© James Harris for Design Miami Paris
While fashion weeks in Paris are a phenomenon without compare, the city also blitzes art for several days through October. What was once Fiac, the leading French contemporary art fair, has been replaced since 2022 by Paris+ par Art Basel. Now, with everyone seizing on the cachet of the world’s hottest art gathering, the events and programming throughout the week are delivering even more stimulation, inspiration, and awe.
Consider this small sampling: a monumental Mark Rothko retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton; Hauser & Wirth’s arrival to Paris with a solo show on Henry Taylor (coinciding with the Whitney Museum exhibition); Paris Internationale, a younger fair that overflows with experimental and eclectic art; the display of sculptures throughout the Tuileries gardens in association with the Musée du Louvre (discover works from Zanele Muholi, Gaetano Pesce and General Idea); a staggering presentation of more than 1,000 drawings by Picasso at the Centre Pompidou; plus a number of niche engagements, such as the Reiffers Art Initiative that has Lorna Simpson mentoring Gaëlle Choisne, and Ago Projects’ ¡Hola Paris! hosted by India Mahdavi.
Then there’s Design Miami, the fair affiliated with Art Basel whose galleries specialize in rare design pieces that are museum-quality and achingly covetable. A Paris edition had been a long-held dream for both its co-founder and chairman, Craig Robins, and current CEO, Jen Roberts.
On Tuesday, Design Miami made an auspicious debut, not only owing to its ne-plus-ultra roster—many of the galleries showing in their hometown—but also to its extraordinary venue: the Hôtel de Maisons, an 18th-century mansion near the Musée d’Orsay that Karl Lagerfeld called home for roughly two decades (last month, it drew attention as the location for the Marni show).
“It’s an obvious city in so many ways with all its experts in 20th and contemporary design,” Roberts said from the garden where the grass became an outdoor gallery. In one direction, Jean Prouvé’s Maison Démontable 6x6 reconstructed by Galerie Patrick Seguin; in another, the angular metal Chaises La Villette by Philippe Starck from Ketabi Bourdet. Over by the parterre, the Tsubo rotund vases by Kazunori Hamana care of Pierre Marie Giraud.
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