Summary
Powerhouse dealership Almine Rech has announced the closure of its Mayfair gallery in London
The latest gallery to shutter amid the market’s shaky waters, the French gallerist maintains that the English capital will remain a central site of overall strategy
After more than a decade in London, Almine Rech has officially shuttered its Mayfair outpost. First reported by The Art Newspaper, the Paris-born powerhouse confirmed that its UK arm entered voluntary liquidation in August, shortly after its final Gregor Hildebrandt solo, naming the move as a “technical step to restructure a lease that no longer aligned with [its] plans.”
Filings to Companies House suggest that the gallery holds a £6.3 million GBP deficit, though French gallerist, Rech herself, noted that “the gallery has no unpaid obligations to artists, employees, or suppliers.”
The decision lands amid a wave of closures and consolidations shaking up the global art scene. The gallery’s London foothold took root in 2014 with a building of Savile Row, later moving to Grosvenor Hill two years later. Once home to headline shows by blue-chip names, including its inaugural Jeff Koons exhibition, the Mayfair spot, perhaps, faced the same headwinds hitting much of London’s market: post-Brexit uncertainty and pandemic fallout.
Despite the closure, Rech reassured that London remains central to the gallery’s strategy, suggesting a repositioning rather than a full exit. Almine Rech will keep on its eight spaces, including its duet Parisian sites, Brussels, Shanghai, Gstaad and New York, which is currently hosting a sold-out painting exhibition by Chloe Wise.