Independent 20th Century adds 75% more exhibitors as it moves to the Breuer Building

This September's edition of Independent 20th Century will bring exhibitors and collectors together at Sotheby’s Breuer Building on Madison Avenue, marking the first such collaboration between a commercial art fair and a major auction house. The new venue will allow the fair to host more than double the number of exhibitors from last year.

The Breuer Building, which opened in 1966 and was designed by the Modernist architect Marcel Breuer, was built to house the Whitney Museum of American Art. After that institution relocated to the Meatpacking District in 2015, the building housed a temporary outpost of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and, subsequently, provided exhibition space for the Frick Collection while that museum’s Gilded-Age home underwent a five-year renovation. In 2023, Sotheby’s announced it would acquire the storied building for a reported $100m.

“Independent 20th Century at the Breuer demonstrates the show’s unique ability to bring an artist’s vision from the modern era to life in a historic architectural and partnership setting—resulting in a new cultural conversation that breaks with aesthetic and market norms,” Elizabeth Dee, Independent's founder, said in a statement.

A press release announcing the exhibitors at the upcoming fair describes the partnership between Independent and Sotheby’s as motivated by a shared desire to foster connections between galleries, collectors and the greater public, by combining the fair's curatorial chops with Sotheby’s knowledge and platform.

“Sotheby’s is delighted to collaborate with Independent to push beyond the traditional boundaries of the art world in ways that engage collectors, gallerists and art lovers alike,” Charles Stewart, Sotheby’s chief executive, said in a statement.

Moving from Casa Cipriani in the Financial District, where the fair has been staged since the inaugural edition in 2022, to the Modernist landmark on the Upper East Side will allow the event to grow significantly. This year, 56 exhibitors will take part, a 75% increase compared to previous years, when the number of stands never exceeded more than 32 galleries.

Of those exhibitors, 33 are new to the fair, including an influx of international blue-chip dealers like Hauser & Wirth, which will present a stand dedicated to the Swiss artist and healer Emma Kunz; Thaddaeus Ropac, which will show work by the German artistic polymath Oskar Schlemmer; Sprüth Magers, which will show works by Jenny Holzer and Marian Goodman, devoting its presentation to banners from the limited-edition fabric-based studio The Betsy Ross Flag and Banner Co and Multiples Inc. Other first-time participants include Esther Schipper, Lévy Gorvy Dayan, Berry Campbell, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Gallery Wendi Norris and Olney Gleason.

This year’s fair will also feature a stronger presence of Latin American galleries. Exhibitors Galatea, Gomide&Co and Nara Roesler all have spaces in São Paulo, while Instituto de Visión and Leon Tovar Gallery were both founded in Bogotá.

Returning galleries include Luxembourg + Co, Nahmad Contemporary, Salon 94, Richard Saltoun, Hollis Taggart, Weinstein Gallery and James Fuentes. Participants who took part in 2025 but will not return for the 2026 edition include Sea View from Los Angeles, Cristin Tierney Gallery from New York and Tureen from Dallas.

True to Independent 20th Century's reputation for curatorial ambition and rigour, around 80% of stands at September's fair will feature a solo or dual-artist presentation. This focused approach the fair's devotion to overlooked artists and underappreciated bodies of works by well-known artists from the previous century; its sister fair Independent, held in the spring, focuses on contemporary art.

Along with the new location, Independent 20th Century's dates will also shift back by three weeks, taking place from 24 September to 27 September. The new dates line up with other expos in the city, including The Armory Show and Spring Break.