Marian Goodman, a 93-year-old art dealer, has revealed future plans for her gallery, which has locations in New York and Paris, as well as a project space in London.
Philipp Kaiser, current chief executive director of artists and programs, has been named president and a partner. Emily-Jane Kirwan, Rose Lord, Leslie Nolen, and Junette Teng, who previously served as executive directors at the gallery, have also been named partners. Goodman has announced that she will become chief executive officer. She has also stood up an advisory committee of five longtime staff members to support the partners.
“Preserving my roster and continuing to take on artists interested in a humanistic concern, a culture-critical sense of our way of life, a dialectical approach toward reality, and artistic vision about our urban structure is important to me,” Goodman said in a statement. “My partners and I together will carry forward the mission that I have worked so hard to achieve.”
Goodman first opened her New York gallery in 1977. Represented artists include Julie Mehretu, John Baldessari, Nairy Baghramian, Maurizio Cattelan, Pierre Huyghe, Nan Goldin, Steve McQueen, Gerhard Richter, Adrián Villar Rojas, and Danh Vo.
In 2020, Goodman announced plans to close her London gallery due to the pandemic and political strategies in the country causing uncertainty in the market of the British capital.
According to Kaiser, changes in the slimmed down field of midsize galleries contributed to the restructuring at Marian Goodman. said Kaiser. Larger, less traditional art dealerships and galleries have eaten up their share of industry and have become an attractive option for many artists. Goodman and her team have focused their efforts on championing artists like Marcel Broodthaers and Nan Goldin who have staying power.
“At a gallery like Marian Goodman, there is never any hard selling. There isn’t somebody who accosts you at the elevator,” said the gallerist Jeffrey Deitch, who has collaborated with Goodman on past exhibitions and regards her as an inspiration. “She defined the model of the contemporary gallery as having the same standards of a great museum.”
