After more than a quarter-century at the helm of the New York gallery they founded, James and Jane Cohan are passing the torch to senior director David Norr as part of a planned leadership transition that will also see a new name for the gallery: Norr Cohan.
James Cohan Gallery announced on Wednesday that Norr has assumed sole ownership and leadership. Jane Cohan has retired from her role at the gallery, while James Cohan will continue to work with artists and collectors on a smaller scale. Reflecting the change in ownership, the gallery will now operate under the new name. Founded in 1999, the gallery has helped shape the careers of artists including Fred Tomaselli, Yinka Shonibare, Robert Smithson and Kennedy Yanko.
“It’s the privilege of a lifetime to build upon what Jim and Jane created, and I feel an enormous sense of gratitude to have spent 11 years learning from the best in the business,” Norr said in a statement. “Our mission remains unchanged: to champion artists with the same care, rigour and ambition that have defined the gallery since its founding, while continuing to grow and evolve in ways that best support their practices.”
Norr joined the gallery in 2015, after serving as a curator at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland. According to the gallery, that institutional background shaped his emphasis on museum advocacy for artists, an approach shared by the Cohans. James and Jane Cohan also have ties to Ohio, having lived in Cleveland before relocating to New York in the 1980s.
The ownership transition has been years in the making. Norr was named a gallery partner in 2018 and became a co-owner in 2021, before assuming sole ownership this year.
“I’ve spent 45 years in the art world, including 17 at other galleries before opening my own. I have witnessed firsthand how difficult it is to create a gallery that lives on beyond its founder,” James Cohan said in a statement. “Jane and I have always believed that our first responsibility is to our artists, and it has always been important to build a home for them that would thrive beyond my tenure.”