ARTINFO has learned that Robert Fitzpatrick will step down on March 31, 2009 as international managing director of Haunch of Venison and director of the gallery's New York space to work independently with artists, individuals, and selected organizations within the arts.

"I am proud of opening the Haunch of Venison New Yorkspace and hiring great people," Fitzpatrick told ARTINFO. "I now look forward to being a freeagent and taking on other challenges."

At Haunch, the London-based gallery founded in 2002 by Harry Blain and Graham Southern that has satellites in Zurich, Berlin, and New York (and, as of two years ago, is owned by auction house Christie’s), Fitzpatrick was in charge of developing and expanding the gallery's exhibition program and overseeing the New York branch, which opened last September.

Fitzpatrick’s appointment made art world headlines last February, largely because he was crossing over to the commercial art world from a high-profile museum position. He came to Haunch from Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, where he served as director. He spent a decade at the MCA and has also has served as dean of the School of the Arts at Columbia University and president of CalArts. He created the Los Angeles Festival in 1985 and in 1984 served as vice president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee and director of the Olympic Arts Festival. From 1987 to 1993, he served as CEO of Euro-Disney, overseeing the creation of the $4 billion theme park and resort.

His high-profile appointment was seen as an aggressive and ambitious move on the part of Haunch.Shortly after the announcement, Fitzpatrick told Art+Auction magazine that dealers have a “passion for art, artists, and helping their work become better known.”

He was heavily involved in the launch of Haunch’s Manhattan branch, in a 20,000-square-foot, Steven Learner Studiodesigned space 20 floors above Rockefeller Center. “It’s a space I think artists will respond to very strongly,” he told Art+Auction last spring.

Last March, he told ARTINFO, “This is not a real estate transaction in which you expect to flip the property in 12 to 24 months. You could make the argument that this is a particularly opportune time if you're building for the long term.”

Sarah Douglas is Staff Writer at Art+Auction. She blogs at The Appraisal.