Photos Denis Jouglet / NOW Geneva
A family, a great name, how do you make your place among scholars and aesthetes such as some members of your family?
Contrary to the generation of François (my grandfather’s brother), and to a certain extent to that of Frédéric (my father’s brother), my generation was more affectionate than forced to transmit the intellectual rigor that animates this family from the provincial bourgeoisie. The rather extraordinary mix of political, audiovisual, artistic, military, economic destinies … among the men of my family has certainly nourished in my cousins and myself a global interest in the world.
Thanks to this exceptional filiation, do you consider yourself lucky? Did it make it easier for you to get opportunities or did you have to work harder to achieve your goals?
Our family name has never come with any social or economic privilege except for a few visits to the Élysée Palace. Each destiny was built alone without expecting anything more from the family than a strong enough bond. If there is a heritage, it is that of independent effort, family ties and protean culture. I believe I am the more or less successful product of this. The fact that my name was immediately recognized by almost everyone throughout my life has been both a source of pride (necessarily a bit adolescent since it is perfectly undeserved), a source of resilience (not everyone is an unconditional fan far from it) and a source of pressure (projecting a certain idea of what the name represents).
You were immersed in a world of culture from a very early age, when did you first remember art?
I was essentially with my mother until her death when I was 14 years old, we lived in Paris, but also a lot in the provinces; Berry, Loire and Cher, Alpes Maritimes …. so quite apart from the family. But my father was always present and particularly attentive to our relationship with culture, he took my sisters and me to see exhibitions, visit archaeological sites, made sure we read …
My first art-related memory is Artcurial, which at the time belonged to L’Oréal and was co-directed by my father (he was in charge of publishing). The building, which today is Christie’s, was huge and housed the largest art bookstore in Europe, galleries, meeting rooms, …. I loved to get lost in this maze of books, sculptures, artists’ carpets and paintings.
Art is in your genes with a father who was a renowned gallery owner, was it an obvious choice to become a gallery owner yourself and then more recently a consultant or did you have other professional ambitions?
No, I didn’t feel anything predestined, I first went to business school (and a bit of the Louvre school) before starting a completely confidential career in sales and marketing. Of course, I used to go to openings in the 13th arrondissement, which at the time was home to most of the best young galleries. When my father asked me if I wanted to open a gallery at La Joya near San Diego to follow Niki de Saint-Phalle who had moved there for health reasons after her hard work at the Tarot Garden, I immediately said yes, leaving my job and my apartment. But I soon realized that this small seaside town, mainly occupied by elderly people, did not fit my idea of the West American coast and I returned to Paris a little clueless. It was the time of the Fiac and I worked on his stand before spending three years with him, dealing mainly with large public exhibitions of monumental sculptures.
Do you think you have passed on this passion for art to your children?
Unfortunately for them they were indeed entitled to the same treatment of cultural favors from me as my father did to me. Like me, by dint of swallowing miles of churches, ancient sites, exhibitions … they have finally developed a certain endurance, I hope that they will have some benevolence towards “classical” culture.
You are involved in many international projects, but when was the last time you remember Switzerland?
Switzerland is a great country in the field of contemporary art, its artists and institutions are numerous in the heart of the art world. This is undoubtedly linked to its central position in Europe, as is the case with the Basel fair, which is the most important of the international fairs. My last memory, like my first one by the way, is at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Geneva (Mamco), which for some years now has been run by Lionel Bovier, in my opinion brilliantly. He knows how to combine a more museal programming than before while preserving the intention and the feeling of a somewhat minimal modernity that emanates from this industrial building. The retrospective exhibition dedicated to Mai-Thu Perret is, moreover, a good reflection of the identity of the Mamco that has been so essential to the cultural landscape of French-speaking Switzerland since its opening in 1994.
When did you decide to move to Geneva and what were your motivations?
My father was already a figure in the art world in Paris in the mid-90s and I soon felt the need to make my own way despite his benevolence and the independence that the company I had created in England gave me. Thanks to my ex-wife Désirée, I met Stéphanie Cramer in Paris, who was to become my partner in the Geneva gallery in 2000 and then in our current consulting business since 2016. I had no vision of the future, no other ambition than to open this gallery and make my mark on the local landscape, without any real strategy. I rushed headlong, we found the large premises at 52 rue des Bains, decided on the work and mounted our inaugural exhibition with about fifteen major paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat, which had been lent to us by the great Parisian art dealer Enrico Navarra. If my qualities as a gallery owner were limited, I am proud to have participated in the birth of the Association du Quartier des Bains, whose common vernissages are still going on today after 15 years and to have exposed the Geneva public to artists as essential or promising as Sherrie Levine, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Diego Giacometti, Raymond Pettibone, Richard Jackson, Merlin Carpenter, Claude Closky, Jonah Freeman, … and the marvelous Katia Bassanini who unfortunately left far too quickly.
It is said that art is the expression of the times in which we live, which sometimes destabilizes us. Do you have an affirmed taste or on the contrary as a true defender of art you do not judge and consider that every work of art has the right to exist, even if sometimes some of them leave us speechless!
It is necessary to master at least the language of previous eras in order to benefit from a more or less legitimate basis for judging the immediate era, especially in our rather conservative era, poor in socio-economic revolutions, those that nourish art and its great movements.
Few people see right away, without really doubting, the new, important, great thing, …..
But when you have a bit of culture in a field it’s a good reflex not to have a definite opinion about something new, especially when it hits you without you really understanding why.
Each work of art has of course the right to exist for its creator, for the eyes of others it’s another story. I don’t go to bad art fairs or bad galleries just to avoid damaging my eyes with super bad works by artists that I respect for their courage to face such a difficult choice of existence.
The park of Muy, a dream for two with your father? A logical consequence of moving from a gallery to a park in order to exhibit more important works such as monumental sculptures?
Le Muy was my father’s intention indeed, he wanted a large space, on the model of Pantin for Ropac and Le Bourget for Gagosian, but in the middle of nature. I served this intention by getting involved in its design as “artistic director”. The Domaine du Muy is a private showcase at the service of a new company that we are developing and that specializes in monumental and/or outdoor art, in collaboration with galleries around the world and at the service of cities, companies and private individuals.
An exhibition planned for next season? New artists?
Le Muy functions as a park in constant evolution, not as a gallery with a new exhibition every year, outside of the hangings inside the house. Each year I will develop new collaborations with artists and galleries to produce works that will be destined to stay in place. Other works, more expensive to buy or produce, will be put on deposit by galleries or collectors who will prefer to see their works exhibited rather than sleeping in warehouses, when they serve the intention of the park of course.
You have many activities related to art such as consulting to invest in art. Which artist or artists would you advise to invest in with your eyes closed?
You are asking me for a free consultation for a service that feeds me!
I would say all the artists who are still represented by galleries present at Art Basel or Liste and who have an institutional biography, this way you already avoid about 50% of the risks of making a financial or intellectual mistake.
What advice would you give to a novice who is beginning to take an interest in art and would like to invest in a work?
Use a (good) advisor.
The work you would dream of acquiring?
There are dozens of them; a “Fine de Dio” by Fontana, a composition by Malevitch, a “word” painting by Christopher Wool, a “social portrait” by Warhol, a “pharmacy” from the 90’s by Hirst.

“Fine de Dio” by Fontana – “social portrait” Marilyn Monroe by Warhol – “Suprematist Composition: Airplane Flying” by Malevitch
We have seen museums post their works on the net to be consulted by a larger number of people, what is your opinion about digitization in the art world? Is it beneficial or on the contrary, are we going to see the gallery owner’s job disappear?
It’s a good way of diffusion, especially for photo and video, but I notice every day that you can’t buy a work without seeing it, especially for painting, sculpture, installations …. You don’t see the subtleties that make exactly 90% of the difference.
Do you think that in the near future Amazon or any other GAFA and their big data could decide to take over the art market and sell art online? In which case what would be the future of art dealers and art?
Same as the answer from above, on the other hand the big datas will certainly weigh in the distribution and referencing.
Do you have news or a partnership coming soon?
With my partner Stéphanie Cramer we are finishing the production of our communication tools about the multiservice platform that we are launching to our natural clients which are family offices and interior designers, and which brings together a selection of partners specialized in the field of art; insurers, restorers, tax specialists, transporters, ……
What can we wish you?
To make a success of the bets we are currently taking; the development in Europe of our consulting business, the perpetuation of Le Muy, the launch of our consulting and services company in the field of monumental sculpture.
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