Françoise Gilot

Rosenberg & Co. is pleased to present Françoise Gilot, the first posthumous exhibition of the artist’s work in New York.The exhibition brings together thirty-six works that span the artist’s diverse oeuvre—ranging from delicate yet impactful drawings in pencil to strong abstract compositions that resonate with intense colors.

Françoise Gilot was a remarkable French artist whose extensive body-of-work bridged the twentieth-century avant-garde with burgeoning contemporary aesthetics. Born into a wealthy family outside of Paris, Gilot engaged with art from an early age. After completing a degree in English literature and briefly attending law school, Gilot began her formal artistic education in 1941, studying with Endre Rozsda and taking classes at the Académie Julian. Two years later during her first gallery exhibition, Gilot met Pablo Picasso, who she maintained a relationship with from 1946 until 1953.

Around 1946, Gilot deserted oil painting in favor of graphite, and occasionally gouache, on paper. These early drawings are well represented in the exhibition ranging from portraits of family, and still lifes to abstract compositions. In 1950, she became the first woman to make lithographs at Fernand Mourlot’s acclaimed Atelier—Gilot continued printmaking with Mourlot for decades. After ending her relationship with Picasso, Gilot returned to painting and focused on rendering scenes of her daily life, friends, and family in muted tones.

In 1969, Gilot was invited by June Wayne, founding director of the renowned Tamarind Lithography Workshop in California, to create lithographs. Within the following decade, Gilot established studios in California and New York, exhibited heavily throughout the United States, and began incorporating a renewed vibrancy into her work. In 1985, Gilot formed a longstanding partnership with Judith Solodkin, the first female master printer at Tamarind Workshop and director of SOLO Impression in New York. After over two decades of figurative work, Gilot began reincorporating abstraction in 1991, utilizing her lifelong fervor for color to invigorate lyrical compositions. Gilot remained a vital presence in the art world until her death at the age of 101 in 2023.

Through a retrospective lens, the exhibition investigates the multitude of aesthetic explorations undertaken throughout Gilot’s expansive career with the aim of celebrating the work of this formidable artist, whose singular oeuvre stands distinguished.

The exhibition is accompanied by an eponymous catalogue featuring an essay by Matthew James Holman, with introductions by Marianne Rosenberg and Serge Bril Panijel, and contributions by Alain Malraux, Eric Mourlot, and Judith Solodkin. Learn more here.

We are grateful to Aurélia Engel, Mel Yoakum, and The Philip and Muriel Berman Museum for their support in the preparation of this exhibition.

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