What Bill Hodges Gallery does

Bill Hodges Gallery is a privately held, Black-owned art gallery operating from Chelsea, New York City since 1979. The gallery specializes in the representation, exhibition, and sale of works by modern and contemporary artists of the African American and African Diaspora traditions, representing over 100 artists across painting, sculpture, drawing, print, photography, and collage — including major historical and contemporary figures such as Romare Bearden, Norman Lewis, Elizabeth Catlett, Wifredo Lam, Jacob Lawrence, Kara Walker, Kehinde Wiley, and Lorna Simpson. The gallery functions as a curator, dealer, and publisher, producing scholarly exhibition catalogues (priced $5-$35) that document and contextualize the artists in its program.

The business model combines physical gallery exhibitions at the Chelsea location with event-driven sales at major art fairs including Dallas Art Fair, Expo Chicago, Art Chicago, the National Black Fine Art Show, and the Hamptons Fine Art Fair. Primary revenue is generated through one-time artwork sales conducted via direct enquiry with collectors, museums, and institutional buyers; a secondary revenue stream comes from e-commerce sales of exhibition catalogues through the gallery's online store and Artnet marketplace. Pricing for individual artworks is not publicly disclosed and is handled through private enquiry. The underlying technology is the ArtLogic platform, which serves as the gallery's website, online catalog, and store infrastructure.

The gallery's go-to-market is relationship-driven and event-driven, leveraging earned media coverage in outlets such as HyperAllergic, CaribNews, BlackNews, KERA News, and Impulse Magazine to reinforce brand authority. It targets two primary customer segments — private collectors of African American art and museums/institutions seeking works for exhibitions and permanent collections — with deep institutional credibility built across more than four decades of continuous operation.

Name

Bill Hodges Gallery

Legal name

Bill Hodges Gallery

Website

https://billhodgesgallery.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1979

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Bill Hodges Gallery is a privately held, Black-owned art gallery in Chelsea, New York City, operating since 1979. It represents, exhibits, and sells works by over 100 modern and contemporary African American and African Diaspora artists to collectors and museums.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Art Gallery Services

NAICS

Art Dealers (459920)

akta.pro primary industry

Art Galleries & Exhibition Spaces (Commercial & Nonprofit) (THAJADAH)

Keywords

• Contemporary art gallery
• African American art
• Art exhibition sales
• Fine art dealer
• Art catalog publishing

Headquarters

HQ city

West New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Artwork Sales: Primary revenue stream from the sale of paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, and collages by modern and contemporary Black artists.
2. Publications and Catalogues: Sale of exhibition catalogues and publications documenting artists' works. Publications range from $5.00 to $35.00 for titles like Agustín Cárdenas ($5.00) and Le modèle noir ($35.00).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Bill Hodges Gallery presents, exhibits, and sells artworks by modern and contemporary Black artists of the African Diaspora, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, and collages. Founded in 1979 and located in Chelsea, New York City, the gallery represents over 100 artists and supplements its sales activities with the publication of exhibition catalogues documenting these artists' work.

Product overview

Bill Hodges Gallery is an art gallery in New York City that has been operating since 1979, specializing in African American art and artists. The gallery offers art sales, exhibitions (both physical and virtual), and publishes exhibition catalogues and publications. The gallery operates an online store for art sales and participates in art fairs. The gallery represents over 200 artists including prominent figures such as Romare Bearden, Norman Lewis, Jacob Lawrence, Elizabeth Catlett, and Wifredo Lam.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• African American Art Sales

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Skoto Gallery: A New York City gallery focused on contemporary African and African Diaspora art, with a Chelsea presence. Closely comparable niche focus and target collector base to Bill Hodges Gallery.
• Jenkins Johnson Gallery: A Brooklyn and San Francisco gallery with a dedicated focus on contemporary Black art and artists of the African Diaspora. Comparable curatorial mandate and exhibition-based sales model.
• Kavi Gupta Gallery: A Chicago and New York gallery representing contemporary artists with a strong roster of Black contemporary artists and participation in major fairs including Expo Chicago. Comparable fair-circuit presence and collector overlap.
• Jack Shainman Gallery: A New York City gallery (Chelsea and Tribeca locations) that has represented artists of the African Diaspora and engaged with politically engaged contemporary art for over 30 years. Directly comparable in mission and curatorial focus to Bill Hodges Gallery's championing of Black and African Diaspora artists.
• Tilton Gallery: A New York gallery (formerly Fredric Snitzer Gallery) representing contemporary artists with notable engagement with African American and African art. Comparable mission, scale, and Chelsea art-fair participation.

Broad incumbents

• Gagosian: The world's largest commercial gallery network, with major NYC locations and representation of some of the same blue-chip contemporary artists. Represents the incumbent competitive ceiling and a benchmark for gallery scale and global distribution.
• Lehmann Maupin: A global contemporary gallery with NYC presence representing internationally recognized artists including several with African or African Diaspora heritage. Comparable fair-circuit participation and institutional client base.
• Pace Gallery: A major global commercial gallery with a strong New York presence and broad contemporary art program. Comparable Chelsea footprint and institutional collector relationships, though with a much larger scale and broader mandate.
• David Zwirner: One of the world's largest commercial galleries with locations in NYC, London, Paris, Hong Kong. Represents a wide range of contemporary artists; relevant incumbent peer operating in the same Chelsea district and at the same art fairs as Bill Hodges Gallery.

Emerging players

• Gallery Guichard: A smaller Chicago/NYC gallery focused on contemporary art of the African Diaspora with strong ties to Black art fairs and Expo Chicago. Comparable niche focus and emerging institutional pipeline.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/BillHodgesArt
• Facebookfacebook.com/BillHodgesGallery
• Instagraminstagram.com/billhodgesgallery
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bill-hodges-gallery

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Bill Hodges Gallery