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Etel Adnan

ETEL ADNAN

Découverte de l'immédiat Galerie Lelong 13 January–12 March 2022 13 Rue de Téhéran, Paris
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Press Release

Over the course of 2021, Etel Adnan, who passed away on November 14 at the age of 96, has mainly concentrated on the production of an imposing series of paintings on canvas, mostly in monochrome. The artist, who previously took great pleasure in applying pure colour with a knife, chose a paintbrush and a single colour to capture what she describes as her ‘Discovery of the Immediate’: flowers, fruits, inkwells, flasks and more. In addition to these still life works, which are like pictural snap shots, she has also produced paintings entitled Intrusion of the Memory where souvenirs of mountains and landscapes are juxtaposed with the still life. Immediate data from the conscience and images emerging from memory thus coexist.

Etel Adnan has deliberately avoided simplicity or repetition. She continues to surprise us with these austere but luminous works, their coherence illustrated by their presentation in lines and groups.

The international audience for her work continued to expand in 2021 (exhibitions at the Pera Museum in Istanbul, the Solomon R. Guggenheim in New York, the Centro C3A in Cordoba in Spain, the Centre Pompidou Metz and the production of a large ceramic work for the auditorium of the new Fondation Luma in Arles). 2022 will see exhibitions in Tenerife, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and more.

The exhibition is accompanied by the publication of a bilingual book with a text by Yves Michaud and will be held simultaneously in Galerie Lelong & Co. in Paris and New York.

Etel Adnan was born in 1925 in Beirut. She passed away in Paris on November 14, 2021.

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About the Artist

Etel Adnan was born on February 24, 1925 in Beirut. Lebanese American artist and writer, she presently lives and works in Paris. Since the 1960s, Etel Adnan has been making accordion-fold books, or leporellos, that meld visual and verbal observation, fusing the artist’s parallel practices in painting and writing as she transcribes poems and records unfolding landscapes and urban spaces.

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Also Exhibiting at Galerie Lelong

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KIKI SMITH Flight Galerie Lelong 21 May–11 July 2026 13 Rue de Téhéran, Paris
About the Gallery
Galerie Lelong is located in Paris and New York. It was founded by Jacques Dupin, Daniel Lelong and Jean Frémon.

The Paris gallery has been exhibiting recent works from artists of international standing since 1981. The 1980s were notable for artists who went on to become household names, including Joan Miró, Antoni Tàpies, Francis Bacon, Louise Bourgeois, Eduardo Chillida, Paul Rebeyrolle, Pierre Alechinsky, but also for the next generation of artists: Konrad Klapheck, Jan Dibbets, Donald Judd, Robert Ryman, Richard Serra, Jannis Kounellis, Arnulf Rainer, Nicola De Maria and Jan Voss.

In the 1990s, the gallery hosted artists who represented major movements in contemporary art: Sean Scully, Günther Förg, Andy Goldsworthy, Ernest Pignon-Ernest, Antonio Saura. The gallery also increased international recognition of the work of Ana Mendieta.

Since the turn of the century, Galerie Lelong has accentuated the geographical and expressive diversity of its artists: from sculpture and objects by Jaume Plensa, David Nash, Wolfgang Laib, Kiki Smith, Rebecca Horn, Barry Flanagan to installations by Barthélémy Toguo and Lin Tianmiao, without forgetting painting, namely David Hockney, Robert Motherwell, Kate Shepherd, Nalini Malani, Nancy Spero, Juan Uslé, Leon Kossoff.

Galerie Lelong has a large publishing department which produces and distributes engravings, lithographs, digital prints and multiple objects, and collates these works in catalogues raisonnés.

It produces monumental sculptures to order for public spaces and private clients.

The gallery is present at the leading international contemporary art fairs (Art Basel, Art Basel Miami Beach, Art Basel Hong Kong, Fiac Paris, Frieze London, Frieze New York, Arco Madrid, Art Brussels, Expo Chicago...).

The directors of the gallery are Jean Frémon, Daniel Lelong and Patrice Cotensin in Paris and Mary Sabbatino in New York.
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Address
13 rue de Téhéran
Paris
France
Opening Hours
Tues - Fri, 10.30am - 6pm
Sat, 2pm - 6.30pm
(1)
Paris 13 rue de Téhéran
Galerie Lelong contemporary art gallery in 13 Rue de Teheran Paris France
Galerie Lelong
13 rue de Téhéran, Paris, France
+33 145 631 319
http://www.galerie-lelong.com

Opening hours
Tues - Fri, 10.30am - 6pm
Sat, 2pm - 6.30pm
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