Ian’s Rooms @ Gallery Rosenfeld
Gallery Rosenfeld was one of my regular art stops in Fitzrovia. The work was always very high quality and the shows were expertly curated, but I only met the founder once. Ian Rosenfeld happened to be in his gallery when I randomly visited their presentation of Indian artist Girjesh Kumar Singh in 2023 and we chatted at length. He was kind and soft-spoken and genuinely interested and excited about the artwork and the artist. He wasn’t doing a soft sell, and I got the sense that he probably didn’t even have a hard sell mode. He was just conveying pure enthusiasm for the works that he was very proud to be showing. I’ve never forgotten that encounter because it was a highly personal experience. A friendly conversation between two people discussing nothing more than their love of art.
Ian passed in February 2025. When I heard that he was to be commemorated by transforming his gallery into recreated rooms from his life I was curious to see what such a tribute might look, and more importantly, feel like. The show ends with two traditional gallery displays: one showing samples from Ian’s private collection of Old Master works, and another showcasing some of the contemporary artists that Ian recently championed via his gallery. It is the beginning of the exhibition, however, that made me want to visit.
It’s a bit strange walking through this show if you don’t know Ian. His bedroom and study have been staged like a mini-museum seeking to recapture key moments in history of a famously influential figure. The recreation of Sigmund Freud’s study, complete with couch, at the Freud Museum in Camden comes to mind as a similar experience. The difference is that everyone knows at least something about Freud. I’d only briefly met Ian once.
Seeing his socks hung out to dry on a radiator was one of many curious encounters in the chaotic, lived-in presentation of his life. Music and films play, books lay open as if they’re just been referenced, a jacket hangs off his desk chair. The rooms feel as if Ian himself might have just nipped out, leaving you momentarily alone to sneak a peek at his handwritten notes and family photos. But they are faces I don’t recognise, and browsing the bookshelves and vast music library to which I have no connection makes the experience not that much different than a casual wandering of the aisles at a library.
Alongside artefacts from his pre-gallery career as a filmmaker the personal rooms are overflowing with knickknacks and things Ian collected on his many travels. There is so much here that I can’t help but wonder how much of it his wife had been desperately trying to get him to remove from the house for decades. However, I suspect many of these items might prompt meaningful memories for any visitors who had more than a passing interaction with the man. After all, a large component of the art world revolves around social connections and from the photos and stories that accompany the show it’s clear that Ian was no shy wallflower.
I’ve met a lot of gallerists. I am close friends with a few, but most are just names above the door of a venue I infrequently visit. Exploring Ian’s Rooms has now made me wonder more about the people who I often only superficially greet as I pass through their latest show. Who are they? What brought them to the art world and what kind of art do they hang in their own homes?
Whether or not this experience inspires me to go ask those questions remains to be seen, but at least it’s answered those questions about one man: Ian Rosenfeld (1952 - 2025).
Plan your visit
‘Ian’s Rooms’ runs 27 Nov - 17 Dec 2025.
Visit galleryrosenfeld.com and follow @galleryrosenfeld on Instagram for more info about the venue.
Want more London art news and reviews?
Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter. It’s FREE!