Two years ago Berthold Müller and René Gimpel decided to open a Parisian gallery. Berthold Müller had maintained a gallery for several years in south-west France, in Salies-de-Béarn, but was doing ever more business in the capital. For his part René Gimpel reflected on his grandfather’s gallery in Paris, which ran from the 1880s until the outbreak of World War II; it seemed an appropriate gesture to return to the city which gave rise to an art dealing dynasty.
Under Berthold Muller’s guidance, the gallery has focused on non-objective European art, with an emphasis on geometric abstraction. This emphasis is in a lineage with a previous Gimpel Fils partnership in Zurich, Gimpel & Hanover.
From 10 – 31 July, the focus will be on this movement, which began with Mondrian and his co-disciples, The artists in this part of the exhibition are:
Norman Dilworth (UK), Geert van Fastenhout (NL), René Guiffrey (F), Guy de Lussigny (F), Madé (F) Antoine de Margerie (F), Jan Meyer-Rogge (D), Knut Navrot (F), Joan Palà (E), Alan Reynolds (UK) and Klaus Staudt (D).
These artists show a great diversity of expression within the common language of geometric abstraction.
The second part of the exhibition, from 2 – 21 August, deals with a more fluid form of expression, including lyrical and informal abstraction. A common theme of the chosen works is immateriality and silence, inviting meditative contemplation:
Henri-Georges Adam (F), Didier Bergerol (F), Marie-Agnès Bourguignon (F), Eve Gramatzki (D), Krochka (F), Denise Lioté (F), Karin Radoy (D), Hans Steinbrenner (D), Irène Zack (F) and Léon Zack (F)
Situated in the heart of St Germain, galerie gimpel & müller has held a series of talks, debates and musical evenings in addition to the exhibition program. The main emphasis has been on literary and philosophical enquiry, most recently with a round-table discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre.
