Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in On Balance, the ARTnews newsletter about the art market and beyond. Sign up here to receive it every Wednesday.
Happy Wednesday! Here’s a round-up of who’s moving and shaking in the art trade this week.
Frankenthaler Climate Initiative Opens Sixth Grant Cycle: Applications for the nation’s largest private program to support clean energy in the visual arts opens Thursday, with more than $17.5 million awarded to date to institutions pursuing energy efficiency and sustainability.
P·P·O·W Now Represents Phoebe Helander: The representation follows the gallery’s first solo presentation of her work, “Paintings from the Orange Room,” which closed in December. The gallery will show new paintings by Helander at Post-Fair in Santa Monica this February.
Séverin Guelpa Joins Switzerland’s Fabienne Levy Gallery: The Swiss artist, whose practice spans installation, video, and sculpture, is the founder and curator of the collective project Matza. The gallery will present new pieces by Guelpa at Art Genève later this month.
Catinca Tabacaru Takes on Andrei Nițu: The Romanian painter, whose work explores what the artist has described as the “juxtaposition of my own narcissistic tendencies and the backdrop of my country’s totalitarian past,” will make his debut at the gallery in September 2026. He is co-represented by Stigter Van Doesburg in Amsterdam.
Roland Augustine Steps Down From Luhring Augustine: The cofounder said he is “retiring from the gallery” but “not retiring.” He will focus on philanthropy, while the gallery will bring long-time directors Lauren Wittels and Donald Johnson Montenegro in as equity partners.
The Big Number: 9
That’s the percentage decrease in revenue that the auction house Bonhams saw in 2024, compared to 2023, according to its most recent filings with Companies House, the UK’s rough equivalent of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. While that finding may be bleak, it is not out of step with the other major auction houses, which saw revenue drops of 23 percent (Sotheby’s), 8 percent (Christie’s), and 14 percent (Phillips) that year. That drop, combined with recorded losses in the statement, provides a clearer picture of why Bonhams was sold last October. Its new owner, Pemberton Asset Management, said it has lent $259 million to the auction house since the changeover.
Read This
Ever wondered about Max Hollein’s hacks for beating the crowds at the Metropolitan Museum of Art? If so, Cultured arts editor-at-large Sophia Cohen has you covered. In a new interview with the CEO and director of the Met, Cohen asks questions both irreverent and serious. Perhaps most interesting is Hollein’s contention that the Met is a “museum of the world, and for the world,” one not defined by either national identity or location. For all the talk of the end of the encyclopedic museum or the universal museum, the Met remains, in Hollein’s eyes, “a truly global, nonnational institution.” One wonders how that view sits with the New Yorkers whose taxes—both city and state—fund a not insignificant portion of the institution’s budget. —Harrison Jacobs, Executive Digital Editor
