Independent Names 31 Galleries for New 20th-Century Art Fair

Independent, which organizes an annual art fair each spring in New York, has announced the 31 galleries that will participate in its new 20th-century art focused fair, set to have its inaugural edition in September at the Battery Maritime Building in Lower Manhattan.

Among the exhibitors lined up to take part in Independent 20th Century, which will run September 8–11 and coincide with the Armory Show, are Cheim & Read, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Garth Greenan Gallery, Karma, Parker Gallery, and Venus Over Manhattan. This edition will also see 15 galleries participate for the first time in any iteration of Independent ever, including Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, James Fuentes, Susan Inglett Gallery, Nahmad Contemporary, and Shin Gallery.

All of the exhibitors will present work by artists from the 20th-century whose practices have historically been overlooked or under-recognized, matching a tendency that has been rising in the art world over the past decade, including at museums and international biennials such as this year’s Venice Biennale.

Though Independent 20th Century will operate as a commercial art fair, not all the works on view will be for sale, as some will come as loans from private collections.

In an email to ARTnews, Matthew Higgs, the director of New York’s White Columns who is organizing the fair with Independent’s director Elizabeth Dee, said, “Over the past 20 years we have seen the increased presence of historical bodies of work within exhibitions of contemporary art. In the past large-scale exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale focused almost exclusively on the art of the present, whereas almost 50 percent of the artists in the current edition might be described as ‘historical.’ This tendency—i.e. the framing of the ‘contemporary’ through the lens of the past—is arguably the dominant curatorial narrative of this century.”

He added, “Independent 20th Century seeks to amplify the increasingly elastic notion of what constitutes the ‘contemporary’ through a focused reconsideration of the art produced in the last century.”

The full exhibitor list follows below.

Galerie 1900-2000*
Alexandre Gallery
Almeida & Dale*
Galerie Hervé Bize
Galleria Tommaso Calabro*
Cheim & Read
Corbett vs. Dempsey
Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel*
James Fuentes*
Galatea*
Gordon Robichaux
Garth Greenan Gallery
Susan Inglett Gallery*
Inman Gallery*
Ivan Gallery
Karma
Nicole Klagsbrun*
Luxembourg + Co.*
Gió Marconi
Nahmad Contemporary*
Parker Gallery
Perrotin
The Ranch
Diane Rosenstein Gallery*
Ross + Kramer
Salon 94 Design*
Richard Saltoun
Vito Schnabel Gallery
Shin Gallery*
Soft Network*
Venus Over Manhattan

*Denotes first-time exhibitor at Independent.