Armory Show Dealers Report Steady Sales as Collectors Shrug Off Global Turmoil
Dealers at the Armory Show reported steady first-day sales, with museum curators, advisors and wealthy collectors browsing the Javits Center fair. A Hollis Taggart dealer said wealthy buyers were unmoved by wars or inflation.
A Serene Room in a Turbulent Week
The Armory Show opened at the glass-encased Javits Center in New York while the world outside was embroiled in turmoil. Oil and food prices are soaring and mortgage rates topped 7%, a combination that could compel the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates again next month. Political tensions ran high at the United Nations, with President Trump and other world leaders trading barbs over the Iran War; a Senate resolution to call for the end of the conflict failed.
Inside the fair, the mood was almost too serene. Museum curators, art advisors and members of New York's top tax brackets browsed the booths on Thursday, following an even more exclusive tier of VIPs who had opened the fair the previous day. A fair spokesman said a smattering of celebrities, including Jodie Foster, David Alan Grier, Piper Perabo, Paul Rudd and Karl-Anthony Towns, also attended.
Dealers Say Collectors Are Unconcerned
If collectors had any concerns about the wars or inflation, they did not share them. Michael Borghi, a dealer with Hollis Taggart, told Hyperallergic while gripping an abstract Stuart Davis painting he sold for more than $100,000: "They don't care. They're really rich individuals, they don't care."
Dealers reported first-day sales across a wide price range, from six figures to more than $2 million.
Reported Sales Across Price Points
Sales on the first day appeared fairly steady, according to an Armory spokesman. Michael Rosenfeld Gallery sold a Joan Mitchell painting for more than $2 million to a private collection, as well as collages by Louise Nevelson and Hannelore Baron. Edwynn Houk Gallery sold a László Moholy-Nagy gelatin silver print for $320,000.
Gazelli Art House placed a Lilly Fenichel canvas with a European museum for $200,000. Norr Cohan, formerly James Cohan Gallery, sold Yinka Shonibare's "The Landscape Project (Cotton Plantation)" for more than $180,000. Nara Roesler sold Sheila Hicks's "The soft side of my nature" (2025) for $260,000. 303 Gallery placed two Rob Pruitt paintings for $155,000 each and a Doug Aitken lightbox for $150,000.
A First-Hour Sale
Galerie Maximillian sold Rashid Johnson's "Untitled (Large Mosaic)" (2025) for about $175,000 in the first hour of the fair, the Armory announced late Thursday evening. The fair runs through Sunday.
Caveats on Fair Sales
It remains impossible to know whether reported sales actually happened at the fair itself or via a PDF circulated months earlier, a caveat that applies to fair sales reporting generally.
