Whitewaller Paris 2019: What to See

In Paris for FIAC this week? Be sure to save time to visit these exhibitions, on view at the city’s top museums, galleries, and collections.

“Bacon: Books and Paintings”
Centre Georges Pompidou 4th arrondissement
Now—January 6, 2019
“Bacon: Books and Paintings” reexamines the work of Francis Bacon, whose last major show was held in 1996 at the Centre Pompidou. Curated by Didier Ottinger, the exhibition looks at the influence of literature on Bacon’s practice. On view are works from 1971 to some of his last in 1992, displayed throughout six rooms. Readings by Mathieu Amalric, Jean-Marc Barr, Carlo Brandt, Dominique Reymond, and Hippolyte Girardot of Nietzsche and Bataille play within the galleries. A series of portraits and self-portraits and 12 triptychs make up the 60 paintings included.

“Giuseppe Penone: Matrice di Linfa”
Palais D’Iéna — CESE 16th arrondissement
October 15–27
This is Giuseppe Penone’s first exhibition in Paris since 2013. Presented within the hypostyle hall of the Palais d’Iéna, which houses the French Economic, Social, and Environmental Council (CESE), is the artist’s monumental piece Matrice di linfa, alongside two new sculptures made specifically for the show. Penone’s practice, so closely linked with nature, is emblematic of CESE’s commitment to the environment. “What interests me, is when humans’ work starts to become nature,” said the artist.

Raymond Pettibon
David Zwirner 3rd arrondissement
October 15–November 23
This exhibition of Raymond Pettibon inaugurates David Zwirner’s first gallery in Paris, opening to the public on October 16 at 108, rue Vieille du Temple. The show also marks the American artist’s first solo exhibition in the city since 1995. Literature, art history, religion, politics, sports, and philosophy count as just some of the many influences for Pettibon. Incorporating text with images, his drawings include writings by Marcel Proust, Walt Whitman, William Blake, and others. His work will occupy the 8,600-square-foot light-filled, column-free Le Marais gallery.

Charlotte Perriand
Fondation Louis Vuitton 16th arrondissement
Now–February 24, 2020
The exhibition at Fondation Louis Vuitton presents Charlotte Perriand, a leading figure in 20th-century design, as a visionary who introduced a new relationship between the arts and international cultures. Especially impactful was her avant-garde vision of the nouvel atelier, embodying a new spirit of modernity. Marking the 20th anniversary of her death, the show sheds fresh light on the role of women, art, and nature through the Perriand’s architectural practice. The exhibition is curated by Jacques Barsac, Sébastien Cherruet, Gladys Fabre, Sébastien Gokalp, Pernette Perriand, and Arthur Rüegg.

“Trees”
Fondation Cartier pour L’Art Contemporain 14th arrondissement
Now–November 10
“Trees” looks at the latest scientific research around trees through the work of artists, botanists, and philosophers. The exhibition feels particularly vital
given the threat today of large-scale deforestation. Trees have long been
underestimated by biology, but it has recently been discovered that plant species are capable of sensory and memory capacities, communication skills, and natural intelligence. Included are pieces like a film by Raymond Depardon, paintings by Luiz Zerbini, architecture from Cesare Leonardi, and an installation by Thijs Biersteker. Visitors should also take a moment to enjoy Fondation Cartier’s garden, created in 1994 by Lothar Baumgarten, to reflect on the beauty of trees like the Lebanese cedar, planted in 1823.

Katinka Bock: Commotion in Highienópolis
Lafayette Anticipations 4th arrondissement
Now–January 5, 2020
The work of Katinka Bock, including sculptures, performances, and installations, explores the experience of space. This exhibition is her first in Paris, investigating architecture’s historical, social, and political significance. It will include a suspended nine-meter-high installation in the central exhibition tower of Lafayette Anticipations, Rauschen, made in repurposed copper. A variety of other sculptures, employing textures like reptile skins, leather, and clay, will also be displayed inside and outside the foundation.

Sabine Moritz: Deeply Unaware
Marian Goodman 3rd arrondissement
Now–October 23
Sabine Moritz’s third exhibition with the gallery, “deeply unaware,” features a new series of large, abstract paintings all made this year. Intimate, yet charged with intensity and vivid colors, the complex abstractions are full of emotion. Also included in the show is a group of oil drawings on lithograph from Moritz’s “Sea King” series, created from a sketch of U.S. military helicopters used to elude Soviet submarines in the 1950s. And not to be missed are the artist’s figurative drawings in the bookshop of the gallery.

Hans Hartung: La Fabrique du Geste
The Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris 16th arrondissement
Now–March 1, 2020
The Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris reopens after a year of renovations with “Hans Hartung, La Fabrique du Geste.” It has been 50 years since a French museum has devoted a retrospective to this major 20th-century artist. A key figure in 20th-century abstraction, Hartung has had an incredible influence on the artists of his generation and beyond. The show includes some 300 works in a wide range of media created over 60 prolific years. Moving chronologically, it is divided into four sections, including paintings, graphic works, illustrated limited editions, ceramics, and even a selection of painted stones, alongside archival and documentary material.

“Moderne Maharajah: un mécène des années 1930”
Musée des Arts Décoratifs 1st arrondissement
Now–January 12, 2020
“Moderne Maharajah: un mécène des années 1930” pays tribute to the collection of modernist furniture and decorative arts of the Maharajah of Indore. The Indian prince had a passion for the avant-garde and was a major patron of the arts in the 1920s and ’30s in Europe. His Manik Bagh Palace, built in the European modernist style, was filled with pieces by Louis Sognot, Charlotte Alix, Jean Puiforcat, Eileen Gray, and Le Corbusier. Over 500 objects will be presented in the museum’s central hall, complemented by archival material, telling the unique story of Yeshwant Rao Holkar II.

Josh Sperling: So It Goes
Perrotin 3rd arrondissment
Now–December 21
Josh Sperling has created a series of new works for his fourth exhibition, with the gallery “So It Goes.” Blurring the line between painting and sculpture, the artist creates pop minimalist confections in bright colors and geometries. Sperling’s paintings—made with power tools and skills in engineering, graphic design, and woodworking—have a lot in common with sculpture. His play with scale, color, and shape is meant to evoke emotion and mood, as well as interact directly with the specific space in which it is shown.

Georg Baselitz: Time
Thaddaeus Ropac Pantin
Now–January 25, 2020
“Time” presents a series of new large-scale paintings by Georg Baselitz—over 30 portraits of his wife of nearly 60 years, Elke. Reminiscent of the work of Otto Dix and Lucas Cranach, the paintings are both beautiful and grotesque, created almost ritualistically. For the first time here, the artist has used gold in his paintings, applied with a spatula and wide brush, and given even more texture with the use of a reed-like stick. The exhibition follows several international shows that marked Baselitz’s 80th birthday last year at the Beyeler Foundation, the Hirschhorn Museum, and elsewhere; and it anticipates his 2020 retrospective at the Centre Pompidou.

Picasso: Tableaux Magiques
Musée Picasso 4th arrondissement
Now–February 23, 2020
Christian Zervos described the paintings Pablo Picasso made between the summer of 1926 and spring of 1930 as “tableaux magiques” (magic paintings). These figurative paintings marked a new direction in Picasso’s practice, full of emotion, setting the stage for powerful pieces like Guernica in the future. The artist experimented with material and scale in these works, marking a significant formal development. The exhibition will be put into the context of major movements at the time, including Surrealism and Jungian and Freudian psychology.

“Future, Former, Fugitive: A French Scene”
Palais de Tokyo 16th arrondissement
October 16, 2019–January 5, 2020
This fall, the Palais de Tokyo is devoting the entirety of its space to a look at the current French art scene. Curators Franck Balland, Daria de Beauvais, Adélaïde Blanc, and Claire Moulène have chosen the work of artists living in France and abroad, across generations and media, to offer a moving landscape of contemporary art in France. Artists like Nils Alix-Tabeling, Mali Arun, Fabienne Audéoud, Jean-Luc Blanc, Maurice Blaussyld, Anne Bourse, Antoine Château, Nina Childress, and Jean Claus, among many others, show in their practice how new languages, genres, and ways of working and exchanging are arising in the French art world.