The New York Times - 19.09.2019

THE NEW YORK TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 N D7

THE ERA OF CHELSEAmega-galleries has ar-
rived. Last Thursday night, Pace Gallery
opened its giant new headquarters on West
25th Street, eight stories of galleries, art-
filled offices, private terraces and party
spaces that cost more than $100 million to
build.
The opening party drew several hundred
well-heeled collectors, museum directors,
artists and other art world insiders, culmi-
nating in a performance by the Who on the
gallery’s sixth-floor sculpture terrace.
“We have remained relevant for 60 years,
and so have they,” Arne Glimcher, who
founded the gallery in 1960, said about the
choice of entertainment. He is passing the
baton — without quite releasing his grip —
to his son Marc Glimcher. “There isn’t that
much that was cool in the ’60s and is still
cool now, which is still going strong.”
Blending with the neighborhood’s
corporate-riche style, the new building
overlooks the High Line and offers views of
greige luxury apartments to the south and
Hudson Yards skyscrapers to the north. It
will soon by joined by mega-galleries by
David Zwirner, Hauser & Wirth and Larry
Gagosian.
Buffets of barbecued brisket, ham on the
bone and oysters victualed the multitudes
as they passed through exhibitions of work
by Alexander Calder, Yto Barrada, Peter

Hujar and David Hockney. Guests included

Chuck Close, Claes Oldenburgand Kiki Smith

— artists whom the gallery represents — as

well as celebrities including Luke Wilson,

Wes Anderson, Justin Bartha, Willem Dafoe

and Maria Sharapova.

Adam Pendleton, a 35-year-old Pace art-

ist, remarked to a friend that he was going

home to watch the Democratic candidates’

debate. “You’re missing the Who?” she

asked.

“The who?” he replied, laughing.

Downstairs, the smiling Glimchers were

waiting by the door, greeting guests as they

arrived in driving rain. “I don’t mind the

weather,” Marc Glimcher said. “We’re hop-

ing we get less than the thousand people

who R.S.V.P.-ed.”

Asked what his role would be now that his

son had more responsibility (and, in the

new building, the larger office), Arne Glim-

cher didn’t miss a beat. “Same as always,”

he said.

Dear Abbey

The old guard isn’t rolling over in “Downton

Abbey,” either. Many of the show’s stars

(and fans) were at Lincoln Center on Mon-

day night for the premiere of a film based on

the television series about life in a British

stately home.

First down the red carpet were Earl and

Lady Carnarvon, owners of Highclere Castle,

where the series and film were shot. Lord

Carnarvon’s ancestor the fifth earl is fa-

mous for financing the discovery of King

Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922.

“We have some of the parts of my great-

grandfather’s expedition still in the base-

ment,” Lord Carnarvon said.

Is he worried about the curse that, ac-

cording to legend, comes with the artifacts?

“I think the curse has done quite well for us,

actually,” he said.

Lesley Nicol, who plays Mrs. Patmore, the

cook, said she was just now learning to cook

herself.

“I’m beginning to take vegan cooking

classes because I’m on the road to veg-

anism, and my husband isn’t,” she said. “If I

don’t learn, I’m not going to eat. So I’m hav-

ing to learn to cook, finally.”

Also attending from the cast were Mi-

chelle Dockery, Hugh Bonneville, Laura

Carmichael, Kevin Doyle, Allen Leech, Phyllis

Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Imelda Staunton

and Penelope Wilton, as well as Julian Fel-

lowes, the show’s creator. In the audience

were Martha Stewart, Jonathan Pryce, San-

dra Lee, Christine Baranskiand Kathleen

Turner.

After the screening, the party moved to

the Plaza Hotel, where two harpists and a

14-piece orchestra greeted guests with the

show’s theme song. Footmen in tails at-

tended the candlelit lobby, serving caviar

canapés and watercress finger sandwiches.

Representative Peter T. Kingof New York

and Rosemary King, his wife, posed for pic-

tures with Jim Carter, who plays the re-

doubtable butler. But who is the congress-

man’s favorite character?

“I’m a secret admirer of Branson,” he

said, citing the character who supports Ire-

land’s independence from Britain. “I’m an

Irish Republican myself.”

NO REGRETS BEN WIDDICOMBE

The Who Christens Pace Gallery’s New Chelsea Flagship

At the premiere of the “Downton Abbey” movie, from left: Sandra Lee and Martha Stewart; Kathleen Turner; Lesley Nicol with David Keith Heald (Ms. Nicol plays Mrs. Patmore, the cook, and said that she was just now learning to cook
herself ); Hugh Bonneville and Lulu Evans; and Elizabeth McGovern, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Michelle Dockery and Imelda Staunton. Above the row, Ms. Dockery, who stars in the film, which is based on the popular TV series.

At the Pace Gallery opening, above from left: Maria Sharapova; Arne Glimcher, who founded the
gallery in 1960 and who is, to some degree at least, now passing the baton to his son; Chuck Close,
one of the artists represented by the gallery, at center; and Luke Wilson. Below from left: Max
Hollein, the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, at center; and the artist JR, on the left.

NINA WESTERVELT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES (“DOWNTON ABBEY”)

BOTH COOL IN

THE ’60S AND

STILL GOING

STRONG.

Left, the Who performing on the outdoor

terrace. Above from left: Marc Glimcher, the

gallery’s president, and Alexander Gilkes.

AMY LOMBARD FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES (PACE GALLERY)

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