Pierre Soulages: A Century - Lévy Gorvy
  • Installation view of Pierre Soulages: A Century exhibition Lévy Gorvy at New York, 2019

    Installation view, Pierre Soulages: A Century, Lévy Gorvy, New York, 2019. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging

  • Installation view of Pierre Soulages: A Century exhibition Lévy Gorvy at New York, 2019

    Installation view, Pierre Soulages: A Century, Lévy Gorvy, New York, 2019. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging

  • Installation view of Pierre Soulages: A Century exhibition Lévy Gorvy at New York, 2019

    Installation view, Pierre Soulages: A Century, Lévy Gorvy, New York, 2019. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging

  • Installation view of Pierre Soulages: A Century exhibition Lévy Gorvy at New York, 2019

    Installation view, Pierre Soulages: A Century, Lévy Gorvy, New York, 2019. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging

  • Installation view of Pierre Soulages: A Century exhibition Lévy Gorvy at New York, 2019

    Installation view, Pierre Soulages: A Century, Lévy Gorvy, New York, 2019. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging

  • Installation view of Pierre Soulages: A Century exhibition Lévy Gorvy at New York, 2019

    Installation view, Pierre Soulages: A Century, Lévy Gorvy, New York, 2019. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging

  • Installation view of Pierre Soulages: A Century exhibition Lévy Gorvy at New York, 2019

    Installation view, Pierre Soulages: A Century, Lévy Gorvy, New York, 2019. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging

  • Installation view of Pierre Soulages: A Century exhibition Lévy Gorvy at New York, 2019

    Installation view, Pierre Soulages: A Century, Lévy Gorvy, New York, 2019. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging

Pierre Soulages: A CenturyExhibitions

New York
September 5 - October 26, 2019

 

Opening Reception:

Thursday, September 5, 6-8PM

 

#PierreSoulages

Pierre Soulages: A Century

Lévy Gorvy is pleased to announce Pierre Soulages: A Century, an exhibition celebrating the 100th birthday of France’s foremost living artist through a presentation of works spanning his career from the 1950s to today. On view from September 5 through October 26, 2019, this focused survey explores the artist’s enduring role in the dialogue between European and American painting and invites viewers to consider the impact of a practice that has injected profound poetry into radical abstraction through its adherence to a single material: black paint.

Filling all three floors of Lévy Gorvy’s landmark building at 909 Madison Avenue, Pierre Soulages: A Century is a prelude to Homage to Soulages, the artist’s solo exhibition at the Musée du Louvre, Paris, opening in December 2019. Curated by the late Pierre Encrevé, art historian and author of the Soulages catalogue raisonné, and Alfred Pacquement, the Honorary General Curator and former Director of the Centre Pompidou, the Louvre exhibition marks one of the very few times in the revered institution’s history that the Salon Carré has been entirely devoted to the presentation of work by a single living artist—an unparalleled honor.

Bringing together seminal paintings from the 1950s and 1960s that were either first exhibited in America or now reside in major American collections, the exhibition charts Soulages’s sustained investigation of abstraction — “a poetic experience,” he once wrote, that “signifies the world by transfiguring it”— from his early inspired encounters with the New York School to his continued innovations today. Also on view will be exceptional examples from Soulages’s Outrenoir series initiated in 1979. Translating to “beyond black,” outrenoir describes works in which dense layers of pigment record subtle shifts in ambient light. Thus incorporating darkness and radiance, each canvas invites the viewer to actively ponder the dynamics of repetition and change that structure Soulages’s oeuvre. “Outrenoir is not an optical phenomenon,” the artist has said. “It’s a mental state that you reach when you look deep into it, it’s beyond black.”

Pierre Soulages: A Century at Lévy Gorvy will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog with new essays by Alfred Pacquement and American art critic Brooks Adams.

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Selected Works

  • Pierre Soulages's painting Peinture 195 x 130 cm, 30 octobre 1957, 1957

    Pierre Soulages
    Peinture 195 x 130 cm, 30 octobre 1957
    1957
    Oil on canvas
    76 3/4 x 51 3/16 inches (195 x 130 cm)
    National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Morton G. Neumann, 1979.67.1
    © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

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  • Pierre Soulages's painting Peinture 165 x 130 cm, 25 juillet 2017, 2017

    Pierre Soulages
    Peinture 165 x 130 cm, 25 juillet 2017
    2017
    Acrylic on canvas
    65 x 51 3/16 inches (165 x 130 cm)
    © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
    Photo: Arthus Boutin

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  • Pierre Soulages's painting Peinture 92 x 73 cm, 27 février 1989, 1989

    Pierre Soulages
    Peinture 92 x 73 cm, 27 février 1989
    1989
    Oil on canvas
    36 1/4 x 28 3/4 inches (92 x 73 cm)
    © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
    Photo: Elisabeth Bernstein

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  • Pierre Soulages's painting Peinture 222 x 137 cm, Printemps 1980, 1980

    Pierre Soulages
    Peinture 222 x 137 cm, Printemps 1980
    1980
    Oil on canvas
    87 7/16 x 53 15/16 inches (222 x 137 cm)
    © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
    Photo: Tom Powel Imaging

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Video

An Interview with Pierre Soulages, 2019

November 19, 2019

Pierre Soulages is interviewed by Elizabeth Quin for the TV program "28 minutes" on Arte, ahead of his 2019 solo exhibition at the Louvre, and following his recent exhibition at Lévy Gorvy.

Publications

Selected Press

La Dépêche du Midi | Pourquoi vous ne verrez pas ce tableau au Louvre

December 8, 2019

Ce tableau, vous ne le verrez pas à l’exposition que le Louvre offre à Pierre Soulages pour son anniversaire …

Artforum | Pierre Soulages at Lévy Gorvy New York

December 3, 2019

In an homage to Pierre Soulages’s indomitable spirit, this mini survey at Lévy Gorvy featured twenty …

The New York Times | Black Is Still the Only Color for Pierre Soulages

November 29, 2019

An exhibition at the Louvre will celebrate the French painter’s 100th birthday. The only other artists …

Hyperallergic | Pierre Soulages, Extreme Painter at 100

October 22, 2019

Pierre Soulages is a century old. In anticipation of his retrospective to be held at the Salon Carré …

France TV Info | Exposition : New-York célèbre aussi le centenaire de Pierre Soulages

October 10, 2019

Pierre Soulages sur Madison Avenue. La galerie Lévy Gorvy s'associe aux célébrations aurtour du centième …

France 3 | Pierre Soulages, de l’outrenoir au prix du rayonnement français

October 10, 2019

A près de 100 ans, Pierre Soulages, peintre de l’outrenoir, a reçu le grand prix du rayonnement français …

New York Times | New York Galleries: What to See Right Now

October 10, 2019

Pierre Soulages’s astonishing black monochromes; Alma Thomas’s vibrant abstractions; Elaine Cameron-Weir’s …

Gallery Travels | Pierre Soulages at Lévy Gorvy

October 4, 2019

'Pierre Soulages: A Century' Lévy Gorvy

Artribune | Quasi cent’anni con Pierre Soulages. A New York

October 1, 2019

Sono pochi gli artisti che possono dire di aver avuto l’onore di assistere alla propria retrospettiva …

Thailand Tatler | 'Painter Of Black' Exhibition Opens In New York

September 19, 2019

An exhibition of French artist Pierre Soulages opened in New York on Thursday just months before his …

Blake Qube | PIERRE SOULAGE – A CENTURY“ AT LEVY GORVY GALLERY

September 19, 2019

Lévy Gorvy Gallery New York celebrates the 100th birthday of Pierre Soulage with a dedicated show of …

Le Figaro.fr | Avant le Louvre, Pierre Soulages célébré à New York pour ses 100 ans

September 19, 2019

Quelques mois avant l’exposition que va lui consacrer, pour son centenaire en décembre, le musée …

Art Daily | Lévy Gorvy exhibits new and historic works by French master in his centenary year

September 9, 2019

EW YORK, NY.- Lévy Gorvy is presenting Pierre Soulages: A Century, an exhibition celebrating the 100th …

Art Forum | PLAYFUL SLASH EROTIC

September 9, 2019

IT BEGINS IN UTTER BLACKNESS. A Pierre Soulages kind of blackness, that is, uptown at Lévy Gorvy, where …

Christie's | Pierre Soulages: Beyond black

September 6, 2019

As he prepares to celebrate his 100th birthday, France’s most successful living artist has some wisdom …

Asia Tatler | 'Painter Of Black' Exhibition Opens In New York

September 6, 2019

Twenty pieces of art, mostly recent works but also several masterpieces from Soulages's eight-decade …

State of the Arts NYC | Centennial Celebration of Pierre Soulages

September 6, 2019

Lévy Gorvy is pleased to announce Pierre Soulages: A Century, an exhibition celebrating the 100th birthday …

La Croix | Avant le Louvre, Soulages célébré à New York, terre d'adoption

September 6, 2019

Quelques mois avant l'exposition que va lui consacrer, pour son centenaire, le Louvre, la galerie …

Le Petit Journal | Grande exposition Pierre Soulages à la galerie Levy Gorvy à New York

September 6, 2019

En décembre 2019, le Musée du Louvre rendra hommage à Pierre Soulages, le peintre du noir et de la …

Le Figaro.fr | Avant le Louvre, Pierre Soulages célébré à New York pour ses 100 ans

September 6, 2019

Pierre Soulages a deux amours... Quelques mois avant l’exposition que va lui consacrer le Louvre, la …

Yahoo | 'Painter of black' exhibition opens in New York

September 6, 2019

An exhibition of French artist Pierre Soulages opened in New York on Thursday just months before his …

Artnet | Pierre Soulages Will Become the Latest Living Artist to Show at the Louvre This December—Just in Time for His 100th Birthday

September 6, 2019

his December, French painter Pierre Soulages will celebrate his 100th birthday. He will also be the subject …

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