Independent 20th Century Finds a New Home in the Breuer

Independent launched Independent 20th Century in 2022 in the Battery Maritime Building, a Beaux-Arts landmark overlooking New York Harbor. This fall, the fair is moving uptown to Marcel Breuer’s former Whitney Museum building, now Sotheby’s global headquarters.

The fifth edition of Independent 20th Century will run from September 24–27 at the Breuer, bringing together 56 exhibitors and presentations devoted to artists and movements from across the 20th century. More than 130 artists will be featured, with roughly 80 percent of the presentations dedicated to one or two artists. For Independent founder Elizabeth Dee, the move marks more than a change of address.

“This is a rebirth of a new concept for us,” Dee told ARTnews. “We’re moving from downtown to uptown. We’re moving from an early 20th-century icon, the Battery Maritime Building, to the Breuer, which is a mid-century modernist icon.”

The new venue has allowed the fair to grow substantially. Independent 20th Century will be nearly twice the size of previous editions, giving organizers room not only for more galleries but also for an expanded program of talks, performances, and events.

“When you have that concentration of galleries, you really start to give a sense of the fabric of the art world that’s focused on this particular area,” Dee said. “It’s going to feel activated and engaged every single day. We want to create ‘a happening’ in the 20th-century sense and bring it into a contemporary context.”

The Breuer building opened in 1966 as the home of the Whitney Museum of American Art, and went on to house both the Met Breuer and the Frick Collection before Sotheby’s moved in last year. The fair’s focus on overlooked histories, rediscoveries, and alternative versions of the 20th-century canon feels particularly well-suited to a building that has hosted some of New York’s most important museum exhibitions.

The partnership between Independent and Sotheby’s was first announced last year, shortly after the auction house completed its move into the building. According to Madeline Lissner, Sotheby’s executive vice president for its global fine art division, conversations began as the company considered how the Breuer could serve as more than an auction headquarters.

“The Breuer is such a temple of modernism,” Lissner said. “And Independent 20th Century has modernism at its undercurrent. It was something that made a lot of sense.”

Lissner said the fair fits into Sotheby’s broader effort to position its flagship properties in New York, Paris, London, and Hong Kong as cultural destinations rather than simply places where transactions happen.

“We view ourselves as a broader platform for cultural exchange,” she said. “It’s beyond just sales and auctions. It’s about engaging people with art and culture at all stages of their discovery.”

The exhibitor list reflects Independent’s long-standing emphasis on curatorial presentations over booth-driven selling. Highlights include Hauser & Wirth’s presentation of Emma Kunz, Lévy Gorvy Dayan’s presentation of Yves Klein, Nahmad Contemporary’s presentation of Lucio Fontana, and Andrew Kreps Gallery’s presentation of Harold Stevenson. Other exhibitors include Marian Ibrahim, James Fuentes, Sprüth Magers, Thaddaeus Ropac, Salon 94, Ortuzar, Luxembourg + Co., and Fraenkel Gallery.

For Dee, the goal remains the same as it was when Independent 20th Century launched five years ago: creating a fair that feels less like a marketplace and more like an exhibition. With more galleries, more programming, and a building that carries six decades of museum history, this year’s edition may be the closest the fair has come to realizing that vision.

A full list of exhibitors is below: