Hauser & Wirth and David Zwirner Gallery locations in the United Kingdom reported significant dips in earnings in 2024, according to financial filings reviewed by Hyperallergic. Both galleries reported a nearly 90% decline in pre-tax profits, coinciding with a rumored multiyear art market downturn marked by a global decline in public auction sales and a slew of gallery closures in the United States.
Per statements first reported by the Financial Times, Hauser & Wirth’s pre-tax profit dropped to £1.16 million (~$1.56 million) from £9.3 million (~$12.5 million) in 2023. The same filings show that Hauser & Wirth’s total revenue of £68.3 million (~$91.7 million) was just under half of the £143.9 million (~$193.2 million) in 2023.
This revenue decline, the gallery stated in its strategic report, was “due to lower secondary market sales,” referring to resales of work.
A spokesperson for the gallery told Hyperallergic that “the global financial results of Hauser & Wirth in 2024 are aligned with the successful performance in 2023.” Its two UK spaces, the spokesperson added, represent “a small element of the gallery’s annual financial performance.”
David Zwirner Gallery, which has just one gallery in the UK, reported £37.1 million (~$49.9 million) in revenue for the year ending December 2024, a decrease from £55.4 million (~$74.4 million) a year prior, citing a “reduction in cross-border transactions.” Its gross profit margin decreased to 16.4% from 20.5%, and pre-tax profits dropped from £3.3 million (~$4.4 million) in 2023 to £418,497 (~$561,874) in 2024.
David Zwirner Gallery has not yet responded to Hyperallergic’s request for comment.
Hauser & Wirth and David Zwirner are typically characterized as blue-chip galleries, in the same ranks as Gagosian and Pace.
Hauser currently has 18 locations spanning the United States, Europe, Hong Kong, and the UK, and is slated to expand its footprint with forthcoming galleries in London and Palo Alto, California, next year. Its roster features artists including Jenny Holzer, Jeffrey Gibson, and Larry Bell, as well as estates like that of Louise Bourgeois. This past spring, four of its artists — Amy Sherald, Lorna Simpson, Rashid Johnson, and Jack Whitten — were spotlighted in solo shows at major New York City museums.
David Zwirner has eight locations across the US, London, Paris, and Hong Kong. It represents artists including Kerry James Marshall, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Yayoi Kusama, as well as the estates of Gordon Matta-Clark, Ruth Asawa, Alice Neel, and Diane Arbus, among others.
The news of the galleries’ UK numbers comes amid a reported slowdown in the international commercial art market and climbing costs under President Donald Trump’s global trade tariffs.
In April, the annual Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report documented a 12% decline in global art sales in 2024. During the first half of this year, art market research firm ArtTactic reported that total auction sales at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips fell by 6%. The art world has also been witnessing a growing list of gallery closures, which last week reportedly spread to Almine Rech’s 11-year-old London branch and Pace’s Hong Kong exhibition space.
