How the Pace Layoffs Went Down—And What Comes Next

Early in the morning last Thursday, cell phones started buzzing. Pace gallery staff and their friends in the art world were sending each other a couple of short messages: “Is everything okay? What’s happening?”Just after midnight, the New York Times ran a story reporting that Pace was preparing to lay off roughly 50 employees and cut about 50 artists from its roster. For many Pace staffers, it was the first they had heard of it. The timing could hardly have been worse