Independent 20th Century takes over Sotheby's Breuer home with 130 artists
More than 130 artists are moving into Sotheby's Manhattan home this week.
Independent 20th Century, the New York autumn fair devoted to overlooked bodies of work from the 20th century, takes over Sotheby's headquarters in the Breuer building from 24 to 27 September. The dates make it the late-September stop in the city's autumn art calendar.
This is the fifth edition. It is the largest yet. Around 57 exhibitors will present work by more than 130 artists, according to The Art Newspaper, a line-up organisers describe as 75% bigger than previous iterations.
The fair was founded by Elizabeth Dee, the New York dealer, curator and fair founder. The 2026 edition is organised in partnership with Sotheby's, the auction house in New York now based in the Breuer, as reported by Artforum. Independent announced details for the fifth edition in June.
The venue is Sotheby's New York, The Breuer, at 945 Madison Avenue, New York. It sits on Manhattan's Upper East Side, on Museum Mile, the stretch of avenues known for its concentration of museums. It is the first time the fair has used the building, and the first time the partnership has been tested at this scale.
The Breuer was designed by architect Marcel Breuer. Sotheby's acquired it in 2023 for US$100 million. The concrete building, with its stepped upper floors and deep-set windows, has held several museum tenants before becoming an auction base. For four days its gallery floors give dealers museum-scale rooms instead of standard fair booths.
The rules are simple. All work on show was made between 1900 and 2000. The event is presented as an international show of curated exhibitions, which in plain terms means each stand is built around a tight idea or a single body of work. The emphasis is on artists and groups that were missed or under-recognised first time round.
For visitors, this means a different kind of fair walk. Less sprawl. More rediscovery, with back stories attached to the labels.
