Sperone Westwater, the Bowery-based gallery that represents canonical figures including Francesco Clemente and Bruce Nauman, will cease operations at the end of this year. The closure, first reported by Artnet News, comes just two months after the gallery marked its 50th anniversary and three months after the gallery's co-founder, Gian Enzo Sperone, sued his fellow co-founder, Angela Westwater, seeking to dissolve the gallery, and alleging her “unlawful handling" of funds.
In a statement to The Art Newspaper, a gallery spokesperson said: “After 50 successful years, Sperone Westwater gallery will be closing on 31 December, as co-founders Angela Westwater and Gian Enzo Sperone have decided to pursue separate endeavours”.
Founded in 1975 in Soho as Sperone Westwater Fischer (the third namesake dealer, Konrad Fischer, left in 1982), the three-way collaboration became a bastion of Neo-Expressionist painting in the 1980s, putting names like Sandro Chia, Enzo Cucchi, and Mimmo Paladino on the map.
Sperone Westwater was one of the first blue-chip dealerships to move to the Lower East Side in 2010, commissioning the superstar architect Norman Foster to design an eight-storey building, reportedly worth $20m.
'Parasitic deadlock'
Filed on 18 August in Supreme Court of the State of New York, the suitagainst Westwater, a 50% shareholder in the gallery, was brought by Sperone and Sandstown Trade Ltd., the latter of which owns the other 50% of shares in the gallery.
Rent payments appear to be at the centre of the disagreement. The suit alleges that the gallery’s two stockholders paid $10m towards the Foster building with the understanding that the gallery would pay $1.8m in rent. Westwater requested a change in payment structure, stating, “the Gallery’s program and revenues were in decline such that it cannot afford to pay the agreed rent and, from the limited information shared with Petitioners, is unprofitable and, unfortunately, no longer a leading gallery of contemporary art”. She emphasised that she could close the gallery “at any time”.
According to the suit, the two octogenarians are “so divided” that “they do not even speak directly to one another”. Sperone was a director of Sandstown until 2024, when he was replaced by the “trusted family friend” Filippo Pistone, the founder of Port Chester’s Bacchanal Wine Imports.
In an email submitted with the suit, Westwater accuses Pistone of “bullying” her and the staff with “burdensome demands” and “false claims” of “unlawful conduct”.
The suit also alleges that Westwater is holding the gallery and the other stakeholders in a "parasitic deadlock" by “using one very high value asset, the Foster Building, to subsidize the other unprofitable asset, the Gallery, including a salary to her and compensation of some kind to her daughter”. Sperone and Sandstown accuse Westwater of increasing her own salary without clearing it with the other stockholders, further alleging that she was “reckless” with consignments and proceeds.
The closure of Sperone Westwater will affect 28 artists and their estates. In a comment to Artnet News, artist Alexis Rockman, who started showing with the gallery in 1992 and joined its roster in 2010, called this ending “a real loss”, noting that “they were a bridge to an earlier New York art world, and I’m grateful for their long time support”.
Sperone Westwater's closure is the latest in a string of high-profile gallery shutterings in New York this year, including Blum, Venus over Manhattan, and Clearing.
According to Artnet News, the gallery's current Richard Long exhibition will continue as planned until 13 December and the gallery will participate in Art Basel Miami Beach (3-7 December).
