The Art Newspaper

Behind the scenes of Gagosian’s new Paris gallery

The mega-dealer’s vast new space on the Right Bank will debut with shows of Cy Twombly and Prouvé

By Brook S. Mason. Web only
Published online: 22 September 2010

The staircase designed by Jean Francois Bodin and Caruso St John Architects (Photo: Gautier Deblonde)

PARIS. While Larry Gagosian’s ninth gallery opening in Paris next month during FIAC (21-24 October) has been shrouded in secrecy, The Art Newspaper was given a behind-the-scenes tour of the vast premises. In addition, we learned that design will be a critical component in the gallery’s inaugural exhibitions with Paris dealer Patrick Seguin collaborating on a show devoted to the architecture of Jean Prouvé, whose name is synonymous with post-war furniture and housing. With this new gallery and installations by his artists and designers recently appearing in Versailles (Takashi Murakami, and before him Jeff Koons), the Louvre (Cy Twombly’s celestial ceiling) and the Tuileries Gardens (Prouvé’s Maison Ferembal to be installed in October), the American dealer enjoys a unique position in Paris.

The four-storey, 900-square-meter gallery, situated on the Rue de Ponthieu on the Right Bank just behind Christie’s, is designed by Paris based architect Jean-François Bodin in collaboration with London architectural firm Caruso St John which is also responsible for Gagosian's London and Rome premises. Bodin who is currently also working on the renovation of the Musée Picasso in the Marais district, has designed numerous exhibitions including those at the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais and Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

At this new gallery, changes to the original structure include increasing the ceiling height to four meters and going up to six meters directly under the skylight, without altering the original external façade, to accommodate large art work. Both air conditioning, heating and hightech lighting have been discreetly installed and concealed.

A minimally curvaceous staircase, made of one single piece of metal, leads to the first floor where there are private offices, and then continues up to the second floor. “This will function as a project space,” says Serena Cattaneo Adorno of the gallery. The spaces can be utilized as private viewing rooms or as exhibition space. “This gives us greater flexibility and a more fluid use of the space,” she says.

The main gallery will open with an exhibition of five new paintings by Cy Twombly, 82, who lives and works in Lexington, Virgina. These new works echo his recent commission in the Salles des Bronzes at the Musée du Louvre, completed earlier in the year.

The project space will be inaugurated with the Jean Prouvé exhibition prepared in collaboration with Galerie Patrick Seguin. This scholarly retrospective includes original drawings, models and three films on Prouvé as well as sections of the “demontable”? structures to give insight in to the work of the pioneering designer.

The Metropole aluminium house by Prouvé—one part of which had been rebuilt for the 2007 Museum of Modern Art exhibition “Home Delivery”—is priced at €2.2 million, according to Seguin’s gallery. A façade panel with portholes from the school of Bouqueval (1949) will cost €100,000.

“Many of our artists are fascinated by the work of Prouvé, as are our collectors,” says Cattaneo Adorno. Another example of the Prouvé architecture, the Ferembal house, which was adapted by architect Jean Nouvel between 2007 and 2008, will be shown by Seguin in the Tuileries Gardens.

Overall, construction workers are still completing the four-storey project with much of the space still unfinished. Although preparation paper covers the floors and wiring in places is incomplete, the gallery says the project is on target for opening on 20 October.