Templon Gallery Closes Its New York Branch as Chelsea Rents Bite
Templon Gallery has shut down its New York branch, a sign of how sharply the city’s gallery market has cooled after the post-pandemic expansion years. The Paris-based dealer, founded in 1966 by Daniel Templon, opened its Chelsea outpost in 2022 with ambitions that matched the moment: a 6,500-square-foot space at the corner of Tenth Avenue and West 27th Street, a renovation by Studio MDA, and a debut solo exhibition by Senegalese artist Omar Ba.
That bet proved difficult to sustain. According to Mathieu Templon, who oversaw the New York operation, the gallery decided to leave after its landlord sought a substantial rent increase as the lease came up for renewal. By the time the space closed at the end of April, following an exhibition of figurative paintings by David Smalling, the gallery was paying $55,000 a month.
The closure places Templon among a growing number of international dealers recalibrating their New York presence. Pace recently announced sweeping reductions, including plans to part ways with roughly 50 artists and 50 employees, while London-based Stephen Friedman Gallery and Timothy Taylor have both closed New York locations after expanding into the city between 2021 and 2023. Stephen Friedman Gallery later entered administration in the United Kingdom.
Templon’s roster includes established contemporary artists such as Will Cotton, Kehinde Wiley, and Jim Dine, and the gallery says it is not abandoning New York altogether. Two of the four full-time employees remain, while Monica King, who served as director for about a year, has moved to Richard Saltoun Gallery on East 66th Street.
Mathieu Templon is relocating back to Paris with his family, but he plans to return regularly and is looking for a smaller space in Tribeca or on the Upper East Side. The gallery’s current SoHo rental will continue as a private showroom by appointment, and works by gallery artists are already installed in a Midtown Manhattan design studio.
For now, the move reflects a broader shift in the city’s commercial landscape: international galleries are still interested in New York, but many are no longer willing to absorb the cost of large footprints. As Mathieu Templon put it, the gallery wants a presence in the city “but not at any cost.”
