ART FAIRS: Art Basel Paris 2024

Founded in 1970 by gallerists from Basel, Art Basel today stages the world’s premier art shows for Modern and contemporary art, sited in Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong, and Paris. Defined by its host city and region, each show is unique, which is reflected in its participating galleries, artworks presented, and the content of parallel programming produced in collaboration with local institutions for each edition.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Art Basel Archive

Known since 2022 as Paris+ par Art Basel, the art fair has been renamed to Art Basel Paris in conjunction with its upcoming move to the Grand Palais. 195 galleries from 42 countries and territories, including 65 galleries operating spaces in France, have been invited to showcase the best of their programs, offering local and international audiences a one-of-a-kind experience of artistic excellence, cultural heritage, and curatorial rigor. Led for the third year by Clément Delépine, the fair welcomes 41 additional galleries compared to its 2023 iteration — held at the Grand Palais Éphémère, a temporary venue — representing a 27% increase year-on-year and allowing Art Basel to shed a brighter light on important art scenes and movements in France and beyond. Art Basel Paris is structured across three exhibition sectors: Galeries, in which exhibitors present the full breadth of their program; Emergence, formerly known as Galeries Émergentes, dedicated to emerging galleries and artists; and the newly introduced Premise sector, featuring nine galleries presenting highly singular curatorial proposals that may include work made before 1900.  Art Basel Paris’s main sector, Galeries, brings together 170 leading Modern, postwar, and contemporary art dealers from France and the whole world, presenting the full breadth of their distinguished programs. Spectacular presentations in this year’s Galeries sector include works by 20th-century masters – luminaries of the past century, who shaped significant art movements and whose influence on art history endures to this day. Among them: first-time participant Landau Fine Art (Montréal, Lucerne) will present key 20th-century works from Surrealism and Cubism to Art Brut and Pop Art, featuring artists such as René Magritte, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Jean Dubuffet, and Roy Lichtenstein. A special highlight will be Alexej von Jawlensky’s 1909 oil painting “Spanische Tänzerin”, which has remained virtually unseen for decades. Van de Weghe (New York) will exhibit Rodo, a 1984 work by Jean-Michel Basquiat, contrasting his earlier intense works with a seemingly serene scene with underlying tension; Keith Haring’s “Untitled (For John Sex)” (1982), reflecting the energy of the 1980s New York art scene with its vibrant, dynamic composition and Haring’s signature symbols; and Picasso’s 1967 “Mousquetaire”, reflecting the artist’s enduring creative energy through a richly colored depiction of his alter ego. Coinciding with major museum exhibitions across Paris, Art Basel Paris features gallery presentations highlighting distinct art movements. In celebration of the Surrealist movement’s centennial, several galleries will showcase works by renowned artists associated with it, echoing the major Surrealism exhibition on view at the Centre Pompidou during the fair. First-time exhibitor Di Donna (New York) will debut ‘Hallowed Ground’, an exhibition exploring how four artists – French painter Yves Tanguy, Cuban artist Wifredo Lam, Argentine sculptor Alicia Penalba, and Cuban sculptor Agustín Cárdenas – merged their native landscapes with Parisian Modernism and Surrealist influences. The different cultural narratives come to life through an installation where elements of Tanguy and Lam’s paintings blend with Penalba and Cárdenas’s sculptures. The presentation of Galerie 1900-2000 (Paris, New York) will focus on works from Dada and Surrealism to late 20th century avant-gardes, featuring works by French artist Francis Picabia, German artist Hannah Höch, and Spanish artist Joan Miró, as well as a remarkable ‘four-handed’ ink drawing by Gala and Salvador Dalí, Valentine Hugo, and André Breton, André Masson, and Roberto Matta.

Several presentations at the show also home in on the Italian Arte Povera movement, which emerged in the late 1960s. Beyond the show floor, the Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection will dedicate a major exhibition to the movement, curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev. Cardi Gallery’s (Milan, London) presentation will create a formal and historical dialogue between artists associated with Arte Povera, Spazialismo, and more. Central to the display will be the works of Greek-born artist Jannis Kounellis, a pioneering figure in post-war European art and a leading voice in the Italian Arte Povera movement. Tornabuoni Art (Paris, Florence, Forte dei Marmi, Milan, Rome, Crans-Montana) presents a selection of exemplary works by some of the movement’s most prominent members, including Michelangelo Pistoletto, Jannis Kounellis, and Pier Paolo Calzolari. A centerpiece of the presentation will be a 6-meter-long “Mappa” (1989-91) by Italian artist Alighiero Boetti, the only one of the artist’s four large-scale world map embroideries that has never been exhibited before. Lia Rumma (Milan, Naples) will be displaying a group presentation in four sections, referencing the gallery’s history over the years since its foundation in Naples in 1971 and its key role in the development of Arte Povera. Among others, Lia Rumma’s booth will feature Italian artist Giovanni Anselmo’s celebrated slide projection “Particolare” (1972/2013). The newly introduced Premise sector is dedicated to highly singular projects that may include work created before 1900. Premise provides a platform for presentations that seek to broaden our understanding of the conventional art historical canon, with a particular focus on compelling yet little-known artistic practices. The sector’s inaugural edition will feature nine galleries, all newcomers to the fair. The nine presentations are: A group of photographs by Gerhard Richter and Sigmar Polke – two German postwar artists who are not primarily known for their photographic works but have used the medium to experiment with vision. The presentation by Sies + Höke (Düsseldorf) contrasts how Richter and Polke, who met 1962 as students in Düsseldorf, both utilized the technique for their works, paving the way for their signature styles. A presentation of rare works by Juliette Roche, a pioneering female avant-garde artist from early 20th-century Paris, presented by Pauline Pavec (Paris). Originally from Parisian upper- class society, Roche engaged with various circles and developed a focus on the lives and struggles of marginalized communities, creating portraits of strong, emancipated women. Emergence, Art Basel Paris’s sector dedicated to the radical work of emerging talents and new voices that was previously known as Galeries Émergentes, will showcase 16 impressive solo booth presentations. Fourteen of the Emergence exhibitors are participating in Art Basel’s Paris fair for the first time. The Galeries Lafayette group is the Official Partner of Emergence. Emergence will unfold across the striking balconies surrounding the central nave of the Grand Palais – which, prior to the building’s renovation, had been inaccessible for almost two decades – providing a symbolic frame for a show that will bridge the past and the present. Each year, Lafayette Anticipations – Fondation Galeries Lafayette awards an artist from the sector. Chosen by an international jury, the artist will produce a new work to exhibit at Lafayette Anticipations the following year.  With his fictional ‘Black Masters’ program, presented by new joiner Christian Andersen (Copenhagen), Zimbabwean artist Shaun Motsi explores the mechanisms influencing the complexities and contradictions in defining Black identity. Using edutainment as an allegory, Motsi’s film installation will explore how traditional knowledge production and distribution perpetuates racial hierarchies through the assumption that one’s identity is connected to certain skills and knowledge. Exo Exo (Paris) presents the work of French artist Lou Fauroux, which explores a future in which the internet has disappeared. Her 3D installation, titled “Keeping up without the plug”, features wall sculptures and a narrative fiction broadcast on a carousel of screens. Within the frame of this year’s expanded Art Basel Paris Public Program, several storied Parisian sites will welcome exhibitions, installations, monumental sculptures, and curatorial projects by Modern and contemporary artists such as Ghada Amer, Jesse Darling, Niki de Saint Phalle, Ali Cherri, and Thomas Schütte, as well as a series of talks and debates. All Public Program projects are accessible free of charge for visitors. Five new venues will be added to this year’s program, underscoring Art Basel’s deep connection with the city and its exceptional cultural heritage. Once again, the program is realized in close collaboration with Art Basel Paris’s Institutional Partners, including the City of Paris and some of its most prestigious cultural organizations.

Photo Courtesy Art Basel

Info: Art Basel Paris, Grand Palais, Avenue Winston Churchill, Paris, France, Duration: 17-20/10/2024, Thu (17/10) 15:00-20:00 Vernissage Cardholders, Fri-Sun (18-20/10) 11:00-19:00, Admission: Vernissage Ticket €105, Full Price Ticket €44, Reduced Ticket €29 (students, visitors under the age of 26, and Louvre Jeunes, Louvre Professionnels or Louvre Famille card holders), Evening Ticket €35 (between 17:00-19:00), Permanent Ticket €115 (all days {17-20/10}), www.artbasel.com/