzau, earlier than promoting on the items – together with Cézanne’s Quarry at Bibémus – for big revenue.
However by the Seventies the gallery’s fame started to endure after a scandal involving Mark Rothko’s property, which had offered work to the gallery for underneath market worth; resulting in a authorized case and Lloyd being discovered to have tampered with proof.
Extra not too long ago there had been a protracted energy wrestle on the prime of the organisation after Gilbert Lloyd allegedly pushed out Lloyd’s nephew Pierre Levai, who had served as chair.
That led to a lawsuit introduced by Levai’s son Max that ultimately revealed the gallery, which owns an estimated 15,000 works which might be considered valued at about $250m, reportedly misplaced $18.7m between 2013 and 2019.
A spokesperson for the gallery instructed the Artwork Newspaper that the household points “have been resolved” and had “nothing to do with this resolution to wind down the enterprise”.
In 2022, three administrators left and have been adopted by Rego who departed for the Victoria Miro gallery in the identical yr. In the previous couple of years the gallery’s turnover dropped sharply, though it or its mum or dad firm reportedly nonetheless owns the properties in London, New York, and Madrid, plus warehouses in Spain and New York which it plans to promote.
