Koji Inoue is leaving Christie’s to join Hauser + Wirth where he will start in the Summer of 2019 supervising the 69th St townhouse and its exhibitions of historical artists on the secondary market:
Iwan Wirth, Manuela Wirth, and Marc Payot, Partners of Hauser & Wirth, today announced the appointment of Koji Inoue as International Senior Director Post War & Contemporary Art, based in New York. He will assume his post with the gallery in summer 2019.
In this newly created position, Inoue will collaborate closely with the gallery’s partners and staff to continue developing relationships with clients and consignors of important works of art from eminent collections worldwide. His appointment is part of Hauser & Wirth’s mission to give increased attention to historical and secondary market works of art, and to further expand this area of its business.
Inoue will also oversee Hauser & Wirth’s gallery space and viewing rooms at 32 East 69th Street in Manhattan. Under Inoue’s leadership, the former townhouse will become a platform exclusively for historical exhibitions – shows devoted both to artists whose estates are represented by the gallery and others aligned with the gallery’s artists and program, presented in context to further explore tendencies in postwar art.
Inoue joins Hauser & Wirth from Christie’s auction house, where he has served since 2008 and was most recently International Director, Specialist Post-War & Contemporary Art. In his years at Christie’s, Inoue became Global Head of Private Sales for his categories, redesigning the structure and strategy of private sales at an international level. He was previously Head of Client Intelligence and Strategic Development at the firm; before that was Head of the New York Evening Sale, where he orchestrated six consecutive world-record sales.
Inoue’s appointment follows that of fellow Christie’s alumna Liberté Nuti, who joined Hauser & Wirth in early fall 2018 as London-based International Senior Director of Impressionist & Modern. As global counterparts, Inoue and Nuti represent Hauser & Wirth’s commitment to the full spectrum of art from the 20th century to the present – from Impressionism to Contemporary – and the increased depth and breadth of expertise that will be applied to projects in Europe, the United States, and Asia.
‘With the appointment of Koji Inoue – and Liberté Nuti earlier this year – we are entering a new phase of our business,’ Iwan Wirth remarked. ‘Over the course of more than a quarter century, our gallery has supported research into and developed connoisseurship in the field of 20th century masterworks. And now our attention to this area is growing in truly exciting ways. Koji and Liberté bring firepower to our already significant, ongoing project to find and place exceptional works with the foremost collections worldwide. Our vision is to collaborate even more closely with private collectors, estates, families, and public museums and foundations to identify and
secure masterpieces that in turn enrich the story of art when they live together in collections.’ Wirth continued, ‘Some of Hauser & Wirth’s earliest exhibitions were devoted to Calder, Miró, Arp, Giacometti, and Picabia, and these artists have continued to be touchstones in our program years later. We have always successfully combined activities across the primary and secondary markets, the historical and the new. A core principle of our approach is that a strong 20th century program contextualizes the art of today, and the art
of the present re-contextualizes the art of the past. It’s a full circle, and we look forward to tracing it in many interesting ways with a dedicated space for historical exhibitions at our 69th Street gallery.’Koji Inoue commented: ‘I am thrilled to join such a well-respected organization and become part of Hauser & Wirth’s world-class team.
I was attracted to the gallery as a place where innovation is prized, and I see ahead many great opportunities to engage the full spectrum of the primary and secondary markets through creative initiatives that connect the dots between our artists and the wider sweep of art history. We aim to provide the highest possible level of service to collectors, working with individuals in-depth and covering all ground to fulfil their needs, while bringing new ideas and connections to the discourse of art.’
