Lurhing Augustine Cofounder Roland Augustine Exits Gallery to Focus on Philanthropy
43Jan. 16, 2026
Roland Augustine, who alongside Lawrence Luhring cofounded influential New York galleryLuhring Augustineforty-one years ago, is leaving the business to engage in philanthropic pursuits and work as an independent adviser. Luhring will continue to lead the gallery, with the assistance of longtime directors Lauren Wittels and Donald Johnson Montenegro. Wittels, who has been with the gallery off and on since its 1989 launch, and Johnson Montenegro, who joined in 2012, will be promoted to gallery principals.
“Working with artists atLuhring Augustine, and alongside Lawrence, Donald, and Lauren, has been one of the great pleasures of my life,” said Augustine in a statement. “Nothing will please me more than to see the successful continuation of this team, and the artists the gallery has been fortunate to represent. I leave confident in the direction the gallery is taking as it extends the legacy of our past many decades into the future.”
Luhring told Artnews that he had bought Augustine out under an agreement that would allow the gallery to operate under its present name for three years, after which a name change is likely. He characterized Augustine’s departure as “bittersweet.” The pair founded their gallery in 1985 on New York’s Upper East Side and moved to Chelsea in 1998, opening a Bushwick space in 2012 and a TriBeCa branch in 2020. The Bushwick outpost shuttered in 2023. Among the artists the gallery has represented are Salman Toor, Rachel Whiteread, and Christopher Wool; among those featured in upcoming shows are Yasumasa Morimura, Charles Atlas, Leon Kossoff, and Emily Kraus.
Augustine, who was president of the Art Dealers Association of America from 2006 to 2009, is a trustee of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. He is actively involved with the school’s Bard Prison Initiative, the Program for International Education and Social Change at Bard Berlin, and the Center for Curatorial Studies.
“I’m retiring from the gallery, but I’m not retiring,” Augustine told Artnews. “I leave on very good terms and with an immense sense of gratitude.”
“When we opened in April of 1985, I was twenty-nine and Roland was thirty-four. He was like an older brother, and I was green in business,” said Luhring in a statement. “We learned a lot by trying things out. Pipilotti Rist once said that I was the Nordic cool to Roland’s Mediterranean heat. I think it made for great synergy over the years. I wish Roland the best moving forward and am confident that Lauren, Donald, and I will create our own dynamic for the gallery’s next phase.”