Anthony d’Offay

Anthony d’Offay (born Sheffield, England, 1940) is a British Art dealer whose sudden closure of his gallery (called simply the Anthony d’Offay Gallery) in 2002 caused a major shock to the London art world. [Heather Waddell, "London Art and Artists Guide", London Art and Artists Guide, 2005, p13. ISBN 0952000466]

D’Offay had begun dealing contemporary art in the late 1960s and with the closure of the Robert Fraser and John Kasmin galleries became one of the pre-eminent art dealers in London operating from premises in Dering Street.

The d’Offay gallery (1980 - 2002)

The Anthony d’Offay gallery opened in 1980. D’Offay was the main agent for Joseph Beuys and represented Christian Boltanski, Gerhard Richter, Anselm Kiefer, Gilbert and George, Richard Long, Jeff Koons and Richard Hamilton.

The last exhibition at the Anthony d’Offay Gallery, of Bill Viola, had 50,000 visitors and helped fund Rachel Whiteread's "Monument" (2001) in Trafalgar Square. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/entertainment/arts/1528623.stm "UK's art king retires", BBC, Sep 6, 2001] ]

In the early 1990s d’Offay moved into representing the Young British Artists including Rachel Whiteread and Richard Patterson and had a turnover of £35 million when to the surprise of the artworld it was announced in 2001 that he was closing the business. He sold the lease, and the premises are now occupied by the Haunch of Venison gallery. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2002/09/30/bacg30.xml "Contemporary market: Harry Blain"] , "Daily Telegraph", 30 September 2002. Retrieved 29 November 2007.]

After the d'Offay Gallery (2002 - )

In 2006 it was announced that the National Galleries of Scotland and the Tate Gallery were in talks to acquire d'Offay's art collection, valued at over £100 million. [ [http://living.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1426922006 "The Scotsman", Sep 27, 2006.] ] Bought for the nation in 2008, the collection valued at £125m was secured for what d'Offay had originally paid for it - just £26.5m. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7266506.stm BBC NEWS | Scotland | Edinburgh, East and Fife | Art collection bought for nation ] ]

In 2006 Anthony's son Timothy d’Offay opened a tea shop at the 9 Dering Street site, which also exhibits historical postcards from Anthony d'Offay's personal collection. [ [http://www.timeout.com/london/bars/reviews/8889.html "Timeout" review of Postcard Teas. Issue 1857, Mar 22-29, 2006.] ]

External links

* [http://www.doffay.com/ D’Offay gallery website]

Notes and references