We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Barbara Gladstone. In 2022, the Rauschenberg Foundation began working closely with Barbara and the team at Gladstone Gallery. That year, Gladstone mounted Rauschenberg: Venetians and Early Egyptians 1972–1974 at both of the gallery's spaces in Chelsea. In 2023, Gladstone mounted Robert Rauschenberg: Spreads and Scales at their 21st Street gallery; this dynamic exhibition was the first to highlight these related series in New York in more than 40 years. This fall, we look forward to an exhibition at Gladstone's 64th Street gallery of Rauschenberg’s Arcanums—a series from 1979 of colorful and complex transfer drawings with fabric collage. 

On the gallery’s collaboration with the Rauschenberg Foundation, Barbara said in 2022: “We feel incredibly grateful for this opportunity to work alongside the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation leadership and staff to help realize their mission of supporting innovative artists, art organizations, and socially engaged institutions, as well as the continued research and contextualization of Rauschenberg’s impressive body of work. There is so much to be discovered and discussed about his radically inventive approach to artmaking, and we are honored to take on this significant responsibility alongside the Foundation.”

Barbara Gladstone opened Gladstone Gallery in New York in 1980. The gallery has been characterized by slow, steady, and deliberate growth from the start; as Barbara told ARTnews in 2020: “My gallery remains attuned to the granular movements and energies that best serve artists and the spirit of their intentions in a localized and nuanced way.” Barbara was known for her close relationships with the artists she represented, and for her legacy of finding and nurturing talent that would go on to ascend to the art world’s highest ranks. She championed artists who broke new ground with their work and stood with them in the development of their practices. She was an advocate as much as a visionary, and her absence will be deeply felt.

We send our heartfelt condolences to Barbara’s family and colleagues. Working alongside her has been a privilege, and she will be missed at the Foundation and throughout the art world.