All Exhibitions here
The Dina Vierny gallery opened its doors on 25 January 1947 at 36 rue Jacob, after a year's work by Auguste Perret. Dina Vierny, who wanted a gallery to showcase the work of Aristide Maillol, dedicated her inaugural exhibition to him.July 19, 2024
Dina Vierny in her gallery, 1947 During his lifetime, Aristide Maillol greatly wanted his last model Dina Vierny to open a gallery. After his death in 1944, Jeanne Bucher and Matisse took over from Maillol and convinced her to open her own gallery. She began looking for premises in Paris, and when she called her tailor at a bougnat at 36 rue Jacob to ask him to rent her his space, the owner of the bougnat informed her that he was giving up his space. She spoke to Matisse, who advised her to sell a drawing by Maillol to pay the expenses, and told her that he would contact Auguste Perret - then busy rebuilding the city of Le Havre - to fit out the gallery. He tried to convince the architect: "I have an old model of mine who is going to open a gallery. I really want her to open it. Do you want to do the work? It's a bastard on the rue Jacob. - Ah, not at all! Come on, Matisse, you're not there! I'm rebuilding Le Havre and Amiens". Despite everything, the artist managed to convince the architect, and work began on the long project that would not be completed until January 1947. The gallery would be located on the ground floor and basement, while the tiny shopkeeper's floor, connected to the gallery by a ladder, would serve as Dina Vierny's flat for several years.
Floor plan of the Dina Vierny gallery, by Auguste Perret
Dina Vierny in her flat at 36 rue Jacob, above the gallery, which is now an office.
Poster for the "Maillol" exhibition, 1947
Booklet for the "Maillol" exhibition, printed on Montval paper, 1947
At the gallery's inauguration, which took place on her birthday, Dina Vierny presented a large collection of sculptures, drawings and paintings by the Catalan master in a unique woven-wood décor designed by Perret, listed in a small booklet printed on Montval paper - the paper invented by Maillol. There are drawings in the first room, paintings in the second room, statuettes and illustrated editions in the showcases in the second room, and life-size and half-life-size sculptures in the cellar.
The exhibition was an immediate success and was attended by the big names of the day, as the visitors' book attests: Matisse, Picasso, Perret, Dufy, Cassou. Dina Vierny says: "We had some fantastic exhibitions. They were an instant success. From one day to the next, the gallery became famous in Paris and the whole of Paris came. I started with Maillol, of course. Drawings, paintings and sculptures. Then I exhibited Rodin's masterpieces from private collections. Then I exhibited Henri Laurens. And many others". The exhibition caused such a stir that newspapers across the Atlantic, including the New York Herald Tribune, even dedicated articles to it.
Dina Vierny in her gallery, 1947
Dina Vierny in her gallery, 1947
Dina Vierny in the gallery's cellar, 1947; Group drawing Maillol's "Pomone", gathered around André Roudil in the gallery's cellar, 1947; Photograph of the gallery's cellar taken from an article in ELLE magazine, 11 March 1947.
Paul Guyot wrote in France-Soir: "In Rue Jacob, at sewer level, Perret played God to illuminate Maillol. And the pope of architects built a cigar box to house the sculptor's painting and pipe. The cellar of a "bougnat". Yesterday, artists and critics drank there, no more reassured than that, because the narrow crypt dug under 36 rue Jacob is more populated with ghosts than a René Clair film. The ghosts are white. They have just been stripped of the sheet that protected them during the journey from the Pyrenees to Paris. They are Maillol's statues, collected there by Madame Dina Vierny, who was the master's model and secretary for nine years. And the young woman guides her guests around her own marble and bronze replicas. Suddenly, the enchanted cellar lights up: invisible mercury vapour tubes banish all memory of the previous tenant. Auguste Perret, the pope of architects himself, engineered the lighting. He played with light and shadow like the good Lord, restoring to the sculptor's work, just below the sewers, a relief that only real sunlight can give.
The surviving photos show works that are now in the collection of the Fondation Dina Vierny - Musée Maillol rue de Grenelle, such as "Dina à la robe rouge", "Le nu jaune" and the drawing "Je connais trois fleurs divines".
Dina Vierny in front of her gallery, 1947
First room of the gallery, "Maillol" exhibition, 1947
Second room of the gallery, "Maillol" exhibition, 1947
Second room of the gallery, "Maillol" exhibition, 1947
At the gallery's inauguration, which took place on her birthday, Dina Vierny presented a large collection of sculptures, drawings and paintings by the Catalan master in a unique woven-wood décor designed by Perret, listed in a small booklet printed on Montval paper - the paper invented by Maillol. There are drawings in the first room, paintings in the second room, statuettes and illustrated editions in the showcases in the second room, and life-size and half-life-size sculptures in the cellar.
The exhibition was an immediate success and was attended by the big names of the day, as the visitors' book attests: Matisse, Picasso, Perret, Dufy, Cassou. Dina Vierny says: "We had some fantastic exhibitions. They were an instant success. From one day to the next, the gallery became famous in Paris and the whole of Paris came. I started with Maillol, of course. Drawings, paintings and sculptures. Then I exhibited Rodin's masterpieces from private collections. Then I exhibited Henri Laurens. And many others". The exhibition caused such a stir that newspapers across the Atlantic, including the New York Herald Tribune, even dedicated articles to it.
Dina Vierny in her gallery, 1947 The Dina Vierny gallery opened its doors on 25 January 1947 at 36 rue Jacob, after a year's work by Auguste Perret. Dina Vierny, who wanted a gallery to showcase the work of Aristide Maillol, dedicated her inaugural exhibition to him.
During his lifetime, Aristide Maillol greatly wanted his last model Dina Vierny to open a gallery. After his death in 1944, Jeanne Bucher and Matisse took over from Maillol and convinced her to open her own gallery. She began looking for premises in Paris, and when she called her tailor at a bougnat at 36 rue Jacob to ask him to rent her his space, the owner of the bougnat informed her that he was giving up his space. She spoke to Matisse, who advised her to sell a drawing by Maillol to pay the expenses, and told her that he would contact Auguste Perret - then busy rebuilding the city of Le Havre - to fit out the gallery. He tried to convince the architect: "I have an old model of mine who is going to open a gallery. I really want her to open it. Do you want to do the work? It's a bastard on the rue Jacob. - Ah, not at all! Come on, Matisse, you're not there! I'm rebuilding Le Havre and Amiens". Despite everything, the artist managed to convince the architect, and work began on the long project that would not be completed until January 1947. The gallery would be located on the ground floor and basement, while the tiny shopkeeper's floor, connected to the gallery by a ladder, would serve as Dina Vierny's flat for several years.
At the gallery's inauguration, which took place on her birthday, Dina Vierny presented a large collection of sculptures, drawings and paintings by the Catalan master in a unique woven-wood décor designed by Perret, listed in a small booklet printed on Montval paper - the paper invented by Maillol. There are drawings in the first room, paintings in the second room, statuettes and illustrated editions in the showcases in the second room, and life-size and half-life-size sculptures in the cellar.
The exhibition was an immediate success and was attended by the big names of the day, as the visitors' book attests: Matisse, Picasso, Perret, Dufy, Cassou. Dina Vierny says: "We had some fantastic exhibitions. They were an instant success. From one day to the next, the gallery became famous in Paris and the whole of Paris came. I started with Maillol, of course. Drawings, paintings and sculptures. Then I exhibited Rodin's masterpieces from private collections. Then I exhibited Henri Laurens. And many others". The exhibition caused such a stir that newspapers across the Atlantic, including the New York Herald Tribune, even dedicated articles to it.
Dina Vierny in her gallery, 1947
Dina Vierny in her gallery, 1947
Dina Vierny in the gallery's cellar, 1947; Group drawing Maillol's "Pomone", gathered around André Roudil in the gallery's cellar, 1947; Photograph of the gallery's cellar taken from an article in ELLE magazine, 11 March 1947.
Paul Guyot wrote in France-Soir: "In Rue Jacob, at sewer level, Perret played God to illuminate Maillol. And the pope of architects built a cigar box to house the sculptor's painting and pipe. The cellar of a "bougnat". Yesterday, artists and critics drank there, no more reassured than that, because the narrow crypt dug under 36 rue Jacob is more populated with ghosts than a René Clair film. The ghosts are white. They have just been stripped of the sheet that protected them during the journey from the Pyrenees to Paris. They are Maillol's statues, collected there by Madame Dina Vierny, who was the master's model and secretary for nine years. And the young woman guides her guests around her own marble and bronze replicas. Suddenly, the enchanted cellar lights up: invisible mercury vapour tubes banish all memory of the previous tenant. Auguste Perret, the pope of architects himself, engineered the lighting. He played with light and shadow like the good Lord, restoring to the sculptor's work, just below the sewers, a relief that only real sunlight can give.
The surviving photos show works that are now in the collection of the Fondation Dina Vierny - Musée Maillol rue de Grenelle, such as "Dina à la robe rouge", "Le nu jaune" and the drawing "Je connais trois fleurs divines".
Dina Vierny in front of her gallery, 1947
First room of the gallery, "Maillol" exhibition, 1947
Second room of the gallery, "Maillol" exhibition, 1947
Second room of the gallery, "Maillol" exhibition, 1947
