UPCOMING EXHIBITION
FRIEZE MASTERS, SEOUL 2025. BOOTH M 09
September 3 – 6, 2025
EMILIE CHARMY
The gallery is delighted to present a solo exhibition of Émilie Charmy (1878-1974). This is an opportunity to rediscover this singular and provocative artist, one of the most original voices of modern art in Paris during the first half of the 20th century. Her paintings were part of the great artistic currents of the pre-First World War period, which she subsequently pursued in a singular and solitary way. Many of the great writers and critics of the time wrote about Charmy’s work, including the French novelist Colette who wrote a long text for the 1926 exhibition at the Galerie d’Art Ancien et Moderne in Paris.
What made Émilie Charmy’s art so distinctive and provocative in her day was that it seemed to escape what was expected of a female artist. Critics were unanimous in finding virile qualities in her expressive, physical and rugged style, but they were certainly also reacting to her treatment of subjects, particularly nudes, some of which display a remarkably frank and complex sexuality. Charmy’s success continued into the 1930s, until the Second World War wiped out most of her personal networks.
Although she continued to develop her work well into her later years, notably with self-portraits that present a curious and fascinating fusion of introspection and masquerade, Émilie Charmy’s work is beginning to resurface today.
Émilie Charmy’s work is represented in numerous Museums in France including the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, and in USA at the Fralin Museum in Charlottesville, the VMFA Museum in Richmond, the Arts Club and the Art Institute of Chicago.
POL PIERART
September 18 – October 18 2025
In partnership with the Librairie Métamorphoses, located at 17 rue Jacob in Paris, we are jointly offering an exhibition starting Thursday, September 18, bringing together a large collection of paintings and photographs by Pol Pierart. This exhibition will be accompanied by a catalog with a text by Didier Semin.
Pol Pierart, born in 1955 in Liège, plays with words to bring out multiple meanings and his works encourage us to take a step back and consider certain essential notions from a completely different angle.
As Julie Bawin explains in a text published in l’Art même in 2007: “If there is one artist whom no consideration of fashion seems to divert from the path he has determined to follow, it is Pol Pierart. Away, almost in secret, he develops a constant and coherent body of work which has the unpredictability of continuing to hold the eye, to shake up our habits of vision and to put an end, temporarily, to the triumph of demonstration. Throughout his exhibitions, we are always won over by the little discoveries of a man who, if he does not like public speaking, plays skillfully with words, the irony of shifts in meaning and the fantasy of innuendos (…) l’Art même in 2007: "If there is one artist who seems impervious to fashion trends and unwavering in his chosen path, it is Pol Pierart. Working quietly, almost in secret, he has developed a consistent and coherent body of work that is unpredictable in that it continues to capture the eye, challenge our viewing habits and put a temporary end to the triumph of demonstration. Throughout his exhibitions, we are always captivated by the little discoveries of a man who, although he does not like to speak in public, skilfully plays with words, the irony of shifts in meaning and the fantasy of innuendo (...) The artist says that his painting allows him to go straight to the heart of the matter, enabling him to capture the physical presence of the word. Thus, unlike his photographs, which grab the viewer's attention through meaningful associations and the staging of aphorisms and other wordplay, his paintings surprise us with their economy of means and rhythmic syntax limited to a single word. In fresh colours, the painter quickly sketches letters that form a seemingly innocuous term. Anyone familiar with the artist knows what comes next: through a series of crossings-out, overlapping lines and altered letters, the original word takes on a new meaning and invites all kinds of interpretations, excursions and detours. Like comets, the letters zigzag through our thoughts. They move quickly, strike the right chord and match the detached irony of the message conveyed. Behind the apparent lightness of the semantic interference lies a gravity that is barely acknowledged."
