The Art Newspaper

Sotheby’s vice chair opening New York gallery

Emmanuel Di Donna is leaving the auction house and teaming up with London dealer Harry Blain

By Charlotte Burns. Web only
Published online: 23 October 2010

Harry Blain and Emmanuel DiDonna

london. Former Sotheby’s vice chairman Emmanuel Di Donna is teaming up with London dealer Harry Blain to open a gallery in uptown New York. The duo officially start trading in mid-November, and hope to sign the lease on a new space off Madison Avenue shortly. The gallery, Blain Di Donna, will focus on secondary market sales.

“I had a fabulous experience at Sotheby's, but after 17 years, it's time to renew yourself,” said the French-born Di Donna, who was a major public face of the evening impressionist and modern art auctions in New York. “I was responsible for finding $500m of paintings every year—which in end makes you run like a headless chicken. You want a different rhythm after a while, and it will be good to have a more long-term view.”

He will run the New York space, which will “stage three very focused exhibitions a year, probably mixing modern and contemporary,” said Di Donna. “The ambition is to have the doors open, and the first exhibition up, in time for the New York auctions in May,” said Blain, who was one of the founders of Haunch of Venison gallery, which was sold to Christie’s in 2002. Blain left Haunch last June along with fellow co-founder Graham Southern, to create the new gallery, Blain Southern, which opened in London this month.

Blain Southern also plans to open in Berlin. “Blain Southern focuses on the primary market and our artists, and Blain Di Donna focuses on Impressionist, Modern and secondary-market contemporary works,” said Blain. “There is a clear delineation between the two,” he said, adding: “I've certainly got a lot on my plate right now!”