The famed New York gallerist Robert Mnuchin, who left Wall Street for the art world, has died aged 92. His death on 19 December was confirmed by his gallery. “The care and rigour he brought to the gallery extended well beyond its walls, shaping conversations and relationships across the wider art community,” said a statement from Mnuchin gallery.
After working for 33 years in the financial sector as the head of the trading desk at Goldman Sachs, Mnuchin began a successful second career as an art dealer in 1992, co-founding C&M Arts in 1992 with the Los Angeles dealer James Corcoran.
He established the bi-coastal operation, L&M Arts, in collaboration with Dominique Lévy in 2005. In 2013, the gallery, which was renamed Mnuchin Gallery, became a powerful player in the secondary market. Michael McGinnis, a partner at the gallery, says he has now assumed management of the gallery.
“In recent years, Mnuchin Gallery has reintroduced a number of historically under recognised artists to a broader audience, with major exhibitions by Ed Clark, Sam Gilliam, Simon Hantai, Kazuo Shiraga, and Alma Thomas, which have contributed to important re-evaluations of these artists’ legacies,” says a gallery statement.
In 2021, Mnuchin discussed his recent gallery exhibitions. “I think… [Willem] De Kooning is the chairman of the board,” Mnuchin says. “Pollock might be in some people’s minds. Pollock is a great and innovative artist. His drip paintings are phenomenal; but basically he’s a one painter career. De Kooning is Picasso-esque,” he told ARTNews in 2021.
Mnuchin often took part in fierce bidding wars in the auction saleroom. In 2008, Mnuchin told Art & Auction magazine: “I love going to auctions. All the people in the room love it, too—otherwise they would just call in their bids.” In 2006, he beat fellow dealer Larry Gagosian to buy Roy Lichtenstein’s Sinking Sun (1964) at Sotheby’s New York for $15.6m.
In 2019, he bought Jeff Koons’s Rabbit (1986) sculpture for $91.1m with fees at Christie’s New York, then a record for a living artist. According to The New York Times, Mnuchin was bidding on behalf of Steven Cohen, the hedge fund investor, a move confirmed by Mnuchin gallery.
In 1957, Mnuchin married Elaine Terner. The couple had two sons including Steven, who served as Treasury secretary during the first Trump administration. Mnuchin later married Adriana Graber, with whom he had a daughter, Valerie. In 2023, he opened a restaurant with Valerie on New York’s Shelter Island.
