TIME Reveals the TIME100 Art List of the Most Influential People in Art

"The inaugural TIME100 Art recognizes the artists, collectors, museum leaders, gallerists, dealers, curators, advisors, and people leading cultural institutions whose vision is expanding the possibilities of art and shaping the global conversation," said TIME Chief Executive Officer Jessica Sibley. "We are proud to bring this extraordinary community together to celebrate their influence and the ideas moving culture forward."

TIME Editor in Chief Sam Jacobs writes in his letter to readers: "Starting in 1978, TIME began donating many works in its collection to the National Portrait Gallery, which today holds more than 2,000 pieces first published by the magazine. Those efforts have helped secure TIME's reputation as one of the leading popular visual storytellers of our time. Still, it has been 50 years since a living painter has been solo on the magazine's cover…The gap in our attention to the influence of fine arts on the cover makes us even more excited to debut this list…we have been seeking out the leaders who shape art, with an eye to find those who are writing the field's most important headlines…And artists don't work in a vacuum. They are supported by a massive ecosystem, from philanthropists and nonprofits who fund work, to gallerists and advisers who shape careers, to curators, museum leaders, and beyond. Half of the people on this list are not artists themselves. They make art possible."

Artists included Tyler Mitchell, Gerhard Richter, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Simone Leigh, KAWS, Refik Anadol, Christine Sun Kim, JR, Banksy, David Hammons, Jenny Holzer, Gabriel Orozco, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, El Anatsui, Florentina Holzinger, Amalia Mesa-Bains, and more.

Main Image: Amy Sherald on the cover of the issue with the Time Art 100 list.Courtesy Time Magazine.