Stevenson Gallery is closing its Johannesburg branch after 17 years, with the last day on December 12. The final exhibition, Tofo Bardi's "Underground: Nothing to Hold," will close early. The gallery's Cape Town and Amsterdam locations will remain open. Founded in Cape Town in 2003 by Michael Stevenson, the Johannesburg outpost opened in 2008 and moved several times before settling in Parktown North in 2019.
The closure marks the end of a significant chapter for one of South Africa's leading contemporary art galleries, which represented about three dozen artists, half from South Africa and others from across Africa and Europe. The gallery was known for its unusual equity share model, where 13 partners collectively owned the business. Its Johannesburg presence had been a key platform for both established and emerging African artists, and its withdrawal from the city may affect the local art ecosystem.