From the October 2024 issue of Apollo. Preview and subscribe here.

On the heels of the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, another jamboree is coming to town. Art Basel Paris is back with a new name – for its first two editions, it was Paris+ par Art Basel – and a new location. From the fair’s temporary home in the Grand Palais Éphémère on the Champ de Mars, it has moved to the Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées, newly reopened after a three-year closure and €466m renovation. ‘This is our second inaugural edition in three years – you could even say that it’s our true inaugural edition,’ says fair director Clément Delépine.

The Grand Palais, built for the Paris Exposition of 1900 with interiors in an art nouveau style, offers about 26 per cent more space than the fair’s previous home. This has allowed for the addition of 41 galleries – bringing the total up to 194, some 51 of which are firsttime exhibitors – and the expansion of the Emergence section for new galleries and upcoming artists.

This year also sees the debut of a new section, Premise, which Delépine describes as ‘a space for curatorial freedom’ with a focus on thematic displays. ‘There is this old trope in art history that sometimes the exhibition itself is the work of art. In my opinion, being a gallerist is about being a storyteller,’ says Delépine. In Premise, galleries are allowed to include work made before 1900: the only part of the fair where this is the case.

Untitled (1947), Janet Sobel. Courtesy The Gallery of Everything, London

Galleries taking part in the new section include Loft Art Gallery from Morocco, with a solo presentation of work by Casablanca school painter Mohamed Melehi; Brazilian gallery Nara Roesler, with sculptures by lumberjack-turned-woodcarver Chico Tabibuia; and The Gallery of Everything from London, with work by the Abstract Expressionist painter Janet Sobel.

The fair continues outside of the Grand Palais thanks to collaborations with nine public institutions and private foundations. These include the Domaine nationale du Palais-Royal, which hosts sculptures by artists including Thomas Schütte, and the Musée national Eugène-Delacroix, where two installations by Ali Cherri will be on display. The Palais d’Iéna will be what Delépine calls ‘the centre of gravity’ for the public programme, which allows visitors with or without Art Basel Paris tickets to enjoy exhibitions and events across the city.

This year, the fair is partnering with Miu Miu on the public programme. Artist Goshka Macuga has conceived ‘Tales and Tellers’, an exhibition at the Palais d’Iéna convened by Elvira Dyangani Ose, director of the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, which features films by women artists. These will be projected and reenacted by performers ‘à la Tino Sehgal’, says Delépine. ‘I think the fair is becoming more of a sensorium and I’m super excited about this.’

Gallery Highlights

Retables: Fabienne Verdier
11 October–9 November

Waddington Custot, LondonLast year, the French painter Fabienne Verdier took several trips to Florence, where she made a close study of multi-panelled altarpieces. On her return, she began work on Retables: a series of triptychs bearing massive, gestural brushstrokes that evoke Chinese calligraphy – Verdier studied in China for years – yet remain abstract. These are now on show both in London with Waddington Custot and in Paris with Galerie Lelong (until 31 October).

Hallowed Ground: Tanguy, Lam, Penalba and Cárdenas
29 October–31 January 2025
Di Donna Galleries, New York

Though born in various countries – France, Cuba and Argentina – it was in Paris that Yves Tanguy, Wifredo Lam, Alicia Penalba and Agustín Cárdenas all found their feet as artists in the first half of the 20th century. This show, which focuses on the diverse cultural influences that shaped Surrealism, comes to New York after making its debut (rather appropriately) at Art Basel Paris.

Rumeur d’ailes (1974), Alicia Penalba. Courtesy Di Donna, New York. © Estate of Alicia Penalba

Andrew Cranston: Thoughts from under the floorboards
13 October–16 November
Modern Art, Paris

For this exhibition, which Andrew Cranston has described as ‘psychologically darkish’, the Scottish painter has taken his cues from an edition of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories, a childhood favourite of Cranston’s, that is illustrated with work by artists including Manet, Redon, Ensor and Beardsley. The result is 10 dreamlike works, all – as has long been his habit – painted on to the covers of books.

Magdalene Odundo
9 October–14 December
Thomas Dane Gallery, London

Days after the end of an acclaimed solo exhibition at Houghton Hall in Norfolk comes what is, surprisingly, ceramic artist Magdalene Odundo’s first solo exhibition in London in more than 20 years. Thomas Dane Gallery is showing a selection of recent works in which Odundo continues her exploration of the borderline between the pottery vessel and the human form. Each work is hand-built from terracotta clay then burnished and carbonised.

Fairs in focus

Highlights International Art Fair
17–20 October
Munich Residenz

Highlights International Art Fair returns to the Residenz palace in Munich for its 15th edition, with work spanning some 3,000 years of art history. Highlights of this edition include an ebony, marble, pietra paesina and ormolumounted cabinet of c. 1660 on show with Peter Mühlbauer and a puzzle tankard by goldsmith Cornelius Erb at Kunstkammer Georg Laue (1586), both made in the nearby city of Augsburg.

Puzzle tankard (1586), Cornelius Erb. Photo: Kunsthammer Georg Laue, London/Munich

1–54 London
10–13 October
Somerset House, London

For its 12th edition, 1–54 London – the fair for contemporary African art – is showing some 60 exhibitors from across the globe. The line-up this year features 21 newcomers: the highest number in its history. These include ADA Contemporary Art Gallery from Accra, Le LAB from Cairo and Post Gallery from Addis Ababa. This year sees a strong Brazilian contingent with galleries including Karla Osorio, VERVE and Portas Vilaseca Galeria.

From the October 2024 issue of Apollo. Preview and subscribe here.