Opening as it has so soon after Frieze London’s doors have closed, the main comparison to be made between Art Basel Paris (18-20 October) and its UK counterpart is the setting. This year, the Grand Palais is as much a talking point as the works being presented by the world’s top galleries.
Reopened this year in time for the Olympics, where it became a grand backdrop to the taekwondo and fencing, the mesmerising iron roof of the building originally designed by architects Henri Deglane, Albert Louvet, Albert Thomas and Charles Girault for the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1900 and restored by French studio Chatillon Architectes, draws the gaze.
It’s fitting then, that for this Art Basel, partner Louis Vuitton has taken the opportunity to celebrate its almost 20 years of collaboration with a legend from the world of architecture: Frank Gehry.
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Now 95, the ever-creatively fuelled architect’s giant sculptural fish (main image), made from washi paper, appears to swim, beneath an arch of wooden slats, under the Grand Palais’s nave. Sweeping staircases lead from the rows of gallery-occupied white boxes to this timely display. It is, after all, also the 10th anniversary of another more modern French architectural landmark, the Fondation Louis Vuitton, early sketches of which Gehry was working on as far back as 2000.
Many of those initial sketches are on display, alongside early models of his architectural projects and pieces that Gehry has made for Louis Vuitton – from the ‘Blossom’ perfume stoppers he created back in 2021 (their scrunched form inspired by the method he uses when representing trees within his architectural models) to a collection of limited-edition handbags. The latter are luxurious representations of architecture in carry-anywhere form.
There’s the ‘Capucines Mini Blossom’ handbag, which references the importance of botanical forms in Gehry’s work, and the ‘BB Analog’, one of a number of designs that offer a more direct homage to some of his famous buildings (in this case, the angled façade of the IAC Building in New York).
It may be the perfect time to showcase Gehry’s collaboration with Louis Vuitton, but walk through Art Basel and you will spot works by many other artists who have also collaborated with the fashion house. We’re thinking of Yayoi Kusama (one of her iconic pumpkins sits at the entrance to the Grand Palais) who memorably daubed her trademark colourful dots across Louis Vuitton’s classic Monogram Canvas as part of her collaboration, or Jeff Koons, who controversially forced a new perspective on recognisable works by other great artists from Monet to Rubens by placing them on his bags.
It’s all part of a tradition that goes back nearly a century, to when Gaston-Louis Vuitton, grandson of the maison’s founder, first began approaching titans of the art world to design window displays, advertisements and objects.
Today, these capsule collections offer a unique way to look at artists' and architects’ work. A way to distil the essence of their creativity in a new form. In the case of Gehry, it’s fascinating to witness how the soaring, sail-like forms of buildings like the Fondation Louis Vuitton or Bilbao’s Guggenheim can become intricate origami-like folds of leather. And, by presenting this collection so prominently at Art Basel, Louis Vuitton is stating its renewed commitment to the art world and the many collaborations yet to come. uk.louisvuitton.com; artbasel.com
