Alice Pauli

Alice Pauli
Erling Mandelmann · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Name	Alice Pauli
Birth date	24 August 1922
Birth place	Montsevelier, Canton of Jura, Switzerland
Death date	12 February 2022
Occupation	Gallerist, curator, art dealer, collector
Known for	Founding Galerie Alice Pauli

Alice Pauli Alice Pauli was a Swiss gallerist, curator, and collector who founded Galerie Alice Pauli in 1962 in Lausanne. Over six decades she promoted modern and contemporary art by exhibiting painters, sculptors, and conceptual artists from Switzerland and abroad, establishing links between Swiss cultural institutions and international art scenes. Her gallery became a meeting point for artists, critics, curators, and collectors associated with major exhibitions and institutions across Europe and the Americas.

Early life and education

Pauli was born in Montsevelier, in the Canton of Jura of Switzerland, and grew up amid the cultural milieu of the Swiss plateau. She pursued studies and early experiences that connected her to artistic circles in Lausanne, where she later settled. During her formative years she encountered figures and institutions that shaped postwar European art networks, including exchanges with galleries in Paris, Geneva, and Milan. Encounters with artists linked to movements represented in major museums such as the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and the Tate Modern informed her sensibility toward sculpture, painting, and emerging conceptual practices.

Career as a gallerist and curator

In 1962 she established Galerie Alice Pauli in Lausanne, which quickly became part of a constellation of influential European venues alongside galleries like Galleria dell'Ariete, Galerie Maeght, Galleria Sperone, and Galleria Schwarz. The gallery organized solo and group exhibitions, participating in exchanges with international curators from institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Centre Pompidou, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, and the National Gallery of Art. Pauli curated shows that introduced Swiss audiences to artists represented by major dealers such as Leo Castelli, Pace Gallery, and Gagosian Gallery, while also promoting Swiss creators within networks connected to the Documenta exhibitions and the Venice Biennale.

Her program included works by established modernists and emergent contemporary practitioners whose careers intersected with major museums and biennales: figures associated with Abstract Expressionism, Arte Povera, Minimalism, and Conceptual Art. Pauli developed relationships with collectors and curators from institutions like the Fondation Beyeler, the Kunsthaus Zürich, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, facilitating loans and acquisitions. The gallery also participated in art fairs and collaborated with critics and historians from universities and museums, contributing to catalogues and essays accompanying exhibitions.

Artistic collaborations and influence

Pauli fostered collaborations with artists and institutions that linked Lausanne to artistic centers in Paris, New York City, Rome, Berlin, and London. She exhibited work by artists connected with studios, ateliers, and collectives that had ties to the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, the New School for Social Research, and the Royal College of Art. Her gallery presented sculptors whose works entered public collections and were installed in venues like the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the Nationalgalerie, and municipal sculpture parks. Through curatorial projects and advisory roles she influenced acquisitions at the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts and collaborated with curators from the Swiss Institute Contemporary Art New York and the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.

Pauli’s taste and choices affected critical reception in journals and reviews circulated by periodicals connected to the Centre national du livre, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and art criticism appearing in publications affiliated with the British Council. Exchanges with art historians from universities such as University of Lausanne, Sorbonne University, and Columbia University reinforced her gallery’s position within academic and museum circuits. Artists who worked with the gallery achieved visibility through retrospectives at institutions like the Kunstmuseum Basel and the Musée d’Orsay.

Personal life and legacy

Outside the gallery, Pauli was known in Swiss cultural society and maintained friendships with patrons, artists, and institutional directors. Her personal collection and the estate she curated over decades reflected dialogues with donors and foundations such as the Fondation de l’Hermitage and the Swiss National Museum. Upon retirement and in subsequent years she remained an emblematic figure referenced in exhibitions and archival projects at the Bibliothèque nationale suisse and regional cultural initiatives in the Canton of Vaud.

Her legacy endures through the continued influence of Galerie Alice Pauli on Lausanne’s cultural landscape, the placement of works into public collections, and the careers she helped shape, connecting local scenes with transnational networks that include major museums, biennales, galleries, and academic institutions.

Awards and recognitions

Throughout her career Pauli received acknowledgments from cultural institutions and civic bodies, including honors linked to cantonal cultural offices in the Canton of Vaud and recognition from arts councils connected to the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia. Her work was noted in exhibition catalogues issued by institutions such as the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts and in retrospectives organized with collaborators from the Fondation Beyeler and the Kunsthaus Zürich.

Category:Swiss art dealers Category:Swiss curators Category:1922 births Category:2022 deaths