Pace roster cuts hit living artists, photography hardest

Pace Gallery’s public artists page listed 104 entries as reviewed by Urgent Matter on Thursday, down from 132 in a February 24 archived copy of the website.

The comparison found 30 entries removed and two added, for a net decrease of 28 entries, or 21.2%. The two additions to the public page were Constantin Brancusi and Anicka Yi.

ARTnews reported that Pace is dropping about 50 artists and laying off about 50 staff. The gallery has not released a list of artists no longer represented. It was not immediately clear who the remaining 20 expected to be cut are.

Marc Glimcher, Pace’s chief executive, told ARTnews the gallery would focus its roster on about 80 to 85 artists after growing to about 135. He described the change as a “model correction.”

Urgent Matter’s comparison found the following entries no longer listed on the public artists page: Richard Avedon, William Christenberry, Keith Coventry, Tim Eitel, John Gerrard, David Goldblatt, Paul Graham, Kevin Francis Gray, Hai Bo, Hong Hao, Virginia Jaramillo, JR, Glenn Kaino, Nina Katchadourian, Acaye Kerunen, Grada Kilomba, Josef Koudelka, Liu Jianhua, Damian Loeb, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Hermann Nitsch, Robert Rauschenberg, Paolo Roversi, Keith Sonnier, Sui Jianguo, Jiro Takamatsu, teamLab, JoAnn Verburg, Brent Wadden and Xiao Yu.

ARTnews published a similar list, but added an editor’s note stating that a previous version of its article had listed Robert Rauschenberg as one of the artists no longer represented by Pace. The note said Pace has not represented the Rauschenberg estate for several years.

Urgent Matter’s analysis treats Rauschenberg only as an entry that appeared on the February public artists page but not on the current public artists page.

Artist duos and collectives were counted as single entries. TeamLab was counted as a collective and not classified as living or deceased.

Of the 30 removed entries, 22 were living artists, seven were deceased artists, and one was a collective. Living artists accounted for 73.3% of the removed entries.

The February page included 87 living entries, 44 deceased entries, and one collective. The current page includes 66 living and 38 deceased entries.

The share of living entries declined from 65.9% in February to 63.5% currently. The share of deceased entries increased from 33.3% to 36.5%. The removal rate for living entries was 25.3%, compared with 15.9% for deceased entries.

The deceased artists removed from the public page were Avedon, Christenberry, Goldblatt, Nitsch, Rauschenberg, Sonnier and Takamatsu.

By gender category, the removed entries included 24 men, five women and one collective. Men accounted for 80% of removed entries. Women accounted for 16.7%.

The February page included 91 men, 38 women, one male duo, one mixed duo, and one collective. The current page includes 68 men, 34 women, one male duo, and one mixed duo.

By broad medium, Urgent Matter classified 16 entries on the February page as photography. Ten were removed, a 62.5% removal rate. The analysis classified nine entries as media, light or video. Five were removed, a 55.6% removal rate.

The analysis classified 23 entries as conceptual, performance or interdisciplinary. Six were removed, a 26.1% removal rate.

It classified 20 entries as sculpture or installation. Three were removed, a 15% removal rate. It classified 64 entries as painting, drawing, or design. Six were removed, a 9.4% removal rate.

Painting, drawing, or design entries made up 48.5% of the February page and 55.8% of the current page. Photography entries declined from 12.1% to 5.8%.

Among living artists removed, the average age was 62.2 and the median 60, based on 2026 ages. No living artist under 40 was removed.

By age band, eight removed living artists were in their 50s, five in their 60s, four in their 70s, three in their 40s and two 80 or older.

By primary region, the removed entries included 11 North America-coded, eight Europe-coded, seven Asia-coded, three Africa-coded, and one Latin America-coded entry. North America-coded entries made up 49.2% of the February page and 36.7% of removals.

Pace’s June 3 announcement for its Art Basel in Basel 2026 presentation did not name any of the removed public-page entries.

The announcement named Lynda Benglis, Alexander Calder, Agnes Martin, Louise Nevelson, Claes Oldenburg, Lauren Quin, Anicka Yi, Yto Barrada, Nigel Cooke, Torkwase Dyson, Lee Ufan, Trevor Paglen, Elmgreen & Dragset, David Hockney, Adam Pendleton and Mark Rothko, among others.

Glimcher told ARTnews that Pace would continue to operate as a global gallery, with programs grounded in local art scenes. He also told ARTnews that the changes would mean fewer exhibitions and fewer art fairs.

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