Art Basel Paris: the 20 that make the cut

Who has more influence than a museum, a CV as long as your arm and as many decorations as a minister? The woman at the head of one of the largest private foundations. For more than twenty years this workaholic has been essential in the institutional landscape. After having been curator of contemporary art at the Center Pompidou, directed Pompidou-Metz then the Palais de Tokyo, she moved to the other side of the mirror in 2021, after more than fifty exhibitions to her credit. Some stood out: “Dance your life”, in co-curation with Christine Macel, or “Rêvolutions”, with the artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot in Venice. Now, at the Bourse de Commerce, we come across her taking – or rather giving – the pulse of art at international fairs.

Hélène Nguyen-Ban, collector and entrepreneur

After a first life at LVMH, this globe-trotting Parisian opened her gallery in the former walls of Yvon Lambert. As much a lover of Soulages as of Chinese ceramics, she cultivated friendships with the artists Mai-Thu Perret, Ludovic Nkoth and Luc Tuymans. With Mathieu Rosenbaum, from École Polytechnique, in 2020 she founded Docent, an art-tech startup at the intersection of art and AI. Member of the international council of Tate, jury of the AWARE and Fluxus prize, she supports institutions in digital transformation.

JR, artist, 41 years old

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Behind his dark glasses, JR has been cultivating a mix of genres for twenty years and has made public spaces his preferred exhibition space. The facade of the Palais Garnier, spectacularly animated last year, is in line with his installations of photographic collages, from the suburbs of the capital to the Pantheon, the Louvre Pyramid or a Brazilian favela, but also a work as a choreographer started in New York ten years ago. One day in France, the next day in an American high-security prison, this pure autodidact adept at mega trompe-l’oeil and “invasive art” has just unveiled a new short film at the Venice Film Festival, all while cultivating a film project with one of the biggest stars of world cinema: Robert de Niro.

Guillaume Houzé, president of Lafayette Anticipations, 43 years old

He created the Galeries Lafayette foundation, anchored in the Marais in Paris, whose particularity lies in its free access. In this building with modular platforms designed by Rem Koolhaas, the exhibitions are free and the place open to all. The mission is clear: “Support artists and facilitate the meeting of ideas with an ever-widening, young and engaged audience,” he says, always affable. Result: his group is everywhere. Partner of Paris+, fifteen years after creating the emerging galleries sector in 2009 at Fiac; on the lookout for artists thanks to the endowment fund whose collection includes 400 pieces; pioneer of names still little exposed in France, such as the American Martine Sym, scheduled for November at the Foundation. And what about his personal acquisitions? During our interview in July, he told us that he had fallen for a work by the German figurative painter Florian Krewer. We understand it.

Dubuffet reactivated at Lafayette Anticipations

For several months now, the Parisian art world has had its curiosity set to maximum on the projects of Galeries Lafayette. The Moulin / Houzé family, owners of the group, collect with assiduity and discernment, and had spread rumors about the possible opening of an art foundation.

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Antonia Scintilla, director of the Pernod Ricard Foundation, 41 years old

She is the Swiss army knife of our list. Joining Pernod Ricard in 2010 as project manager, she rose through the ranks, joined the group’s communications department and participated in the creation and then management of the philanthropic division: artist residencies and commissioning of works, prestigious partnerships, sponsorship at the Center Pompidou and award ceremony… Before taking over the management of the Foundation. Question: how to differentiate yourself from other private foundations in contemporary art? By not having a collection! Here, we support emerging artists. New since the Italian mediator took office: increase international influence. In 2025, she happily whispers, the foundation will co-produce the exhibition of the Franco-Portuguese artist Wilfrid Almendra at the Kunsthalle in Berlin.

Cécile Verdier, president of Christie’s Paris, 57 years old

Its record is impressive, from the collections of Hubert de Givenchy and the Maison de Verre to Barbier-Mueller and the record auction of 27 million euros for The Melon startedby Chardin. In a French market disrupted by the opening to international competition in 2000, it acts as a link between two worlds: the Hôtel Drouot, a former monopoly where it started, and the large international houses, such as the competitor Sotheby’s, where she worked for several years in London. Who better than an insider, having witnessed the developments and turpitudes of the Parisian market, while cultivating a perfect knowledge of international auctions, to hold the helm of a major house?

Patricia Marshall, art advisor

Absolute confidentiality, while being everywhere, all the time. Here are the watchwords of the art advisor who whispered in the ears of major collectors: Bernard Arnault, Claude Berri, Thierry Gillier and Eugenio Lopez. A collector herself, at the head of the Parisian space No Name, it was in Los Angeles that she discovered – and frequented – Ed Ruscha, Larry Bell and John Baldessari in the 1980s, before launching her own account in 1991. Her passion for minimalist art and the Latin American scene are two of the (many) facets of this French globe-trotter, who has a lot to do with the influence of Paris on the world art scene.

Kamel Mennour, gallery owner, 58 years old

Initially specializing in photography, he turned to contemporary art, exhibiting major artists such as Daniel Buren, Claude Lévêque and Anish Kapoor. A quarter of a century later, Kamel Mennour has four locations in Paris and stands at the biggest fairs. Between influence on the French scene and an internationally oriented strategy, his gallery has found its balance. Its originality? Atypical exhibitions. The installation Empires, by the artist Huang Yong Ping at Monumenta, at the Grand Palais in 2016 – an immense dragon winding over more than 250 meters – left its mark. But this gallery owner also likes to organize confrontations between old and contemporary masters, which arouse the curiosity of the public and collectors. Last year, its philanthropic arm was launched: Mennour Institute funds art history research and education through charity sales, workshops and partnerships.

Clément Delépine, director of Art Basel Paris, 43 years old

With his appearance as a well-dressed young man, since 2021 he has been behind the Parisian metamorphosis of the Swiss fair: cooler, more open and now with an ambitious route outside the walls. This frustrated doctoral student in sociology, anthropology and history of medicine, went to work, then direct the Swiss Institute in New York for nine years, before taking the head of Paris Internationale, the younger generation counterpart of the Fiac. A fine connoisseur of the medium – he has also worked for the Mitterrand gallery and the Bortolami Gallery in New York – he was spotted by Marc Spiegler, director of Art Basel, who contacted him on Instagram. He presides over its first edition under the glass roof of the Grand Palais, reopened after four years of work.