Christie’s poaches Sotheby’s specialist
Christie’s, New York has hired a former senior specialist in Sotheby’s Old Masters department, François de Poortere, to head its Old Masters painting department.
Tina Kim takes over Casey Kaplan’s old space
Tina Kim Gallery is leaving its third-floor home on New York’s West 25th Street to move into the ground-floor gallery on West 21st street that was formerly home to the Casey Kaplan gallery (which moved to the Flower District on West 27th Street in February). The space will be renovated by the New York-based design office, SO-IL. The gallery opens on 15 May with a group show, Happy Together (until 14 June).
Eykyn Maclean gets new consultant
The London-based Old Masters specialist William Noortman is joining Eykyn Maclean, the London and New York dealership, as a consultant. Noortman, whose gallery closed in December 2013, will focus on Old Masters and Modern and post-war art.
Stephen Friedman’s new sales director
Oscar Humphries, the founder and publisher of The Art Book magazine and a previous editor of Apollo, has joined Stephen Friedman in London as the director of sales. Humphries has also worked as the head of international sales at Timothy Taylor and is the son of the performer and comedian Barry Humphries, also known as Dame Edna Everage.
New York Dealers launch joint project space
Leon Tovar and Cristina Grajales are due to open the Third Room, a joint project space in New York’s NoMad district, on 24 September. The 6,000 sq. ft space will launch with an architectural installation by the artist Simon Vega.
Swiss gallery opens in London
Three years after opening a contemporary gallery in Lugano, the founders of Cortesi Gallery are opening a second space on Maddox Street in London on 15 May. Its first UK show, Atmosfera Zero-Great Expectations #2, focuses on the Zero group (until 18 July).
Pace redevelops flagship gallery in Chelsea
The Pace gallery is moving to a new base on New York’s West 25th Street. The space, 30,000 sq. ft larger than its existing home, runs across five floors of an eight-storey building. The new gallery is due to open in autumn 2017, and will be developed by Weinberg Properties and designed by Pace’s president, Marc Glimcher, and Bonetti/Kozerski Studio.
Thaddaeus Ropac is on a hiring spree
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac has added three new members to its London, Paris and Salzburg teams. Polly Robinson Gaer, a former senior director at the Pace gallery, will be based in London as an executive director; José Castañal, formerly a director at Berlin’s Esther Schipper, will be a director at Ropac’s two Paris locations; and Barbara de Palmenaer, formerly a junior director at the Paris- and Brussels-based Almine Rech Gallery, is now the junior director of Ropac’s Villa Kast space in Salzburg.
Dubai plans 15 new galleries
Fifteen new galleries and organisations will open in Dubai’s arts and cultural hub, Alserkal Avenue, this autumn including the local gallery The Third Line and New York’s Leila Heller Gallery, which is opening a Dubai branch. Alserkal Avenue is also behind a boat-cum-recording studio (the Safina Radio Project), due to launch at the opening of the Venice Biennale (6-8 May).