PARIS—Paris art dealer Baudoin Lebon is currently planning two new collaborations that will expand his scope of activity, with projects in Brussels, Belgium, and Geneva, Switzerland. In Brussels on March 21, in partnership with Valérie Bach, Lebon expects to open a new gallery, Le Café Français (at 43 rue Ernest Allard), exhibiting both paintings and international photography. The first show will be twofold—featuring a selection of images by photographer Joel-Peter Witkin and paintings by Joël Kermarrec—with each display occupying a level of the two-floor space.
In Geneva, Lebon is launching, on March 2, what he refers to as a private salon. Situated in an area within an existing gallery, the salon will specialize in historic and modern photography. This project, in the Galerie Edward Mitterrand (at 52 rue des bains), will create a “dynamic contrast,” says Lebon, inside the existing contemporary gallery, which shows drawings, paintings, sculptures, videos and installations by such artists as Claude Closky and Martin Kersels. Lebon says that five to ten photographs by Gustave Le Gray will form the centerpiece of his first show in this ‘salon privé.’ The second show, slated for May 2006, will feature works by Berenice Abbott.
Lebon’s first gallery, launched in Paris in 1976 (at 38 Rue Sainte Croix de la Bretonnerie) in the historic Marais district, is just a few steps away from the Georges Pompidou Centre. Traditionally he has been known for his work as a photography dealer, whose stable includes contemporary artists such as Witkin and William Klein. He also shows the work of historic artists the likes of Walker Evans, Lewis Hine, Lisette Model and Edward Steichen, as well as young photographers including Christian Courrèges and Henri Foucault. However, Lebon told ARTnewsletter, he has been “nurturing ideas to continue diversifying.”
Lebon has periodically displayed installations and sculptures—among them Keiji Uematsu’s stone and metal sculptures and paintings and drawings depicting isolated figures by South American artist Ana Patricia Palacios. In late 2004 Lebon, with a partner, opened up a second gallery space close to home—baudoin lebon (at 13 rue Sévigne), near the Places des Vosges. The space exhibits paintings by contemporary artists as well as work by young photographers.