Galleries: spotlight on Paris

Even if the French scene is only one component of it, Art Basel is capitalizing on that image – and on its aura – across periods and beyond borders. In this perspective, a detour through the glorious past of the avant-gardes seems inevitable. Specialists in modern art are few in the aisles, but their presence under the nave brings the reassurance of history’s authority. Such is the case of Galerie Le Minotaure (Paris), which brings together, alongside a series of cubist watercolors by Fernand Léger, photograms, a gouache on paper, compositions on Plexiglas, and a painting by László Moholy-Nagy (prices ranging from €300,000 to €3 million). Echoes of that foundational twentieth century also resonate at Galerie 1900-2000 (Paris), which pays tribute to key figures of Dada, Surrealism, and other pioneers of the interwar years: a preparatory study for Nine Malic Moulds (1913–1914) by Marcel Duchamp, an illustrated letter by Victor Brauner, textile compositions by the Québécoise artist Mimi Parent [see ill.], and a late oil on canvas by Félix Labisse – with prices reaching €650,000 for these cult pieces and masterpieces. Paris, its collections Nathalie Obadia (Paris, Brussels), for her part, is showing a superb painting by Shirley Jaffe (The Red Diamond, 1964, between $300,000 and $320,000, [see ill.]), completed shortly before the American painter settled permanently in her studio in Paris’s 5th arrondissement. Hervé Loevenbruck (Paris) has built his booth around a museum-quality piece – a rare bronze head by Alina Szapocznikow (Głowa VI, 1961, around €500,000). The sculptor studied in Prague before returning to live and work in Paris in the 1960s. Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois (Paris) devotes part of its stand to Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle – fittingly, since the couple is the subject of a nearby exhibition at the Grand Palais. Artists of the Supports/Surfaces movement, created in the early 1970s, form the backbone of Ceysson & Bénétière’s presentation, with several works by Louis Cane – who passed away in November 2024 – as well as by Noël Dolla and the prolific Claude Viallat. Christophe Gaillard (Paris, Brussels), newly admitted under the nave, presents notably a painting by Simon Hantaï from 1975, emblematic of his folding technique (between €600,000 and €800,000, [see ill.]). Paris, with the extraordinary collections of its museums, has always attracted foreign artists. A member of the Beat generation, painter Bob Thompson, spent a formative year in the city between 1961 and 1962, visiting the Louvre almost daily, recalls Michael Rosenfeld. His allegories of American life, rich with references to European masterpieces, take center stage at the New York dealer’s booth (between $120,000 and $3.5 million). A key figure of the contemporary American scene, Wade Guyton has also professed an unexpected fondness for the Musée d’Orsay; Galerie Chantal Crousel (Paris) is now focusing on his most recent work, between painting and sculpture. Also nourished by classical culture, Xie Lei’s work (shortlisted for the Marcel Duchamp Prize, awarded on 23 October) appears at Semiose (Paris) alongside drawings by Françoise Pétrovitch, a large painting by Laurent Proux, and a wall composition by Moffat Takadiwa (between €25,000 and €30,000 for the latter two). Meanwhile, the Parisian gallery Crèvecœur – new to the fair – is reintroducing audiences to the portraits of Colombian painter Emma Reyes (1919, Bogotá-2003, Bordeaux). This edition also notes the absence of Galerie Suzanne Tarasiève and the return – in the “Premise” section – of Martine Aboucaya (Paris), a loyal presence in the former Fiac era. References to the current Paris institutional scene will be plentiful in this edition. While Gerhard Richter is featured at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, he also appears on the booth of David Zwirner with recent multiples. The dealer, however, is reserving for his Marais gallery a selection of paintings from several key series by the German artist. Bridget Riley, Philip Guston… In Situ-Fabienne Leclerc (Romainville) can take pride in having supported Otobong Nkanga for nearly a decade – the artist now enjoying her first major exhibition in a Parisian institution, at the Musée d’art moderne. Works by Bridget Riley, currently on view at the Musée d’Orsay, can be seen at Max Hetzler, and paintings by Philip Guston – featured at the Musée national Picasso – appear at Hauser & Wirth. For his first participation in the fair, New York gallerist David Nolan has conceived a kind of salon lined with works on paper by major figures from the 1920s to the present. This presentation includes folded papers by Dorothea Rockburne (around €70,000), several of whose works are simultaneously featured in “Minimal”, the current exhibition of the Pinault Collection. At Paula Cooper Gallery (New York), one of the booth’s centerpiece works is Moss Bed, Twin (1986/2025) by Meg Webster – fittingly, as one of her installations currently occupies the rotunda of the Bourse de commerce. Thanks to its public museums, its private foundations, and its galleries, Paris continues to shine.