Art galleries in summer mode

About six art galleries in France that are a pleasure to visit this summer.

A little tour of France of the art galleries that are open this summer, just to take stock of their ratings, how does that sound? L’Oeil magazine has stuck to the (non-exhaustive) selection of addresses that you might enjoy visiting during your summer wanderings. So I’m going to tell you a bit more here, starting with the four favorites of journalist Marie Potard.

First, if you took advantage of your vacation to go see or re-see the Fondation Maeght celebrating its 60th anniversary and its magical extension, as I invite you to do in another article on this site, you’re not far from Monaco, where the Monaco branch of Opera Gallery is offering the famous “Monaco Masters Show” that you absolutely must not miss, and which is open this year until August 31. This exhibition always presents works by post-war and contemporary artists, reinventing a dialogue between paintings, works on paper and sculptures from different places, periods and artistic movements, celebrating the spirit and genius of nearly thirty artists whose creative and innovative works have shaped the world of art and culture for almost a century. In short, it is THE unmissable event for art lovers and collectors in the Principality. We are obviously in the high end of the art for sale…

Among the 35 artists from the 20th and 21st centuries selected in this new edition for having lived and worked on the Côte d’Azur (there was plenty to choose from), you will for example find yourself face to face with Fernando Botero, Marc Chagall, Alexander Calder, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Hans Hartung, Fernand Léger, Joan Miro, Pablo Picasso… or even Jean-Paul Riopelle (1923-2002), this Canadian painter, engraver and sculptor whose name is perhaps a little less familiar from very mainstream exhibitions, but who is nonetheless fascinating. The centenary of his birth was magnificently celebrated last year, whether at the National Gallery of Canada, at the Maeght Foundation in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, or at the Centre Pompidou in Paris until the spring of this year. Although Riopelle’s dream of creating a foundation like the Maeghts’, to unite and support a wide variety of artists, was not realized until nearly twenty years after his death, it now exists in Canada. The Jean Paul Riopelle Foundation’s mission is to celebrate the artist’s life, achievements and legacy through the conservation, promotion and dissemination of his work. Through innovation, creative programs, arts education, partnerships and collaborations, the Foundation aims to inspire future generations of artists and visual art lovers to develop their full creative potential, while gaining a greater appreciation for Jean Paul Riopelle’s importance in Canadian and international art history.

A significant fact to note in terms of pricing: Jean Paul Riopelle entered the prestigious top 100 of the global art market in 2019, if we refer to the Artprice index informing collectors of the position of the 100 best-rated modern and contemporary artists. This is not surprising, since in 2017, two works from the mosaic period, Untitled (1953) and North Wind (1952-1953), sold for US$5,771,276 and US$5,529,436, respectively, making them the second and third most expensive works of art in Canada—bettered, to our knowledge, by only one painting, Lawren Harris’s Mountain Forms, which sold for more than US$8 million in 2016. According to data published by auction houses Christie’s, Heffel and Sotheby’s, no fewer than 26 Riopelles sold for US$1 million or more between 2006 and 2019. With the exception of one painting created in 1967-1968, all of these works belong to the mosaic period of the 1950s. Twelve have were sold in Paris, 11 in Toronto, 2 in London and 1 in New York, according to the Artnet website.

But let’s leave the gold of Monaco for a moment and go to Marseille, to the Alexis Pentcheff art gallery, at the Pavillon de la Reine Jeanne, chemin du Génie (I love this address). From July 6 to September 28, it is honoring the painter Bernard Buffet (1928-1999) who we almost feel like we are rediscovering, because the art gallery has given carte blanche to his son, Nicolas Buffet. He has chosen to take us off the beaten track a little, by selecting around twenty works of art for sale showing his father in a new light. As Marie Potard tells us, "the visitor can thus discover several seascapes - like Ios, 1994 - which resonate with the view offered by the gallery, perched above the Mediterranean in the small port of Malmousque, but also large female nudes or a portrait of a monkey, Cynocéphale, executed in 1997". Sounds tempting, doesn't it?

Do you prefer Sologne in the South? Me too because I'm really too hot in my caravan in the summer. So head to Nancay, in the Centre-Val de Loire region, at the gateway to Loir-et-Cher, and in the heart of Berry. The town is as famous for its shortbread as for its art gallery... yes, yes! I'll let the journalist from L'Oeil speak to make you want to go there before September 22. "Established for almost fifty years in the Grenier de Villâtre, a main building attached to the Château de Nançay - the Capazza gallery benefits from an exhibition space of 2,000 m2 allowing it to welcome many artists. This summer, four solo shows are taking place there, with around thirty works by artists: Nathalie Grall (engraving), Gérard Fournier (sculpture), Frédéric Dégranges (drawing and painting) and Brigitte Pénicaud (ceramics)."

And finally we will move closer to Paris with Marie Potard's fourth choice, since it is the Marc Maison art gallery, in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine (93), which is sacrificing the 2024 imperative of linking art to sport, Olympic Games oblige. The antique dealer is therefore exhibiting more than 150 art objects, paintings and sculptures for sale that he has spent more than five years collecting on this theme. Among these historical pieces to be discovered until September 18, we will note Une Régate à Joinville, le départ, by Ferdinand Gueldry, Salon de 1881 (€400,000) and an Art Deco mirror decorated with rugby players by Georges Marius Boretti, dating from around 1930 and displaying the price of €4,900.

If you stay in the Paris area, Anne-Cécile Sanchez recommends that you go to Bazoches-sur-Guyonne (78), where the Marcelle Alix gallery has taken up its summer quarters until September 1 at the Maison Louis-Carré (signed Alvar Aalto). Four of its artists are exhibited there: Laura Lamiel, Charlotte Moth, Ian Kader and Mira Schor. L’Oeil journalist Christine Coste, for her part, points out the “Hidden Face” theme chosen by the Univer / Colette Colla art gallery in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, with works of art for sale that have never been shown before by seven of the artists it represents: Jean-Pierre Schneider, Olivier Marty, Philippe Fontaine, Noriko Fuse, Jean-François Baudé, Monique Tello, Laurent Selmès and Olivier Aubry. The latter is even invited to the gallery for the first time.

Article written by Valibri en Roulotte

Image by Tasos Lekkas from Pixabay