Henri Matisse and Ellsworth Kelly at the Louis Vuitton Foundation
The Louis Vuitton Foundation, a symbol of today’s new generation of art museums, remains faithful to its public and offers two parallel exhibitions celebrating founding artists of the contemporary art world. Running parallel are a major exhibition devoted to Henri Matisse’s The Red Studio (1911) and a retrospective of Elsworth Kelly’s work, featuring paintings, sculptures, photographs and drawings.
In collaboration with MoMA of New York and Copenhagen’s SMK, the Matisse exhibition brings together for the first time all the works by L’Atelier rouge since their departure from Issy les Moulineaux. Previously unpublished archival documents and works that address the mystery of the Atelier have been added to the exhibition. Clearly, the artist’s radical decision to use red as an overlay has fascinated generations of artists, including Mark Rothko and Ellsworth Kelly. The painting L’Atelier rouge, the centrepiece of the exhibition, is now over one hundred and ten years old, and is definitely a seminal work of modern art. The exhibition was conceived by Ann Temkin, chief curator at MoMA – the Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture – and Dorthe Aagesen, chief curator at the SMK, with the support of the Archives Henri Matisse. In Paris, the general curator is Suzanne Pagé, artistic director of the Fondation Louis Vuitton, and the associate curator is François Michaud, assisted by Magdalena Gemra.
As for Ellsworth Kelly, the exhibition celebrates the centenary of the artist’s birth and, for the first time in France, recounts such a wide range of his works. Fundamental creator of the second half of the 20th century, Ellsworth Kelly is considered one of the most significant painters and sculptors of American art. His career spanning seven decades is marked by the independence of his art from any artistic school or movement, whose body of work represents a fundamental renewal of the abstract movement. The exhibition is organised with the Glenstone Museum, Potomac, Maryland, and in collaboration with the Ellsworth Kelly Studio, as part of “Ellsworth Kelly at 100”. In Paris, the general curator is, again, Suzanne Pagé, as well as Emily Wei Rales, Nora Severson Cafritz and Yuri Stone, with Olivier Michelon, assisted by Clotilde Monroe for the presentation in Paris.
At the inauguration, we met Paul-Emmanuel Reiffers, Gims, Camélia Jordana, Farida Khelfa, Gaia Repossi, Elizabeth Quin, et Elie Top.
Photos: Ayka Lux
