White Cube New York Loses Three Top Directors
3Aug. 8, 2026
Three star directors have severed ties withWhite Cube’s New York gallery, Artnet News reports. The trio—Courtney Willis Blair, Sukanya Rajaratnam, and Jessie Washburne-Harris—offered varying reasons for theirdepartures. The news comes as powerhouses likeDavid ZwirnerandPace, alongside a cohort of small and midsize galleries,shutter locationsandcut staff and artiststo contend with a turbulent artmarket.
According to a White Cube spokesperson, Willis Blair, who joined the gallery in 2023, is leaving “to pursue her long-standing ambition to return to academia,” while Rajaratnam, who arrived to the White Cube that same year as global director of strategic market initiatives, “stepped down to focus on her independent ventures.” No reason was offered for the departure of Washburne Harris, who was hired less than a year ago as global director in charge of long-term growth in the United States. Washburne Harris operated her own gallery, Harris Lieberman, before occupying senior roles atPaceandMarian Goodman.
Founded in London in 1993, White Cube burst onto the US scene in 2023 with its New York flagship at 1002 Madison Avenue (a stone’s throw from the headquarters of heavy hitters such as Gagosian and Acquavella). It operates additional outposts in Hong Kong and Paris, and most recently expanded into Seoul, in 2023.
According to the abovementioned spokesperson, the directors’ exit does not bode ill for the health of White Cube, which is in fact expanding, moving staffers from its 1,800-square-foot 980 Madison Avenue offices to a 4,000-square-foot space directly across the street. The space was formerly occupied by Almine Rech, which told Artnet News that it had let the lease expire this past spring, as the rent was too high.