French galleries: turning a spotlight on female artists

Or is it a sign that gender representation is finding a new balance? French galleries appear to have dedicated this second edition of Paris+ par Art Basel to female artists, in many cases bringing their works to centre stage. Like an emblem of this new equilibrium, an installation by Sheila Hicks (Vers des horizons inconnus, 2023) surges up in a colourful column of sustainable fibres, beckoning to the Collège des Quatre-Nations from its place on the square of Institut de France. The work appears as part of the fair’s off-site programme and is produced by the Frank Elbaz gallery in association with the Galleria Massimo Minini (Brescia, Italy) and Meyer Riegger (Berlin). On his booth, Frank Elbaz proposes another of the American artist’s works: a gigantic textile composition on wood and aluminium (Kauai, 2023), priced at 450,000 dollars [€423,000].

Marinella Senatore’s illuminated sculpture Dance First Think Later (2023) sets the tone on the booth of Michel Rein’s gallery, which the artist recently joined (between €80,000 et 100,000). Alongside a focus on mechanical works (by Gary Hill, Lars Fredrikson, and Vivien Roubaud), a large multicoloured shape by Marina de Caro floats over the booth of the In Situ-Fabienne Leclerc gallery, which consecrates a solo show to this Argentinian artist for the occasion. Three generations of painters – Amélie Bertrand (born in 1985), Françoise Petrovitch (born in 1964), and Philomena Williamson (born in 1951) rub shoulders on the picture rails of the Semiose gallery (priced between €20,000 and 37,000). Meanwhile, Jeanne Vicerial (born in 1991) – the youngest artist selected by the Templon gallery –, exhibits one of her sculptures made of rope, string, and dried flowers (Mue (1/2) n°7, 2022, priced between €15,000 and 25,000), mingled with paintings by Omar Ba and Philippe Cognée, and bronzes by Jim Dine.

Anna-Eva Bergman’s Nuit arctique (1969) provides a departure point for the Poggi gallery. “The Hartung-Bergman Foundation entrusted this exceptional work to us, available for 700,000 euros before taxes,” explains the gallery owner. Her subtle Nordic light radiates across the booth, which also features works by Kapwani Kiwanga, Djamel Tatah, and the duo Ittah Yoda. The Allen gallery shows a recent painting by Jacqueline de Jong which sets off works by other artists of the gallery (Tarek Lakhrissi, Daniel Turner, Maurice Blaussyld, and others) who are all currently featured in museum exhibitions abroad.

Christian Berst, who owns one of the two outsider art galleries selected by Paris+, gathered “a museum-worthy array of drawings by Anna Zemánková, from large pastels emblematic of the 1960s and 1970 to more sophisticated works featuring textile collages, embossing and papercutting.” Revealed by the Venice Biennale in 2013, the work of Anna Zemánková has since joined the collections of the Centre Pompidou and the Museum of Fine Arts de Boston (priced between €5,000 and 45,000).

Women’s artwork is also prominent on the booth of Georges-Philippe and Nathalie Vallois, with a new tapestry by Zhenya Machneva, a chromogenic print by Pilar Albarracín, and a painting by Evelyn Axell (La Sous-Préfète aux champs, 1967). The Ganesh (oil paint, gold leaf and electric motors) from Niki de Saint Phalle’s “Tableaux éclatés” series brightens the booth with its lively colours, which mingle with compressions by César and a mechanical composition by Jean Tinguely (prix de 250,000 to 900,000 dollars before taxes).

For historical reasons, the conspicuous trend towards gender balance on the part of contemporary art galleries is not so easy for modern art specialists to navigate. However, the 1900-2000 gallery does include a small gouache-and-ink on paper by Suzanne Duchamp from a private collection (Fabrique de joie, 1920, between €150,000 and 200,000). Meanwhile, the more traditional Le Corbusier collage of gouached papers representing a bull (between €150,000 and 200,000) forms the centrepiece for the Zlotowski gallery booth.

Applicat Prazan celebrates its 30th anniversary by assembling seven paintings by Jean Hélion, an incredible achievement prepared far in advance. “This is the most ambitious of any exhibition that we have ever held,” states Franck Prazan. “For our thirtieth year!” La Belle Étrusque (ou le porteur de citrouille) (1948), a painting that was requested for loan by the Musée d’art moderne de Paris in preparation for a retrospective dedicated to the artist in March 2024, is offered for sale at the price of 1.2 million euros.

The fair is a great opportunity to celebrate, and it is a favourable time to make announcements of any kind. Perrotin, for example, is going public with its new collaboration with Julian Charrière – an artist known for his approach to environmental issues – with the display of a heliogravure spanning more than four meters (between €100 000 and 120 000). The event is also an ideal sounding board for artists’ latest news, such as that of Pablo Tomek, a painter and sculptor featured in a recently published monograph who will also participate in a group exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo (“La morsure des Termites II”), and the Kreo gallery’s tribute to the late designer Virgil Abloh, featured on the booth of the Christophe Gaillard gallery. Likewise, the Lœvenbruck gallery exhibits a triptych by Gilles Aillaud (whose retrospective at the Centre Pompidou begins on October 4th) and a work by the duo Ashley Hans Scheirl and Jakob Lena Knebl, who will appear this autumn at the Palais de Tokyo. Not to mention Michel Parmentier’s Rouge, of which “one variation hangs at Pompidou, another at the MoMA in New York City, another in the Collection Pinault, and another at the Silo as part of the Billarant Foundation; this is probably the last one available of the ten held in private collections,” assures Hervé Lœwenbruck. He clads his white-walled booth with white vinyl flooring to emphasise this unstretched canvas with its horizontal poppy-red bands.