Sperone Westwater’s closure has uncovered a deeper authorized and monetary dispute than first prompt by the gallery’s sudden shutdown on the finish of 2025. Newly filed court docket paperwork allege governance failures, disputed funds to artists, and years of inside impasse on the 50-year-old New York agency.
As Artnet Information reported earlier this week, the gallery closed amid a authorized battle between its two principals, Gian Enzo Sperone and Angela Westwater, who every management 50 p.c of the corporate. The dispute facilities on the dissolution of Sperone Westwater Inc., which additionally owns the Norman Foster–designed constructing on the Bowery that has housed the gallery since 2000.
In a petition filed in New York Supreme Court docket in August and supported by almost two dozen reveals and affidavits submitted via early January, Sperone and Sandstown Commerce Ltd., an entity related to his household, are looking for judicial dissolution of the company and the appointment of a receiver to supervise the wind-down of its property.
The petition argues that the corporate has been paralyzed by irreconcilable inside divisions, the failure since 2021 to elect successor administrators, an lack of ability to elect administrators, and a breakdown in communication between the 2 companions. In line with the filings, the administrators “don’t even converse straight to 1 one other,” creating what the petition describes as a “parasitic impasse.”
Past governance points, the paperwork define a collection of monetary disputes. Central amongst them is the connection between the gallery and the Foster Constructing, which is owned by a separate company subsidiary. The petitioners allege that the events had agreed the gallery would pay roughly $1.8 million per 12 months in lease to the holding firm, producing revenue from the actual property funding. They declare that Westwater later diminished and in the end eradicated that lease with out board approval in an effort to subsidize what the filings describe as an more and more unprofitable gallery operation.
Monetary information hooked up to the case present that gallery income peaked at roughly $20 million in 2021 earlier than falling sharply in subsequent years, reaching roughly $3.6 million in 2025. The petition alleges losses in 5 of the previous seven years and a shortfall of greater than $2 million in 2025 alone.
The filings additionally elevate questions on artist funds and consignor funds. The petition claims that artworks had been offered with out session and that artists weren’t paid as required by legislation. The petitioners argue that this poses potential publicity beneath New York’s Arts and Cultural Affairs Regulation, which regulates the dealing with of artist proceeds, although the filings cease in need of figuring out particular artists by identify.
Westwater, in filings submitted in December, disputes these characterizations. She contends that she has been the only supervisor of the gallery’s day-to-day operations for years and accuses Sperone of long-term absenteeism, alleging that he spent restricted time on the gallery even earlier than relocating to Europe in 2016. She has requested the court docket to dismiss the petition and argued that the gallery’s closure was dealt with responsibly, stating that staff had been terminated and “almost all consigned artworks” had been returned to their homeowners.
The petitioners counter that Sperone’s restricted bodily presence was lengthy understood throughout the partnership and documented in public statements, and that his diminished journey in later years was pushed by well being issues quite than abandonment. They additional allege that entry to monetary information, financial institution accounts, and accounting techniques was restricted, stopping significant oversight by the opposite shareholder.
One other level of rivalry is the function of outdoor advisers. The filings allege conflicts of curiosity involving authorized and accounting illustration, together with claims that advisers acted concurrently for Westwater personally and for the company, and that monetary service suppliers had been engaged with out board approval.
Whereas the authorized struggle continues, some features of the wind-down are already underway. Westwater’s filings verify that the brokerage agency CBRE has been retained to market the Foster Constructing, and that discussions over asset disposition have taken place beneath mediation, although these talks haven’t resulted in a complete settlement.
The case now activates how the dissolution will proceed and whether or not a court-appointed receiver will probably be put in to handle the method. In current submissions, Sperone’s attorneys argue that the query earlier than the court docket is now not whether or not the gallery will shut, however how the corporate’s property will probably be liquidated and its obligations resolved.
ARTnews has reached out to representatives for Sperone Westwater for touch upon the newest filings and allegations however has not but obtained a response.
The dispute places a highlight on the fragility of legacy gallery constructions in a market that has develop into extra capital-intensive, business-oriented, and operationally complicated, notably when possession is evenly divided and succession planning stays unresolved. For now, the destiny of certainly one of New York’s most storied up to date artwork galleries rests with the court docket.
