Recent shake-up in Gagosian’s succession planning

After fifteen years in business together, founder Larry Gagosian announced Andrew Fabricant’s departure from the gallery in an email. Five years ago, Fabricant was named Chief Operating Officer of Gagosian to bring some corporate discipline and create a path that would facilitate the future takeover. He wielded a lot of power, to the point that the art market rumor mill said he could be the one to take over the Gagosian Empire once Larry Gagosian’s succession plan became known.

When Fabricant joined the company, the gallery relied on a group of ambitious and mostly independent senior directors who responded as the ‘big boss’ made all the decisions. In particular, it lacked a good business infrastructure and soon after Fabricant joined the gallery, he introduced an HR team and an IT department and put a CFO in charge of finances.

Several details suggest that tensions between the various parties forced this apparently abrupt departure. Although Fabricant has not released a statement, people closer to his world have suggested that he may have found himself in a backward position, balancing a sole proprietorship with the interests and ambitions of multiple directors. Fabricant’s wife, Laura Paulson, head of the gallery’s Art Advisory services, left the gallery with him.

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Following Bloomberg’s announcement about the leadership change at the gallery, Gagosian emailed a statement to Artnet News: “At this point in the resolution, we came to the point where I decided it was time to part ways. We are grateful for their contributions in recent years and wish them every success.”

All this happened a few weeks after Gagosian announced the appointment of Brooke Lampley, former chairman of Sotheby’s Fine Art Division, to join the gallery as Senior Director. Lampley began her career at Christie’s and quickly made a name for herself as a specialist in impressionist and modern art; she played a crucial role in securing and managing high-profile auctions and private sales, including the art collection of billionaire A. Alfred Taubman. Her reputation as a dealmaker at Christie’s made her an exciting candidate for rival Sotheby’s, where she was appointed vice chairman of the Fine Art Division and secured major sales, including most recently the collection of real estate developer Harry Macklowe. She’s reportedly taking some of her notable longtime clients, including billionaires Ken Griffin and Stephen Schwarzman, with her during the transition.

In 2021, Larry Gagosian formed a board of directors to help think through his corporate structure. In addition to seven of its key employees (including Andrew Fabricant) and Gagosian himself, the board consists of twelve people from different sectors. These outside members include Evan Spiegel, Snap’s CEO; the artist Jenny Saville; the financier J. Tomilson Hill, chairman of the Guggenheim Museum; Glenn Fuhrman, a financier and founder of the Flag Art Foundation; and Delphine Arnault, the executive vice president of Louis Vuitton, who is also a member of the executive committee of parent company LVMH, led by her father Bernard Arnault, one of the world’s most notable and wealthiest art collectors. The board meets twice a year to provide strategic insight and guidance for the gallery.

At the moment, the famous gallerist can only offer surprises when it comes to his succession. He is clearly making rapid moves on several fronts to find the best strategy to keep his empire at the top of the art market, but at the same time other important galleries have already charted successful succession planning paths, as recently seen at Gladstone with the death of Barbara Gladstone , and the thoughtful diversification and expansion of galleries into different but adjacent industries, such as hospitality.