Pascal De Sarthe On Succession In The Art Gallery Business

After founding de Sarthe in Paris in 1977, followed by spaces in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Hong Kong, French-American gallerist Pascal de Sarthe was joined in 2008 by his son Vincent, who spearheaded the gallery’s expansion to Beijing and then to Scottsdale, Arizona, in 2022. Their Beijing venture from 2014 to 2018 was the perfect example of their constant exchange of ideas and complicity. The gallery today represents the likes of Chan Ka Kiu, Eugene Lun, Caison Wang, Mak2, Zhong Wei, Lin Jingjing, Wang Xin, Emmett Potter, Kristin Bauer, Rick Levinson, Thomas Skomski and Zak Smith.

Did you have to convince your son to work with you in the family business or did he come to it naturally, having grown up immersed in art?

I have two children and always told them that in my opinion, there are three important things to make you happy in life: a good partner and friends, a good job that you have great passion for and a good bed, as these are the three things that will occupy most of your time in life. Vincent’s oldest sister had never been interested in art and is enjoying great success in her own path. Although both were surrounded by art, Vincent has always been interested in art. He could have been an artist! When he was a kid, he came to our storage to choose a contemporary artwork to put on the wall of his bedroom. He traveled with us a lot, and we always went to museums where our game was for him to recognize who created an artwork and which movement the artist belonged to, which date.

Did your son have to work his way up the ranks or did you immediately give him important roles?

The art business is not easy, and I would not have wanted to just have to pick up from our inventory to be the easy way out for my son. I was very surprised the day he told me he wanted to be a gallerist. My first reaction was to not take him with me, but to have him do his own experience and learn from others. I suggested he go to New York and find a job in a gallery. It was after college ended and at the beginning of summer when the art world leaves the city for the holidays. He went right ahead and found a job moving paintings at the renowned shipping company SRI. I was very proud of him as it was a great decision that led to a good experience. It’s important for a gallerist to know how to handle artworks. Then after the summer, he looked for an assistant’s job at an art gallery. Most galleries did not want to take him because of me. Most gallerists don’t want to have a gallerist’s son in their business. And I made it very clear to my son that I did not want to hear anything about the gallery he would be working in. Luckily for Vincent, the legendary Tony Shafrazi offered him a job. To this day, we have not discussed what Vincent did there. That was not my business to know. After a few years, Vincent told me he was ready and he worked with us. I was doing lots of business all over Asia and Vincent enjoyed coming with us to China. At this point, I became interested in the new generation of Chinese artists and Vincent opened de Sarthe in Beijing.

What is it like to have your son working with you in your family business today, and what does the younger generation bring to the table?

When Vincent joined our gallery, I asked him what changes should we make in our business? His answer was immediate: “Redesign your business card. It looks like you are from an old law firm! Please rebuild your website, it looks so old-fashioned. And get rid of your first name.” He was right and we changed these right away. The name became “de Sarthe Gallery”, which a few years ago evolved to simply “de Sarthe”.

Does your son bring different skills from you, as well as a link with younger collectors, curators and artists?

As Vincent understands contemporary art, it allows him to have a great relationship with the artists. They speak the same language. It was a great dad and son collaboration. Vincent loved to visit artists’ studios, and there were many to visit in China. We kept talking about the gallery vision and how we could be a platform for artists that were pushing boundaries, the ones interested in new technologies and their impact on society. Although I had the vision, my son, being 27 years younger than me, helped me project into the future. He is well connected to collectors, curators and artists of his generation. A decade later, we have grown to be known as one of the leading platforms for an emerging generation of Chinese artists.

Do you and Vincent have disagreements about running the gallery, and how do you resolve your differences?

We have very few disagreements. One of them was that I want only to show Asian artists, and Chinese in particular, Vincent being back in the US wants to have a conversation with Western artists. I understand and respect his point of view. Most of the time when we have an argument, I keep quiet very fast. Otherwise, it will start a quarrel with my wife; you can’t say anything bad about her son.

Running a family business, what family values have you taught to your son, and what have you learned from him?

Be yourself! Be honest! Follow your instinct! Embrace life, with the good and the bad! These are pretty much the values we taught our children. Family is very important to us, so when my son decided to be in the business, I was no longer running it alone. We have a perpetual conversation. This is regarding the contemporary part of our business only. Vincent has also done some secondary classical sales, such as works by Picasso and other modern and post-war artists, but I feel his strong interest is in contemporary art. On my side, I enjoy both and I still do lots of buying and selling classical works of art. I also enjoy very much the advisory part of the business.