Art mover set to shake up Sydney

Mrs Schwartz, who has an eponymous gallery in Melbourne's Flinders Lane, will be an anchor tenant in a new commercial and retail area adjacent to CarriageWork's cavernous performance spaces.

It is not known if she has received reduced rent or other financial incentives from the NSW government, which last year opened the $49 million contemporary performance space in the old Eveleigh rail yards.

Mrs Schwartz said yesterday that she would not talk about her expansion until later this week.

It is hoped that the second stage of the CarriageWorks development, the commercial and retail area in which Mrs Schwartz's gallery will sit, will help attract visitors to the cultural precinct.

CarriageWorks is still relatively unknown to many Sydneysiders - and to many Sydney taxi - drivers despite being lauded for its funky warehouse-style appearance and having staged a wide range of events, from fashion shows and performances by local and international contemporary artists to last week's Australia Business Arts Foundation awards.

Mrs Schwartz, who is married to Melbourne property developer and The Monthly magazine publisher Morry Schwartz, operates at the more esoteric end of the art market.

She represents some of the nation's better known contemporary artists including Peter Booth,

Melinda Harper, John Nixon, Stieg Persson, Callum Morton and Daniel von Sturmer. The latter two represented Australia at this year's Venice Biennale.

Mrs Schwartz has hired Sherman Galleries director Simeon Kronenberg to head the new gallery, which coincides with a decision by Sherman to become a non-selling art foundation from next year.

Anna Schwartz and Sherman owner Gene Sherman traditionally have been rivals, and it will be interesting to see whether any of Sherman's artists and/or clients migrate to Mrs Schwartz.