25 Years

SoHo and the Early Years The Maturing Program Expanding to Chelsea and London

Expanding to Chelsea and London

Between 1998 and 2002, the gallery added to its roster over a dozen artists and estates, including Michaël Borremans, Raoul De Keyser, Marcel Dzama, On Kawara, Gordon Matta-Clark, Jockum Nordström, Neo Rauch, Thomas Ruff, and Christopher Williams. As the artist list expanded so too did the gallery space. In the fall of 2002, the gallery moved from SoHo to a new location in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood at 525 West 19th Street, and by 2006, also expanded to 519 and 533 West 19th Street, growing its footprint tenfold and ushering in a new era for David Zwirner.

By the end of the decade, further expansion was also in the works—this time on an international scale. In 2012, David Zwirner opened its first gallery space in Europe in an eighteenth-century Georgian town house at 24 Grafton Street in the heart of London’s Mayfair district.

No sooner had the gallery opened in London than Annabelle Selldorf (who by now had worked on several projects for the gallery over two decades) began designing a new five-story building at 537 West 20th Street in New York. There, David had bought an old garage, and, as T: The New York Times Style Magazine describes, "instead of converting it as most dealers do in the low-slung neighborhood, he decided to level it and build a new gallery from the ground up, complete with a green roof." Featured in Dwell when it opened in 2013, the building set a new standard as the first commercial art gallery to receive LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.

Exterior view of 525 West 19th Street before renovation for the gallery's new location in Chelsea in New York, circa 2002.

Exterior view of 525 West 19th Street before renovation for the gallery's new location in Chelsea, New York, circa 2002

Exterior view of 519, 525, and 533 West 19th Street in New York, dated 2008.

Exterior view of 519, 525, and 533 West 19th Street, New York, 2008

David Zwirner on the roof of 525 West 19th Street in New York, holding a scale model of the new gallery space at 533 West 19th Street, circa 2006.

Interior space at 519 West 19th Street, New York, and featuring Luc Tuymans: The Summer Is Over (2013), and Tomma Abts (2014)

Installation view of the exhibition Toba Khedoori at 525 West 19th Street in New York, dated 2002.

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David Zwirner with gallery staff at James Welling: New Work, 525 West 19th Street, New York, 2005. Pictured here are Senior Partners Angela Choon (second from left), Bellatrix Hubert (fourth from left), and Hanna Schouwink (fourth from right), along with Stephanie Daniel (third from left), Associate Director of Registration. Photo by James Welling

David Zwirner with gallery staff at the exhibition James Welling: New Work at 525 West 19th Street in New York, dated 2005.

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Installation view, Toba Khedoori, 525 West 19th Street, New York, 2002. This exhibition marked David Zwirner's first exhibition at its new location in Chelsea, which opened in October 2002.

Animated gif of the interior space at 519 West 19th Street in New York, and featuring the exhibition Luc Tuymans: The Summer Is Over (dated 2013), and the exhibition Tomma Abts (dated 2014).

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Hanna Schouwink and John McCracken standing on West 19th Street during the installation of John McCracken, the artist's third gallery solo show and the inaugural exhibition at David Zwirner's new space at 533 West 19th Street, New York, September 2006

Exterior view of 24 Grafton Street in London, dated 2012.

Exterior view of 24 Grafton Street, London, 2012

"Zwirner’s new London gallery, an exquisite five-storey Mayfair townhouse, hardly resembles a mom-and-pop shop. With its ornamental staircase and original façades, it is quite unlike the featureless white trophy spaces of Zwirner’s rival global dealers in the capital."

The Financial Times

Fred Sandback's installation Untitled (Four-part Vertical Construction) (dated 1988) installed in the staircase of 24 Grafton Street in London, for Fred Sandback, dated 2013.

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Fred Sandback's Untitled (Four-part Vertical Construction) (1988) installed in the staircase of 24 Grafton Street, London, for Fred Sandback, 2013

A photograph of the finishing touches: the David Zwirner flag being added to 24 Grafton Street in London, dated 2012.

Finishing touches: the David Zwirner flag being added to 24 Grafton Street, London, 2012

Front of showcard for the exhibition Luc Tuymans: Allo!, which inaugurated David Zwirner's first European location on 24 Grafton Street in Mayfair in London, in October 2012.

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Finishing touches: the David Zwirner flag being added to 24 Grafton Street, London, 2012

Luc Tuymans during the installation of the exhibition Luc Tuymans: Allo! at 24 Grafton Street in London, dated 2012.

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Luc Tuymans during the installation of Luc Tuymans: Allo!, 24 Grafton Street, London, 2012

Chris Ofili and Luc Tuymans in conversation during the installation of the exhibition Luc Tuymans: Allo! at 24 Grafton Street in London, dated 2012.

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Chris Ofili and Luc Tuymans in conversation during the installation of Luc Tuymans: Allo!, 24 Grafton Street, London, 2012

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Super 8 film of the opening of Luc Tuymans: Allo!, the inaugural show for David Zwirner London by Senior Preparator, Justin Davis Anderson, October 3, 2012

Gallery artists, estates, and staff at the opening of 24 Grafton Street in London, dated 2012.

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Gallery artists, estates, and staff at the opening of 24 Grafton Street, London, 2012. Standing, from left to right, are Thomas Ruff, Jockum Nordström, Michael Riedel, Hanna Schouwink, Michaël Borremans, Tomma Abts, Yan Pei-Ming, Stan Douglas, Lisa Yuskavage, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, David Zwirner, Raymond Pettibon, Luc Tuymans, Mamma Andersson, Neo Rauch, Angela Choon, Suzan Frecon, Carol Bove, and Doug Wheeler. Seated, from left to right, are Bellatrix Hubert, Christopher Williams, Toba Khedoori, Debbie Taylor, and Marcel Dzama.

Luc Tuymans and Angela Choon at the opening of the exhibition Luc Tuymans: Allo! at 24 Grafton Street in London, dated 2012.

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Luc Tuymans and Angela Choon at the opening of Luc Tuymans: Allo!, 24 Grafton Street, London, 2012. "We chose London as the location for our first European gallery as its role as the centre of the European art world is so well established," Choon told Wallpaper magazine. "Its opening show features new canvasses by eminent Belgian painter Luc Tuymans, who has not shown in London since 2004."

David and Monica Zwirner celebrating at the opening of the exhibition Luc Tuymans: Allo! at 24 Grafton Street in London, dated 2012.

David and Monica Zwirner celebrating at the opening of Luc Tuymans: Allo!, 24 Grafton Street, London, 2012

Exterior view of 537 West 20th Street in New York, dated 2013.

Photo: Jason Schmidt

Exterior view of 537 West 20th Street, New York, 2013. "In 2009, [Zwirner] bought an old parking garage on West Twentieth Street, a block north of his gallery. He cleared the lot and spent two years building a new exhibition space: five floors, thirty thousand square feet, built to LEED specs, with an expanse of skylights and half a dozen exhibition areas, both large and small. It opened this February, presenting a well-windowed wall of poured-in-place concrete to a street of old brick and rusting steel," noted The New Yorker.

Exquisite corpse created by gallery artists on a tablecloth during the dinner celebrating the opening of the exhibition Luc Tuymans: Allo! and David Zwirner's new building at 24 Grafton Street in London, dated 2012.

Exquisite corpse created by gallery artists on a tablecloth during the dinner celebrating the opening of Luc Tuymans: Allo! and David Zwirner's new building at 24 Grafton Street, London, 2012

Senior Partner Christopher D'Amelio, who joined the gallery in 2013, during construction of the 537 West 20th Street building, dated 2013.

Senior Partner Christopher D'Amelio, who joined the gallery in 2013, during construction of the 537 West 20th Street building, 2013

Interior view of the entrance at 537 West 20th Street in New York, during Dan Flavin and Donald Judd, dated 2013.

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Photo: Jason Schmidt

Interior view of the entrance at 537 West 20th Street, New York, during Dan Flavin and Donald Judd, 2013

Interior view of the library at 537 West 20th Street in New York, dated 2013.

Interior view of the library at 537 West 20th Street, New York, 2013

Interior view of the staircase at 537 West 20th Street in New York, dated 2013.

Photo: Jason Schmidt

Interior view of the staircase at 537 West 20th Street, New York, 2013

Installation view of the exhibition Dan Flavin and Donald Judd at 537 West 20th Street in New York, dated 2013.

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Installation view, Dan Flavin and Donald Judd, 537 West 20th Street, New York, 2013

"The Twentieth Street gallery, in many respects, is a temple to Minimalism—'Effectively, he built this building for Judd and Flavin,' Selldorf told me—and an architectural pitch to living Minimalists as well."

The New Yorker

Front of showcard for the exhibition Dan Flavin and Donald Judd, David Zwirner’s inaugural exhibition at its new building at 537 West 20th Street in New York, which opened in February 2013.

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Front of showcard for Dan Flavin and Donald Judd, David Zwirner’s inaugural exhibition at its new building at 537 West 20th Street, New York, which opened in February 2013. Pictured here are Donald Judd and Dan Flavin at Judd's Casa Morales, near Marfa, Texas, 1981.

Sculpture by John McCracken, titled Fair, dated 2011.

John McCracken, Fair, 2011

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