Iris Clert

Iris Clert
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Name	Iris Clert
Birth date	1917-02-23
Birth place	Athens, Kingdom of Greece
Death date	2006-03-14
Death place	Paris, France
Occupation	Gallerist, curator, collector
Known for	Iris Clert Gallery, promotion of Nouveau Réalisme, conceptual art exhibitions

Iris Clert Iris Clert was a Greek-born Parisian gallerist, curator, and collector who became a central figure in postwar European art, known for her influential Iris Clert Gallery in Paris and for fostering international exchanges among artists, critics, and institutions. She played a pivotal role in promoting avant-garde movements and facilitating groundbreaking exhibitions that connected figures across Paris, New York City, Athens, and London. Clert’s salon-like gallery became a meeting point for practitioners associated with Nouveau Réalisme, Fluxus, Conceptual art, and emerging interdisciplinary practices.

Early life and education

Born in Athens during the Kingdom of Greece era, she spent formative years in a milieu shaped by Mediterranean culture and European intellectual currents. Her family background connected her to networks in Constantinople, Marseille, and Geneva, exposing her to theatrical and diplomatic circles associated with figures such as Jean Cocteau and institutions like the Comédie-Française. Relocating to Paris in the 1940s, she engaged with salons frequented by attendees from Montparnasse and Saint-Germain-des-Prés, encountering practitioners who had links to Surrealism, the École de Paris, and émigré communities that included names like Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and Marc Chagall.

Clert’s informal education unfolded through interactions with curators and dealers connected to the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Centre Pompidou's antecedent networks, and private collections associated with patrons such as Peggy Guggenheim and Nicolas de Staël. These relationships provided entrée to emerging postwar discourses also pursued at venues like the Museum of Modern Art and the Tate Gallery.

Iris Clert Gallery and curatorial career

In 1955 Clert founded the eponymous gallery on Rue des Beaux-Arts in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, establishing a site that rapidly acquired renown alongside galleries like Galerie Maeght, Galerie Denise René, and Galleria Toninelli. The Iris Clert Gallery functioned both as exhibition space and cultural salon, attracting critics from publications such as Artforum, Art International, and Les Lettres Françaises. Clert curated shows that positioned her gallery at intersections connecting artists represented by institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, and the Stedelijk Museum.

Her curatorial method foregrounded performative, participatory, and image-based strategies linked to practitioners who exhibited at places like the Kunsthalle Bern, the Documenta exhibitions, and the Venice Biennale. Clert collaborated with curators and thinkers such as Pierre Restany, building dialogues with arbiters of taste from Galerie Maeght and directors from the National Museum of Modern Art networks. The gallery’s programming resonated with collectors and patrons, interfacing with private foundations like the Guggenheim Foundation and municipal museums across France, Belgium, and Italy.

Relationships with artists and movements

Clert maintained close working relationships with key artists affiliated with Nouveau Réalisme—notably Yves Klein, Arman, Jean Tinguely, and Daniel Spoerri—while also engaging with conceptually oriented figures such as Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Kosuth, and On Kawara. Her gallery supported early exhibitions by practitioners connected to Fluxus—including artists who collaborated with George Maciunas and performed alongside participants of the John Cage circle. Clert’s network spanned transatlantic contacts with Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, and Roy Lichtenstein, aligning her program with parallel developments in Pop art and Minimalism.

She cultivated relationships across generations, welcoming established modernists like Henri Matisse's disciples and promoting younger voices associated with the Oulipo-adjacent literary avant-garde and experimental composers from the European avant-garde music scene. Critics such as Clement Greenberg, Harold Rosenberg, and European commentators like Pierre Restany and André Breton intersected with her activities, amplifying the gallery’s impact through reviews, essays, and catalog contributions.

Notable exhibitions and events

Among landmark events, Clert famously staged the 1960 solo exhibition by Yves Klein that featured conceptual gestures and the iconic monochrome blue that later stimulated international discourse at institutions like the Museum of Modern Art and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. The gallery hosted performances and happenings by Fluxus-affiliated artists alongside mechanically driven sculptures by Jean Tinguely and assemblages by Arman. Clert’s programming included participatory works that prefigured institutional shows at the Documenta and the Venice Biennale.

Her space presented controversial installations that drew coverage from media outlets such as Le Monde, The New York Times, and Der Spiegel, and attracted visits from diplomats, collectors, and museum directors from the Louvre, the Guggenheim Museum, and regional institutions like the Musée d'Orsay's predecessors. Residencies and collaborative projects connected her gallery with practitioners who later featured in retrospectives at the Tate Modern and the Centre Pompidou.

Later life, legacy, and influence

After decades of activity, Clert’s gallery influenced museum acquisition strategies at entities including the Musée national d'art moderne, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Her role in shaping dialogues around Nouveau Réalisme and early Conceptual art secured her presence in historiographies produced by scholars working with archives from institutions like the Getty Research Institute, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and university departments at Columbia University and the Sorbonne.

Clert’s legacy persists through exhibitions, catalogues, and institutional collections at museums such as the Centre Pompidou and the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and through the careers of artists and curators she supported who later worked at the Tate Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and the Neue Nationalgalerie. Her gallery model—combining social salon, rigorous curation, and risk-taking acquisition—continues to inform contemporary gallerists, curators, and cultural institutions across Europe and North America.

Category:French art dealers Category:Greek emigrants to France