Category: Gallerist
Nationality: American
Last Year: 2

Ah, Gogo. The man with the one true global brand-name in luxury contemporary art has become so acclimated to the higher altitudes of this list that it seems he’s begun eschewing the oxygen of pure commerce for the kind of free climbing once reserved for those who trained in the rarified air of the world’s top museums. What the hell are we talking about? Why, Picasso, of course. For a little over two months last spring, at his no-longer-that-new 21st Street space in Chelsea, Gagosian mounted a museum-quality show of works centred on the Spanish master’s late mosqueteros, complete with holdings from the collection of Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, the Museo Picasso in Málaga, Spain (Picasso’s birthplace), and, of course, the Museum of Modern Art in New York. What’s more, the exhibition was curated by John Richardson, whose four-volume biography of the artist (the third volume was brought out in 2007, which means the Gagosian exhibition could only be fodder for the fourth) promises to be the last word on the artist’s life and art, at least for a little while. The catalogue featured original research by younger Picasso scholars and newly translated texts related to the ageing minotaur’s later years. Oh, and Annabelle Selldorf – crafter of Ronald Lauder’s Neue Galerie, David Zwirner’s house architect, literally – did the exhibition design. Lest art get in the way of commerce (this is Gogo, remember), the gallery opened up a storefront retail operation on Madison Avenue, which will sell books, prints, limited editions, multiples and other items designed and authored by all those who bask in the light of Gagosian’s star (or shiver in his shadow).