Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn: Expanding Landscapes Beyond Ownership

Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn was born into the art world, her childhood framed by Warhols and Judds, her worldview shaped by brushstrokes of experimentation and vision. Today, she continues to sculpt that world on her own terms. With her Upper East Side space on New York’s Museum Mile, Greenberg Rohatyn has created a hybrid: part art gallery, part high design showroom, entirely embedded in contemporary culture. Housed in a historic building originally designed by architect Ogden Codman—with a past steeped in art residencies and studio life—gallery Salon 94 now represents the furniture of both the Donald Judd and Gaetano Pesce Estates, honouring a legacy of radical thought passed down through generations. In this conversation, we speak with Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn about collaborating with artists like Urs Fischer and Tom Sachs, and what it means to run a gallery today—when the role of the art space is being questioned, reinvented, and reimagined.

hube: Salon 94 is a studio that’s been reimagined as a gallery and domestic space. How does this unique setting influence visitors’ interaction with the artwork? Do you think the intimate atmosphere encourages a deeper, more personal connection to the pieces, or is there a risk that it limits how people perceive the art?

Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn: Salon94 is a domestic space, but bettered and exaggerated—it’s architected to enhance looking. It was originally built to show and make art, not to be lived in, so it had perfect bones for an art gallery. The space was built to enhance art though it throws a curve ball for the artists who show there. The white cube model eliminates distractions, allowing for a neutral playing field and a fixed experience—this is not my approach or intention.  In contrast, our gallery adds layers of complexity through architecture, design, and objects—even flowers or scent. Perhaps this creates initial challenges, yet each artist would agree that this magnifies their narratives in a remarkable way, creating true ‘aha’ moments. The natural light moving through Salon94 also changes the experience—visitors see things differently throughout the day. Our second floor offers a version of a white box room, with a curved ceiling and corners like an infinity room. It a piece of the future in the midst of the past.

h: Having grown up surrounded by such iconic works and figures—your father Ronald K. Greenberg, a prominent contemporary art dealer, brought home pieces by Andy Warhol and Donald Judd. How does your own upbringing in the art world shape how you engage with your own children and expose them to art in ways that go beyond just ownership?

JGR:  I’m very lucky because the art business is a family business. I’ve had regular dialogue with my father for many years, working with him, and now my sister in the gallery. Now I also have three children who are adults themselves. They are interested in the art—they’ve grown up around it, and they’re each interacting with it in their own way.  My middle daughter is people curious, interviewing various artists and creatives for podcasts—she is flexing a different muscle and finding her voice.  My muscle is my eye.

h: Is there an artist you’ve been eager to work with or present through Salon 94, but haven’t had the opportunity yet? What draws you to their practice?

JGR:  I am at an advantage, in that I have this wonderful space to show art, but at a disadvantage, because I am not a mega-gallery with their stables of artist. I can certainly manifest mounting exhibitions of, say, Jenny Saville or Julie Mehretu, though this might not be realized for many years.  Today, we continue to discover new artists, and give different practices a platform. It is also the perfect space to merge art with design, and one of the rare spots in New York that can do this seamlessly. 

h: Given the ever-expanding landscape of contemporary art, how do you sift through emerging talent to identify the artists you want to champion? 

JGR:  We’re always traveling and looking from art fairs, to biennials, to exhibitions by young curators. Our gallery tends not to show emerging artists that often anymore—we realized our sweet spot is an artist who already has an audience but needs to notch it up. Who needs repackaging? Who needs to be given a bigger voice and platform? We’re very good in terms of telling an artist’s story through our installations, photography, and the writers or directors whom we commission for essays or film. Spending the concentrated time to build an exhibition, we make sure that our audience has a special experience when visiting the gallery.

h: New York’s art scene is continuously shifting, especially in the wake of digital advancements, shifting gallery models, and global influences. What changes do you foresee in the near future—particularly in terms of accessibility, digital platforms, and perhaps the ways galleries operate, or artists exhibit their works?

JGR:  I think digital advancements affect all our lives—it’s certainly made the gallery space more globally accessible. I’m not deeply involved in digital art, but I am always interested in online buyers. We built websites for Marilyn Minter’s Green Pink Caviar when it came out in 2009. It was one of the first websites for that video, tracking who was opening it. Twice now, we also built a website to release Max Lamb’s Economy Chair, and now his 50 Armchair, for efficient online purchase.  It ships in a collectible box, so the process skips the gallery entirely. You can see everything you need to see online—the way it was made, and edition number, etc. I’m super interested in how technology can bypass the gallery on that level—for the right product. 

h: At this year’s MAZE Design fair, which exists adjacent to Art Basel, Salon 94 Designs showcased work from innovative artists like Urs Fischer, whose pieces delve into architecture and perception. What were you particularly excited about regarding your presentation at the fair?

JGR: To see Fischer’s drawing of a chair—with its cute little yellow dog underneath—come to life was a true delight. The physical chair was a true realization of his drawing. Its animated effect is something that only new technology allows through digital printing. I’m eager to further refine his prototype, make it lighter and more cost efficient. In design, we are constantly working on value engineering, ergonomics, and quality. There is a silicone lounger that Urs has been refining for over a decade—as the original foam faded—but now, he’s found a new silicone that imitates ceramic blocks. It’s perfect. Maze was also our first run, trouble shooting for our much larger Urs Fischer furniture exhibition in September.

h: You’ve shown Zipiao Zhang’s paintings both in New York at Freeman Alley back in 2021 and now in Paris with Galerie Derouillon through June 28. Does time stretch the curatorial lens or sharpen it?

JGR: Creative Director Fabienne Stephan lives in Paris, and so we have mounted several projects together there. This particular collaboration is wonderful because we’re making a trade with Derouillon. They are showing Zipiao Zhang at their gallery, and then in September, we will feature Alex Foxton in New York. Foxton’s beautiful paintings of male archetypes are so prescient. We enjoyed a dialogue between galleries: who is the right artist to bring to New York, and vice versa to Paris? What are the tastes? How will we work on this as a team? We’re having great success with it so far—an art star in China, Zipiao has been placed in multiple European collections and is being seen by a brand-new audience.

h: Sally J. Han’s paintings recently touched down in New York through a collaboration with Locatelli Partners—this time reimagined as delicate embroideries. What did it unlock for you, translating her brushstrokes into textile craft?

JGR: Sally Han is fairly young for our program, so I wonder, how can we make a bigger footprint around her work? Talking with her, going to her studio, and seeing her new flower paintings, I thought of Locatelli, who had created this new technology of embroidery on a wood veneer. The process is still a lot of craftworks, as all the threads are hand-picked to match Han’s paintings. So, I challenged Locatelli: let’s see if you can make vases with the flowers from Sally Han’s paintings. This is an example of type of layering that we do with most of our collaborative exhibitions. The result is fantastic. And, this time around, it was very quick—his impeccable team realized it in short order. 

h: Collaboration between artists and brands is becoming increasingly prominent. What kind of value do you believe these collaborations bring to both the artistic community and the brand involved, and do you foresee these partnerships evolving further?

JGR: Today, the recognizability of an artist’s practice might travels on a purse, skirt, or perfume bottle, and this is interesting, because it creates a fluency of imagery. To make an iconic image is extremely difficult, and for it to be absorbed by society is a further challenge. At Salon94, we are interested in this intersection, and continue to explore various brand collaborators. However, we push for a deeper depth than a simple trade of image to multiplicity. For example, sculptor and performance artist Anthea Hamilton’s giant leather pumpkins, commissioned by Jonathan Anderson for Loewe FW ‘22 became a definitive, iconic collaboration. With Jonathan’s enthusiastic nod, Hamilton will be making new, green pumpkins for our exhibition in the spring. Guided by the same level of craft, the two artists—fashion designer and sculptor—gave one-another energy, and the gift of possibility. 

h: Looking at the intersection of art, commerce, and culture, do you think galleries like Salon 94 can strike a balance between maintaining artistic integrity and exploring commercial opportunities? How can galleries navigate the tension between artistic exploration and the demands of a market-driven world?

JGR: One of our strengths is that we can envision, edit, and quality control, becoming a ground zero. The gallery is the space for dialogue, experimentation, and refinement. I don’t think that big companies can experiment on the same level. For instance, we partner with Tom Sachs on his furniture. This spring we will show his prototypes—a room of his experiments, of which only one might go into production with a larger company, becoming a popular culture chair. The prototypes are each unique, with their own eccentric markings, and carry a high collectable value. We show this journey from raw idea to refined object, celebrating risk, experimentation, and artistic process. Before it was accepted, I worked on multiple artist collaborations for fashion houses and editorials. We would not have Minter’s Green Pink Caviar without MAC! When getting involved in a project, I’m interested in the type of objects that change society. Donald Judd’s chair was born out of his necessity to make furniture that suited him, changing our notion of what the object could be. Our gallery platform ensures that such objects exist in the real world.