Pierre Loeb (born 24 September 1897 in Paris; died 4 May 1964) was a French art dealer and gallery owner who focused primarily on Surrealism and 20th-century Modernism. In 1924 he founded the Galerie Pierre in Paris, whose most famous exhibition was the first collective exhibition of Surrealists the following year.

Life

Pierre Loeb worked in his father's rope-making business. He met the dentist Daniel Tzanck, an art collector who introduced him to modern art. Tsanck was friends with the Bulgarian painter

Jules Pascin Julius Mordecai Pincas (March 31, 1885 – June 2, 1930), known as Pascin (, erroneously or ), Jules Pascin, also known as the "Prince of Montparnasse", was a Bulgarian artist of the School of Paris, known for his paintings and drawings. He ...

as well as the French painter

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. In 1924, Loeb opened his Galerie Pierre at 13 rue Bonaparte in Paris and presented Pascin's works in his first exhibition. In the gallery's most famous exhibition, La peinture surréaliste (November 14–26, 1925), the first group exhibition of Surrealist painters, Loeb presented works by Hans Arp, Paul Klee, Man Ray, Max Ernst, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Giorgio de Chirico, as well as André Masson. In 1926, he moved the gallery to number 2, Rue des Beaux-Arts. In the same year Loeb met for the first time in person with Pablo Picasso, with whom he later became good friends and whose works he exhibited in 1929. He was also a great follower of Joan Miró, whose works he exhibited eleven times from 1927 to 1939. In 1930 Loeb showed sculptures by Henri Matisse, in 1934 the gallery hosted the first exhibition of the artist Balthus and in 1936 the first solo exhibition of

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. In 1938 he focused on the landscape paintings of

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( ; ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with ...

Nazi persecution and exile

When the Nazis occupied Paris in 1940, Loeb was persecuted because of his Jewish heritage. His art gallery was

Aryanized Aryanization () was the Nazi term for the seizure of property from Jews and its transfer to non-Jews, and the forced expulsion of Jews from economic life in Nazi Germany, Axis-aligned states, and their occupied territories. It entailed the tra ...

, that is, transferred to a non-Jewish owner, Georges Aubry, in 1941. In 1942 he fled to Cuba, where he lived until the end of the war.

Postwar

After the end of the war, Loeb returned to Paris and recovered his gallery, though not without difficulty. He organized a sensational exhibition of drawings by Antonin Artaud (1947). After that, he focused with great energy on abstract painting, exhibiting works by the artist group CoBrA and the École de Paris, as well as by individual artists such as

Maria Helena Vieira da Silva Maria Helena Vieira da Silva (13 June 1908 – 6 March 1992) was a Portuguese abstract painter. She was considered a leading member of the European abstract expressionism movement known as Art Informel. Her works feature complex interiors and c ...

Zao Wou-Ki Zao Wou-Ki (; 1 February 1920 – 9 April 2013) was a Chinese-French Painting, painter. He was a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Zao Wou-Ki graduated from the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, where he studied under French-tra ...

, Constantin Georges Macris, and Camille Bryen. In 1957 he married Agathe Vaito. In 1964 Pierre Loeb died one of the most famous art dealers and gallery owners of modernism. He rests in the Cimetière Montparnasse (28th Division). The grave is adorned with a granite sculpture entitled La Roue (The Wheel) by Hans Arp from 1965.

Family

Pierre Loeb was the brother of photographer Denise Colomb (1902-2004). His son Albert Loeb (b. 1932) owned a gallery in New York City from 1958 to 1971 and opened a gallery in 1966 until February 2015 existing gallery in Paris. Pierre Loeb's grandchildren are the chanson singer, actress and director Caroline Loeb (* 1955) and the actor Martin Loeb (* 1959).

External links

* Isabelle Monod-Fontaine: ''Loeb, Pierre.'' Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press; http://www.groveart.com/ (Anmeldung erforderlich)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loeb, Pierre 1964 deaths 1897 births French art collectors People who emigrated to escape Nazism French art dealers Jews who emigrated to escape Nazism Jewish art collectors