NEW YORK– At Paris+ par Art Basel 2023, Lévy Gorvy Dayan (Booth B15) explores the history of twentieth- and twenty-first-century art, investigating resonances between past and present. The gallery will draw upon its committed relationships with artists and estates to juxtapose innovative practices from around the globe, revealing unexpected and thought-provoking connections between generations of artists. This presentation will engage with the gallery’s deep knowledge of painting and new materials, increasing the visibility of significant works, artists, and concepts essential to the art historical canon.
Central to Lévy Gorvy Dayan’s presentation is Aristide Maillol’s mid-century bronze sculpture La Rivière 2ème état (sans socle) (1938–43). Maillol (1861–1944) is situated between French academicism and twentieth-century experimental sculpture. While he borrowed techniques from ancient Hellenic sculpture to create the undulating form of La Rivière, its contortion alludes to the turmoil in Europe during the interwar period. Author and Maillol scholar Bertrand Lorquin likens this work—unique to the artist’s oeuvre, which is otherwise characterized by more static figuration—to Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (1937), stating “Both are modern icons in which art becomes conscience and embodies the convulsions of history. Guernica and La Rivière bear in them a vision in which beauty seems to transcend terror, and in which the artist’s response to the tragic course of history takes a human dimension.”
Oil on canvas, 513/16 × 39⅜ inches (130 × 100 cm)
This late example of Maillol’s investigation of the female form is considered by many to be his greatest sculpture. It is also the last work he completed before his death in 1944. Examples of La Rivière are held in international museum collections including those of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Musée d’Orsay, Paris; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels; Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California; Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg; and Middelheim Museum, Antwerp. The work on view in Paris is one of twelve examples cast in bronze without a base.
Works by Gego (1912-1994) and Barbara Chase-Riboud (b. 1939) continue Lévy Gorvy Dayan’s committed exploration of sculpture. A leading figure of Venezuelan abstraction in the 1960s and ‘70s, Gego radically engaged the properties of line and space. She worked between artistic disciplines to challenge the conventions of static sculpture, approaching geometric abstraction with a calligraphic hand and architectural mindset. Untitled (1977) is a quintessential example of her best-known series— these net-like wire sculptures wed the intuition of expressionism and order of the constructivist grid.
Barbara Chase-Riboud’s singular visual vocabulary takes inspiration from global influences including the avant-garde in Paris, Italian Baroque architecture, Chinese and West African bronzes, and ancient
Egyptian statuary. All That Rises Must Converge / Red (2008) is from Chase-Riboud’s Malcolm X series, in which she combined cast bronze with wrapped skeins of silk and wool. Contextualized within the American Civil Rights Movement, it stands as a powerful reminder that modern art represents the the possibility of cultural integration.
With access to exquisite material from established artists, including Sérgio de Camargo, Francesco Clemente, Lucio Fontana, Domenico Gnoli, Thomas Schütte, Pat Steir, Pierre Soulages, Tu Hongtao, and Zao Wou-Ki, Lévy Gorvy Dayan presents an immersive and evocative exhibition for Paris+ that emphasizes its core values of connoisseurship and curation.
ABOUT LÉVY GORVY DAYAN
Helmed by Dominique Lévy, Brett Gorvy, and Amalia Dayan, Lévy Gorvy Dayan is a collaborative international art venture that brings expertise and vision to its disciplines. Lévy Gorvy Dayan represents and partners with artists and estates—realizing seminal projects and furthering legacies. In forming Lévy Gorvy Dayan, the partners merge their respective specialties across twentieth- and twenty-first-century art; their reputations as leaders and tastemakers; and their separate histories as principals of galleries with exemplary exhibition programs. Both international and local in practice and perspective, Lévy Gorvy Dayan has unique spaces and unmatched market knowledge in New York, London, Paris, and Hong Kong, in addition to off-site presentations and satellite teams around the world.
