The art world mutates faster than the human eye can take in. It resembles the fashion industry far more than it does, say, publishing or theatre or even Hollywood, which all seem gentle by comparison. It is not, then, such a great shock that the stately Marlborough Gallery, founded in 1946 in the age of high-minded modernism, has decided to call it quits after 78 years.
Marlborough comes from an age of Modern Masters, its undisputed greatness appearing to lift it above market fluctuations or changing tastes. Francis Bacon and Mark Rothko, surely the greatest artists since the second world war in figurative and abstract painting respectively, were both represented by this dealer, which exerted huge influence on both sides of the Atlantic.
