The Tamesis
The closure of Sperone Westwater has revealed deeper legal and financial troubles than the gallery’s abrupt closure in late 2025 initially suggested. New court filings allege governance failures, disputes over payments to artists and years of internal deadlock at the 50-year-old New York company.
as Art Network News It was reported earlier this week that the gallery had closed due to a legal dispute between its two directors, Gian Enzo Sperone and Angela Westwater, who each controlled 50% of the company. At issue is the dissolution of Sperone Westwater Inc., which also owned the Norman Foster-designed building on the Bowery that had housed the gallery since 2000.
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In a petition filed in New York Supreme Court in August, which was supported by nearly 20 exhibits and affidavits filed in early January, Sperone and Sandstown Trade Ltd., an entity associated with his family, are seeking a judicial dissolution of the company and the appointment of a receiver to oversee the gradual reduction of its assets.
The petition argued that the company has been paralyzed due to irreconcilable internal differences, a failure to elect a successor director since 2021, an inability to elect directors and a breakdown in communication between the two partners. Directors “don’t even talk directly to each other,” documents show, creating what the petition describes as a “parasitic gridlock.”
In addition to governance issues, the documents outline a series of financial disputes. Central to this is the relationship between the gallery and Foster Tower, which is owned by a separate corporate subsidiary. The petitioners claimed that the parties had agreed that the gallery would pay annual rent of approximately $1.8 million to the holding company and generate income from real estate investments. They allege that West Water later lowered and eventually eliminated rent without board approval to subsidize what the documents described as an increasingly unprofitable gallery operation.
Financial records accompanying the case show gallery revenue peaked at about $20 million in 2021 before declining sharply in subsequent years, reaching about $3.6 million in 2025. The petition says it has incurred losses in five of the past seven years, with a shortfall of more than $2 million in 2025 alone.
The documents also raise questions about artist payments and consignor funding. The petition claims the artwork was sold without consultation and the artist was not paid as required by law. The petitioners argued that this could create potential exposure under New York’s Arts and Cultural Affairs Act, which regulates the treatment of artists’ proceeds, although no specific artist was named in the document.
Westwater disputed those characterizations in a December filing. She claimed she had been the sole manager of the gallery’s day-to-day operations for many years and blamed Sperone’s chronic absences, saying he spent limited time at the gallery even before moving to Europe in 2016. She asked the court to dismiss the petition and argued the gallery’s closure was handled responsibly, saying employees had been laid off and “virtually all consigned art” had been returned to their owners.
The petitioners countered that Sperone’s limited physical presence had long been understood within the partnership and documented in public statements, and that his subsequent curtailment of travel was due to health concerns rather than abandonment. They further claim that restricted access to financial records, bank accounts and accounting systems prevents meaningful oversight by other shareholders.
Another point of contention is the role of outside consultants. The filing said there were conflicts of interest involving legal and accounting agents, including claims that advisers acted for both Westwater personally and corporately, and that financial services providers were involved without board approval.
While the legal battle continues, a winding down of some aspects is already underway. Westwater documents confirm that brokerage CBRE has been retained to market Foster Tower and that discussions about the disposal of the asset have taken place under mediation, although those talks have not yet resulted in a full settlement.
The case now focuses on how the dissolution will proceed and whether a court-appointed receiver will be installed to manage the process. In recent filings, Sperone’s lawyers argued that the question before the court is no longer whether the gallery will close, but how to liquidate the company’s assets and resolve its obligations.
ARTnews has reached out to representatives of Sperone Westwater for comment on the latest documents and allegations, but has yet to receive a response.
The dispute highlights the fragility of traditional gallery structures in a market that has become more capital-intensive, commercially oriented and operationally complex, especially as ownership is equally divided and succession plans remain unresolved. The fate of one of New York’s most prominent contemporary art galleries now rests with the courts.
