Christian Lemesle –
Forgotten Paris.
Year
Spring 2024
Type
Solo Exhibition
Artists
2 artists
Location
Croton Falls, NY
About This Exhibition
Paintings that came from
the most important gallery
on the Left Bank.
Galerie du Dragon opened in Paris in 1946, founded by the poet Max Clarac-Sérou at 19 rue du Dragon — around the corner from the Church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, in the heart of the postwar intellectual and artistic world. For nearly fifty years it represented painters working in the tradition of lyrical abstraction and expressive figuration. The gallery closed in 1995.
“There is a rigor in these paintings that you don’t see much anymore — they were made by someone who had seen everything and chose to say very little, very precisely.”
Tom Christopher · Lift Trucks Art
Christian Lemesle was one of the painters associated with Galerie du Dragon. His work carries the weight of that association: painting made in relationship to a serious tradition, by an artist who understood what it meant to be serious. Some pieces in this final showing at Lift Trucks Art bear the gallery’s original label. Others trace their provenance to David Findlay Gallery on West 57th Street in New York City.
The April 7, 2024 showing was a final opportunity to see Lemesle’s work in this building before the collection moves on. These are paintings with a documented history — a paper trail that runs from a Paris side street in the 1950s to a Route 22 building in Croton Falls seventy years later. That kind of continuity is rare. Lift Trucks presents it without ceremony, which is the right way to present it.
Featured Artists
Christian Lemesle
Artist
Presented by Lift Trucks Art
Artist
Plan Your Visit
3 East Cross Street
Croton Falls, NY 10519
Admission free · By appointment preferred
Visit Us
The work doesn’t
end with the show.
Tom Christopher’s studio is upstairs. The showroom is open by appointment. If the work from this exhibition interested you, there’s more to see — and it’s worth the drive up Route 22.
50 mi
North of Manhattan
~60 min
By car from the city
1922
The building, Route 22
Free
Always free to visit