100 Most Influential People in the Art World: Part One

This year, we’ve watched records break at high-profile auctions and attendance grow at an abundance of international art fairs. At the same time, high art and pop culture keep intersecting and informing one another in curious ways, as evinced by fairs such as Art Basel in Miami Beach.

There’s no question that the art world is a powerful force in contemporary society, but who are the individuals with influence driving this well-oiled machine? From billionaire patrons to biennial curators, celebrity collectors to internationally celebrated artists, we made a list of the 100 most influential people in the art world today. (See Part Two here.)

Aby Rosen.
Photo: Courtesy of Patrick McMullan.

1. Aby Rosen
The German-born and New York-based collector and developer boasts a giant collection of Warhols and has a history of marrying art and real estate in his ventures like the Lever House Art Collection. This year, he purchased 190 Bowery, an iconic former bank building in downtown New York, and already organized a group exhibition on site, curated by Vito Schnabel and including works by Julian Schnabel and Harmony Korine.

Adam D. Weinberg.
Image: Courtesy of the Whitney Museum of American Art.

2. Adam D. Weinberg
The director of the Whitney Museum of American Art undertook the enormous task of moving the institution to a new location in the Meatpacking District this year. The new building designed by Renzo Piano hugely increases the museum’s programming space, something they’ve taken advantage of in recent exhibitions like the Frank Stella retrospective.

Adam Szymczyk.
Photo: Nils Klinger.

3. Adam Szymczyk
The Documenta 17 director made headlines this year for announcing his ambitions to show works from the late art dealer Cornelius Gurlitt, which were seized by the Nazis. Last year, he also sparked controversy with his plans to expand the quinqunnial outside Kassel, Germany for the first time, splitting the exhibition between Athens and Kassel.

Adrian Cheng.
Photo: Courtesy of Larry’s List.

4. Adrian Cheng
The Hong-Kong businessman and collector was involved with six exhibitions at Art Basel this year. Through the vertically-integrated non-profit he founded, K11 Art Foundations, he’s aspiring to develop a new ecosystem for the contemporary Chinese art world.

Ai Weiwei with his installation Straight, Royal Academy of Arts, 2015.
Photo: ? Dave Parry; courtesy Royal Academy of Arts, London.

5. Ai Weiwei
This year, the Chinese artist and activist had numerous exhibitions worldwide from a retrospective at the Royal Academy in London to a site-specific installation at Alcatraz, launched a jewelry collection, and got his passport back from Chinese authorities.

Alan Lau.
Photo: Courtesy ocula.com

6. Alan Lau
In only a decade, the young Hong Kong-based businessman has emerged as one of the most influential Asian collectors. He’s a member of the Asia-Pacific Acquisitions Committee at Tate London and of the board at nonprofit art space Para Site in Hong Kong.

Anish Kapoor.
Image: Courtesy of @dirtycorner on Instagram.

7. Anish Kapoor
The British-Indian sculptor has been no stranger to controversy this year becoming embroiled in a battle with French authorities this year regarding the anti-Semitic graffiti vandalizing a sculpture that was part of his Versailles solo show. He’s also accused Chinese authorities of plagiarism when he noticed an uncanny similarity between his Cloudgate sculpture and one created for Karamay, an oil-rich town in the Uygur Autonomous Region of China. To balance it out, he’s also an advocate for more humane immigration policies in the UK.

Anita and Poju Zabludowicz.
Photo: patrickmcmullan.com

8. Anita and Poju Zabludowicz
The British megacollectors and billionaire couple are known for their support of young audacious artists. This year they commissioned Jon Rafman’s first major solo show in the UK at the Zabludowicz Collection and they bank-rolled Daata Editions, a new online marketplace for video and sound works.

Barbara Gladstone: Art dealer and owner of Gladstone Gallery in New York.
Photo: Courtesy of Patrick McMullan.

9. Barbara Gladstone
The American gallery owner and art dealer, who owns three locations in New York and one in Brussels, presented exhibitions by Richard Prince, Anish Kapoor, Cameron Jamie, and many others this year.

Beatrix Ruf.
Image: Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; Photo ? Robin de Puy.

10. Beatrix Ruf
The German-born curator and director of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam was honored with the Agnes Gund Curatorial Award this year; she’s been a significant presence on the European art scene, and is known for her ability to find and foster emerging artists.

Bjork.
Image: Courtesy of Facebook.

11. Bjork
Following, the artist’s retrospective at MoMA this year, criticism was mostly lodged at the institution for its unrigorous presentation rather than at the artist’s work. The singer-composer-producer also proved her relevancy and continued artistic experimentation this year with her ninth studio album Vulnicura.

 

Brett Gorvy.
Photo: Courtesy of Instagram.

12. Brett Gorvy
The Christie’s chairman and international head of post-war and contemporary art smashed auction-room records this year with the sale of Francis Bacon’s triptych Three Studies of Lucian Freud (1969), which became the most expensive contemporary artwork ever sold at auction until Pablo Picasso‘s Les femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’) sold for $179 million at Christie’s in May. More recently, Amedeo Modigliani‘s Nu Couché garnered $170 million at Christie’s in November, showing that the auction house’s contemporary department is still going strong with Gorvy at the helm.

Bruno Brunnet, Berlin, 2013.
Photo by Albert Fuchs. Courtesy 032c.com.

13. Bruno Brunnet
The founder of the maturing Berlin gallery Contemporary Fine Arts has experimented with other models and markets in recent years while continuing to represent international artists like Cecily Brown and Juergen Teller.

Budi Tek.
Photo: Courtesy of LeapLeapLeap.

14. Budi Tek
The Chinese-Indonesian collector brought an extra-large iteration of “Rain Room” (2012) to his newly opened Yuz Museum in Shanghai, a private institution which has resonances of a themepark and favors immersive works. He’s well underway with plans to soon open an “art park” called Budidesia in Bali.

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev.
Photo: Courtesy Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo?.

15. Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev
Following her success as artistic director of Docuemta 12, the American curator was named director of Galleria d’Arte Moderna and Castello di Rivoli in Turin this year.

Cecily Brown.
Image: Courtesy of popscreen.com.

16. Cecily Brown
The British painter raised eyebrows when she parted ways with Gagosian Gallery this year. She has a show with the Drawing Center on the horizon in 2017 and perhaps is focusing on museum shows rather than gallery deals right now.

Cindy Sherman.
Photo: Courtesy of Clint Spaulding/PatrickMcMullan.com.

17. Cindy Sherman
The iconic American artist best-known for her self-protraits is still hugely influential and this year entered a debate about sexism in the artworld penning a piece the inequalities that still persist.

Daniel Buchholz in Cologne.
Photo: Wolfgang Tillmans via Die Welt.

18. Daniel Buchholz
The German art dealer and founder of Galerie Bucholz recently expanded, with a glamorous new location near the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Dasha Zhukova.
Photo: Courtesy Garage Center for Contemporary Culture.

19. Dasha Zhukova
The Russian-born businesswoman and wife of billionaire Roman Abramovich is the founder of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. This year the Moscow institution celebrated a star-studded reopening after a renovation by Rem Koolhaas.

David Kordansky.
Image: Courtesy of YouTube.com

20. David Kordansky
Following the expansion of his L.A. gallery last year, the art dealer presented exhibitions by artists like Peter Saul and Tala Madani, while continuing to stand-out for his passionate and unconventional approach to curating.

David Zwirner.
Image: Courtesy of Wikipedia.

21. David Zwirner
With an empire of galleries in New York and London, the art dealer is sustaining his impressive reputation. 2015 saw an exhibition of Yayoi Kusama and the sale of Richard Serra‘s Equal (2015) to the MoMA.

Dominique Lévy.
Photo: Zenith Richards.

22. Dominique Levy
Since breaking out on her own from her partnership with Robert Mnuchin in 2013, the Swiss Art Dealer has opened an office in Geneva and gallery spaces in New York and London. She continues to seek out impressive talent for her projects and has an exhibition of Gerard Richard on the horizon in early 2016.

Edward Dolman.
Photo: via Doha News.

23. Ed Dolman
Since his appointment last year, the Phillips Chairman and CEO has transformed the third-ranked auction house into a forbidding rival, poaching talent from Christie’s and introducing an innovative partnership with eBay for online bidding.

Eli Broad, Edythe Broad.
Photo: Clint Spaulding/PatrickMcMullan.com.

24. Eli & Edythe Broad
The super-patron and super-collector couple opened their 11,000 square-foot private museum in Los Angeles this September, to great acclaim. It’s a game changer for the city, to be sure.

Esther Schipper: Owner of Esther Schipper Gallery in Berlin.
Photo: Courtesy Esther Schipper Gallery.

25. Esther Schipper
The Berlin-based gallery owner and longtime tastemaker announced that over the next five years Esther Schipper gallery would merge with the comparable Berlin powerhouse Johnen Galerie, proving that two heads can be better than one.

Eugenio Lopez Alonso (L) and filmmaker Sebastian Siegel (R) in Awakening World (2012).
Image: Courtesy www.imdb.com.

26. Eugenio López 
The Mexican collector and billionaire patron founded Museo Júmex in 2013, which houses the largest private art collection in Latin America.

Eugenie Joo.
Image: Tumblr.

27. Eungie Joo
Joo curated the Sharjah Biennial in the United Arab Emirates this March; we’re curious what this globetrotter will do next.

Eva Presenhuber: Owner of leading contemporary art gallery Galerie Eva Presenhuber, located in Zurich, Switzerland.
Photo: Courtesy Galerie Eva Presenhuber.

28. Eva Presenhuber
The Zurich-based gallerist maintains her reputation for exhibiting established and emerging sculptors. This year Presehauser presented her tenth show of Franz West‘s work.

Frank Stella.
Image: via www.cleveland.com.

29. Frank Stella
With an impressive retrospective at the new Whitney Museum this year, the American printmaker and painter can expect both his legacy and increased auction sales to be secured.

Gavin Brown.
Photo: Clint Spaulding/Patrick McMullan.

30. Gavin Brown
This year the British-born gallerist added a location in Rome to his empire and signed emerging star Ed Atkins. His move to New York’s Harlem neighborhood has also been buzzed about this year.

Gerhard Richter.
Photo: Deutsch-Perfekt.

31. Gerhard Richter
The German visual artist remains one of the most influential painters alive today. This year, his legendary color charts turned 50.

Susan Lowry and Glenn D. Lowry attend the Fondazione Prada opening.
Photo: Courtesy Fondazione Prada.

32. Glenn D. Lowry
The director of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, an institution which has received considerable criticism for its populist programming and pay packages in recent years, still remains valuable for interacting with a larger definition of modern and contemporary art which includes movies, music, and market-driven cultural products.

Hans Ulrich Obrist (@HUObrist).
Image: Courtesy of Twitter.

33. Hans Ulrich Obrist
The co-director of Serpentine Galleries in London, the Swiss curator and writer keeps insanely busy with incessant travel, two new books out this year, and his ongoing Instagram project in which everyone Post-It-note-worthy from Miranda July to Marina Abramovi? has participated.

 

 

This year, we’ve watched records break at high-profile auctions and attendance grow at an abundance of international art fairs. At the same time, high art and pop culture keep intersecting and informing one another in curious ways, as evinced by fairs such as Art Basel in Miami Beach.

There’s no question that the art world is a powerful force in contemporary society, but who are the individuals with influence driving this well-oiled machine? From billionaire patrons to biennial curators, celebrity collectors to internationally celebrated artists, we made a list of the 100 most influential people in the art world today. (See Part One here.)

Hito Steyerl.
Photo: Vanabbemuseum, Eindhoven.

34. Hito Steyerl
The artist and theorist’s hybrid practice explores surveillance, militarization, and the circulation of images; it feels increasingly relevant in this post-internet moment. This year, she had solo exhibitions in New York and Berlin and showed new work at the Venice Biennale.

Ingvild Goetz.
Photo: Courtesy Suddeutsche.de.

35. Ingvild Goetz
The Munich-based collector founded the private museum Sammlung-Goetz, which specializes in new media. It then comes as no surprise that Goetz owns one of the largest video collections in the world.

Isa Genzken.

36. Isa Genzken
The German artist has a huge influence on younger artists, especially within Europe. For the last two years, her solo retrospective has been traveling internationally, and has included stops at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Dallas Museum of Art, and beyond.

Texte zur Kunst publisher Isabelle Graw. 
Photo: Christian Werner.

37. Isabelle Graw
The art historian and critic is a professor at Staedelschule in Frankfurt. She co-founded the publication Texte Zur Kunst in Berlin, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year and continues to drive the evolution of art criticism and influence global conversations.

Iwan and Manuela Wirth. Photo by Vincent Evans (2014).
Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth.

38. Iwan and Manuela Wirth
The major international gallerists and power couple added to their galleries in New York, London, Zurich, and Los Angeles last year, opening a large complex Hauser & Wirth Somerset in rural England which includes galleries and an educational center, proving their understanding that collectors want to be sold more than just objects. They also announced a partnership with former MOCA chief curator Paul Schimmel for their LA location, which cements their presence on the West Coast.

Jack Shainman.
Photo: Jackie Nickerson, courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery.

39. Jack Shainman
The New York gallerist has a niche for showing African and Asian artists and in recent years expanded with a massive upstate New York space. This spring, he showed a retrospective of Ghanian-born sculpture El Anatsui’s works shortly after the artist’s Venice Golden Lion win.

Jay Jopling.
Photo: J Grassi/Patrick McMullan.

40. Jay Jopling
The English art dealer and founder of White Cube galleries has been instrumental in England’s repositioning as an art-world center. This year he added Theaster Gates to the gallery’s roster and married Paddle8 co-founder and fashion maven Hikari Yokoyama—who is also an art consultant for Gucci.

Jeff Koons.
Photo via: cakechooser.com.

41. Jeff Koons
The American artist notorious for reproducing banal consumerist objects with shiny surfaces maintains the record for the most expensive artwork by any living artist for his Balloon Dog (1994). This year, he unveiled a new statue at Vienna’s Natural History Museum and his retrospective from last year at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York toured to Paris’s Pompidou and the Guggenheim Bilbao.

Jeffrey Deitch.
Photo: Andreas Branch, courtesy Patrick McMullan.

42. Jeffrey Deitch
The American art dealer returned to New York after three years as the MOCA director in Los Angeles, and recently reopened Deitch Projects in Soho. He is collaborating with uber-gallerist Larry Gagosian at Miami Basel this year, and already got the party started at DACRA on Monday evening.

Joseph Nahmad, with some very tall friends.
Image: Courtesy of Tumblr.

43. Joseph Nahmad
The young gallerist comes from a family of billionaire collectors. At his first show, he exhibited Ray Nachum, an artist known for his celebrity collectors, as well as for his artwork on Rihanna’s latest album. We’ll see what he does next.

Juan A. Gaitán.
Image: Courtesy of www.summeracademy.at.

44. Juan A. Gaitán
The former curator of the Berlin Biennale began directing the Museo Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City, which currently hosts a show of artist Leon Golub‘s work.

Jussi Pylkkanen.
Photo via Christie’s.

45. Jussi Pylkkanen
The Christie’s auctioneer has been key to the house’s record-breaking successes in recent years, and this year was no different. He is a master of “the auctioneer’s pause,” as the Financial Times notes.

Kara Walker at the Creative Time gala in 2014.
Image: Courtesy of creativetime.org

46. Kara Walker
This year the American artist known for her explorations of race, gender, and history made headlines with shows in London and Brooklyn and was appointed Tepper Chair at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts.

Chief Curator of MANIFESTA 10, Kasper K?nig.

47. Kasper K?nig
The Berlin-based curator has been named artistic director of the upcoming Skulptur Projekte in Münster in 2017. This follows his tenure as curator of Manifesta last year.

Kemal Has Cingillioglu.
Photo: Courtesy of Vebidoo.

48. Kemal Has Cingillioglu
The influential London-based collector hails from one of Turkey’s wealthiest families and is a member of Christie’s European Advisory Board. He made headlines this Fall for flipping Warhol’s “Four Marilyns” (1962) only two years after he purchased it.

Larry Gagosian.
Image: ?Patrick McMullan. David Crotty/PatrickMcMullan.

49. Larry Gagosian
With his empire of 13 galleries worldwide, the American art dealer has had another year of impressive museum-quality shows, and looks ahead at a collaboration with Jeffrey Deitch at Miami Beach in December.

Lauren Cornell Curator and Associate Director, Technology Initiatives at the New Museum. 
Photo via: Broadway World.

50. Lauren Cornell
The co-curator of this year’s New Museum Triennial was later named the institution’s curator and associate director of technology initiatives. The former executive director of Rhizome has developed a reputation for finding emerging talent and specializing in new media.

Leonardo DiCaprio and artist Walton Ford.
Photo: earthstrong.org.

51. Leonardo DiCaprio
The Hollywood actor is developing a reputation as one of the world’s most prolific art collectors, adding a Frank Stella to his hoard this year.

Leonid Mikhelson.
Photo: courtesy Skolkovo, Moscow School of Management.

52. Leonid Mikhelson
The Russian art dealer has used some of his energy-industry fortune to found Victoria – the Art of Being Contemporary, which has lived up to its mission statement of promoting post-avant-garde Russian art at home and abroad over the past several years.

Lin Han.
Photo: via SCMP Pictures.

53. Lin Han
The emerging Chinese collector has made bold moves at auctions and recently opened M Woods, the first private museum in Beijing’s 789 Arts District.

Liu Yiqian drinks from his $36.3 million Meiyintang chicken cup.
Photo: courtesy Sotheby’s.

54. Liu Yiqian
The Chinese billionaire and art collector broke records purchasing the most expensive work of art this year and the second-most expensive ever, a Modigliani nude. He founded the Long Museum, a private art museum which already has expanded to a second location in Shanghai.

Loic Gouzer.
Image: Courtesy of Instagram.

55. Loic Gouzer
The Swiss auction-house executive was promoted to Deputy Chairman of Post-War and Contemporary Art at Christie’s this year.

Arne Glimcher and Marc Glimcher.
Image: Courtesy of Pace Gallery.

56. Marc and Arne Glimcher
The father-and-son pair behind Pace Galleries have locations in five cities internationally and a noteworthy presence in mainland China. They also have a mini museum-style gallery under-construction in Chelsea, scheduled to open in 2018.

Marian Goodman.
Photo: Patrick McMullan.

57. Marian Goodman
The power-player American art dealer has galleries in London, Paris, and New York as well as a roster of high-profile artists. Exhibitions this year have included shows by Jeff Wall and Rineke Djikstra.

Marina Abramovi?.
Photo: Marco Anelli (2014), Courtesy of Serpentine Gallery.

58. Marina Abramovi?
The renowned performance artist and celebrity figure has finally raised the funds for the Marina Abramovi? Institute. This year she also made headlines for feuds with Jay Z and her former collaborator and ex-lover German artist Ulay.

Massimiliano Gioni.
Photo: Marco De Scalzi, Courtesy Fondation Nicola Trussardi, Milan.

59. Massimiliano Gioni
Gioni is the director of the Milan-based Trussardi Foundation and the artistic director of the New Museum, where he helmed a survey of Chris Ofili this year.

Katherine Ross and Michael Govan.
Photo: patrickmcmullan.com.

60. Michael Govan
The director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, straddles art-world credibility and celebrity-fueled projects headlined by Leonardo DiCaprio, Kanye West, and Steve McQueen.

Miuccia Prada.
Photo: Stefanie Keenan/Patrick McMullan.

61. Miuccia Prada
The iconic Italian fashion designer and entrepreneur has been a long-time art collector. This year she opened a gallery with locations in Venice and Milan.

Philomene Magers (left) and Monika Sprüth
Photo: ?Dagmar Schwelle. Courtesy Spruth Magers

62. Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers
The international gallerists Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers have developed a reputation for ideological commitments and a roster of well-established artists, from Ryan Trecartin to Cindy Sherman. Next year, they will open a third location in Los Angeles after several years operating in London and Berlin.

Monique and Max Burger.
Photo: Courtesy Asia Tatler.

63. Monique and Max Burger
The Hong Kong-based couple have amassed an impressive collection specializing in post-1980s works. Since last year, a column presented by the Burger collection is featured every month in ArtAsiaPacific.