Daily Newsletter

Mass Cuts at Pace Gallery

The mega gallery cuts 100 workers and artists. Plus, a terrible movie about Kate Moss and Lucian Freud, and honoring the giant behind “Persepolis.”

Hyperallergic

June 5, 2026 — 4 min read

Workers and artists at Pace Gallery were having a beer in celebration of the Knicks’ historic finals win, or just waking up yesterday morning, when they heard the news via friends, coworkers, even push notifications. The mega gallery is laying off 50 workers and cutting 50 artists from its roster. That’s about a fifth of its staff and a third of its artists. CEO Marc Glimcher calls it a “model correction”; I call it workers and artists once again paying for the boardroom’s bad bets.

If you need an escape into a different but possibly equally stupid world, go see Moss & Freud, about supermodel Kate Moss and painter Lucian Freud’s tumultuous artist-muse relationship, filled with gems of dialogue like “paintings are very meaningful.” Better yet, read Eileen G’Sell’s wickedly entertaining review — I can promise you, it’s better than the movie.

Also today, we honor Marjane Satrapi, the comic artist behind Persepolis, about growing up during and after the Islamic Revolution, who passed away at 56. Her work is a lesson in the expressive and empathetic potential of drawing — and a reminder of why we in the art world do what we do, despite it all.

—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor

Pace Cuts 50 Workers and 50 Artists, Citing a “Broken” Gallery Model

Just years after inaugurating its $100 million flagship building in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood and positioning itself as a leader in the crypto art space, Pace Gallery has cut 50 artists from its roster and laid off 50 staff members in what CEO Marc Glimcher characterized as a “model correction.”

In a statement shared with Hyperallergic, Glimcher claimed that “the current gallery model isn’t only broken, it’s unfixable.” | Valentina Di Liscia and Rhea Nayyar

Marjane Satrapi, “Persepolis” Author and Human Rights Fighter, Dies at 56

Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian-French artist, director, and author of the graphic novel Persepolis, has died at 56. An outspoken critic of the Iranian government, Satrapi helped bring the experiences of modern Iran to a global audience.

America Today: Voices in Contemporary Print

On view at The Print Center through July 25, the exhibition highlights the power of print as a medium for expressing political ideals and urgent societal concerns.

Learn more

From Our Critics

The Black Photographers Who Exposed My Own Brainwashing

An exhibition at The Getty gave me the peculiar feeling of peeking behind a curtain in my own house and discovering new things about a topic I thought I knew well. | Nereya Otieno

The Best Part of “Moss & Freud” Is When It’s Over

In the film, Kate Moss is looking for the right man to get her sober, and Lucian Freud is a Great Man who magically sees the “truth” in young women. | Eileen G’Sell