On 7 March, art gallery Metro Pictures, located in New York, announced that it would close its doors in 2021. American photographer Cindy Sherman has been one of the artists represented by the gallery from the very beginning.
The news sparked speculation about the future of the gallery's twenty or so artists. In a post on Instagram, Metro Pictures said, “We have decided to announce this difficult decision far in advance of our closing in order to give the artists we represent and our staff time to pursue other options and to allow us to participate in their transitions. We are extremely grateful to all of the brilliant artists we have worked with over the past 40 years and to our excellent staff, who have sustained the gallery and its program. We would also like to thank all of the critics, curators, collectors and fellow dealers with whom we have worked over the years.”
Metro Pictures was founded in 1980 by Helene Winer and Janelle Reiring. It opened in SoHo, New York, before moving to the Chelsea neighbourhood in 1997. It quickly established itself as a gallery representing the artists of the ‘Pictures Generation’ movement, a group of American visual artists known for their critical interpretations of media culture.
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Artists, photographers and cinematographers, such as Cindy Sherman, Louise Lawler, Robert Longo, Jack Goldstein, Sherrie Levine and James Welling, were among the first to join Metro Pictures. Some of them, like Sherman, Lawler and Longo, have maintained this collaboration throughout their careers.
Shortly after the news broke, Hauser & Wirth gallery confirmed that they will be working with Metro Pictures' biggest star: Cindy Sherman.
Sherman made her debut on the New York scene in the 1970s, after studying photography at Buffalo State College in New York. In her first series, ‘Untitled Film Stills’, her photos took up scenes from American films from the 1950s and ‘60s, questioning the pre-conceived role of individuals, particularly women, in society. Throughout her forty-year career, Sherman has never ceased to question gender norms and relations.
This is the second closure of a major gallery during the pandemic. Last summer, Gavin Brown's Enterprise Gallery closed to partner with Gladstone Gallery, which took a number of their artists with them.
