Sperone Westwater, a 50-year-old New York gallery, closed on January 1, 2026, amid a legal dispute between its co-founders Gian Enzo Sperone and Angela Westwater. Court filings reveal Sperone accuses Westwater of mismanagement, including using the gallery's Norman Foster-designed building on the Bowery to subsidize unprofitable operations, while Westwater counters that Sperone has been largely absent since 2016 and is attempting to extract maximum financial benefit. The corporation's two directors are deadlocked, and a receiver may be appointed to oversee dissolution, including sale of the building and distribution of assets.
The case matters because it exposes the fragility of long-standing gallery partnerships and the financial pressures facing even established dealers in a shifting art market. The outcome could set a precedent for how gallery dissolutions are handled when co-owners are at an impasse, and it highlights the tension between real estate assets and gallery operations in New York's competitive landscape.