New York-based gallery Demisch Danant will host a small presentation of works from two Paris-based creators who have been working for five decades in their respective genres: legendary designer in steel, Maria Pergay, and renowned textile artist, Sheila Hicks.

The presentation is the latest in an ongoing series of conversations curated by Demisch Danant to explore innovation and influences in French post-war design from the 1960s and 1970s through today.

The public is invited to join for the following:

Wednesday July 20th
3:00-5:00 pm — open viewing hours
5:00-7:00 pm — wine reception, RSVP requested (info@demischdanant.com)

Location
Minnesota Street Project
1275 Minnesota Street | Gallery 104
San Francisco, CA 94107

Private viewing appointments are available Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday (7/18-7/20); please call Lisa Wilson-Wirth at 917.972.2754 to arrange.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
In 1968, Maria Pergay presented her first collection of stainless steel furniture at Galerie Maison et Jardin under the direction of decorator Jean Dive. This seminal exhibition established Pergay as one of the most innovative French furniture designers of her time, a visionary who almost single-handedly transformed stainless steel from a commercial industrial material into a principal component of Modern furniture. Pergay collaborated with foremost manufacturers and embarked upon significant commissions for Pierre Cardin, The World Trade Center in Brussels, the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia, and other significant clients internationally. The work she produced in the 1970s has entered into the canon of design history – Pergay’s Wave Bench (1968) is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, for example – and laid the groundwork for a practice that continues uninterrupted today.

At the Minnesota Street Project, Demisch Danant will showcase several new works produced by Maria Pergay over the last decade, including the designer’s Marquetry Desk (2005); Column Seat (2012); and Ammonite Table (2010). In her 85th year, after a half-century of creation, Pergay continues to surprise both herself and her collectors.

Alongside Pergay’s furniture, Demisch Danant will present several works by Sheila Hicks. After studying fine art at Yale under the tutelage of Josef Albers, Nebraska-born Hicks traveled and lived in Mexico and Chile, then settled in Paris in 1964. She soon established herself as one of the most innovative textile artists of the 20th century, sharing with such creators as Pergay an affinity for surprising materials and deftness at challenging accepted notions about them. She is renowned for her painterly approach to textile design and an ability to craft environments through the unlikely medium of fiber. Hicks’ work is included in such collections as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre George Pompidou, Paris; and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Works to be shown include Sheila Hicks’ Textile Fresco (1969), a room-sized wall hanging recently exhibited at TEFAF Maastricht in March 2016. The large-scale work was commissioned for the
Paris apartment of Mr. Rotcajg, designed by internationally admired decorator
and tastemaker Alberto Pinto. Tapisserie (1980), a blue fiber sculpture by Hicks, was made for the personal collection of French designer Claude de Muzac,

ABOUT DEMISCH DANANT
Demisch Danant was founded in 2005 by Suzanne Demisch and Stephane Danant. The gallery specializes in twentieth century French design with an emphasis on the late 1950s through the 1970s and represents the work of Maria Pergay, Pierre Paulin, Joseph André Motte, Pierre Guariche, Michel Boyer, Philippon & Lecoq and René Jean Caillette. Curated exhibitions on historical work are presented within environments that reference architecture and interiors of the era.

The gallery also features exhibitions concerning the intersection of architecture, design and art, including the work of Sheila Hicks, Felice Varini, Krijn de Koning.

Demisch Danant is dedicated to research and scholarship on French design
and has published and authored monographs including Antoine Philippon
and Jacqueline Lecoq and Maria Pergay: Complete Works 1957-2010. Current projects include a compilation of sketches by Maria Pergay and a comprehensive monograph on seminal designer Joseph André Motte.

Additional information about the gallery and its programs is available online at www.demischdanant.com or by email: info@demischdanant.com.

Demisch Danant will return to San Francisco in January 2017 for the next edition of the FOG Design & Art fair.