Dealer Gordon VeneKlasen has announced plans to relaunch his gallery under his own name, VeneKlasen Gallery, after splitting from Michael Werner Gallery. He will take over the New York and London locations, while Werner's Los Angeles outpost will close. Justine Birbil and Kadee Robbins have been promoted to partners. The gallery will debut at Art Basel Qatar with a solo presentation by Issy Wood and will host inaugural exhibitions of works by Sigmar Polke. Separately, a rare 16th-century portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola, "Portrait of a Canon Regular" (1552), has been rediscovered and is on view at the Winter Show at Manhattan's Park Avenue Armory, at the booth of dealer Robert Simon. The work was found in a private collection in Durham, North Carolina, after being thought lost.
This matters because VeneKlasen's move reshapes a major gallery network after a decades-long partnership, signaling shifts in the primary market and gallery representation. The Anguissola rediscovery adds a significant signed work to the known oeuvre of a celebrated Renaissance female painter, offering a rare opportunity for public viewing and scholarly study. Both stories highlight ongoing dynamics in the art world: the restructuring of established galleries and the continued uncovering of historically important artworks.