Paris, a city that has provided endless inspiration for artists. From those born in the city itself, such as Louise Bourgeois, Camille Henrot and Pierre Huyghe; to those who arrived from elsewhere and called it their home, such as Barbara Chase-Riboud, Takesada Matsutani and Alina Szapocznikow; to those who have passed through and were greatly influenced by the city, such as George Condo, Pablo Picasso and Henry Taylor. Ahead of the opening of our new gallery at 26 bis rue François 1er, we invite you inside the ateliers, homes and offices of some of our artists, friends, colleagues and collaborators in Paris.
This summer, Los Angeles-based artist Henry Taylor traveled to Paris where he set up a temporary studio ahead of his exhibition ‘FROM SUGAR TO SHIT’ inaugurating our new gallery in the city. While in Paris, Taylor drew inspiration from its unparalleled array of historical art collections. Here, the artist offers a glimpse into his process, his time in Paris and how he came to pick the title of his upcoming show.
‘It’s good to see the OGs. I call them the OGs: Bonnard, Manet and Vuillard. It’s that history that gets you pumped.’
Henry Taylor
Introducing French artist Hélène Delprat, whose multifaceted practice has engaged the human condition for more than four decades, exploring life and death in an oeuvre that includes painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, video, theater, interview projects and installations. Ahead of her first exhibition with the gallery in January 2024, we met the artist inside her Paris atelier.
‘[My beauty] is everything that sizzles: all the oppositions, all the ideas that contradict each other, all the dreadful things, everything that’s failed.’
Hélène Delprat
Founded in 2004 by the Argentinian-born architect Luis Laplace and his French partner, Christophe Comoy, the Paris-based architecture studio Laplace has been a longstanding collaborator of Hauser & Wirth. Following projects in Somerset, Menorca and other locations, Laplace has been entrusted with the conversion of our new Parisian gallery. Inside the architect’s Paris atelier, he shares his thoughts on conservation, the creation of gallery spaces and Paris as a city where art is combined with the art de vivre.
Our Paris gallery extends over 800 square meters and four floors of a neo-classical hôtel particulier that formerly housed La Maison Decour, a decorative arts gallery, until the 1940s. The conversion of this site by Paris-based architecture studio Laplace, a longstanding collaborator of the gallery, continues Hauser & Wirth’s longstanding commitment to the adaptive conservation of historic buildings, hereby reinstating the double-height, six-meter-tall ground floor gallery and authentic elements of the space, including the spiral staircase and its original handrail.
