Wassily Kandinsky
Exhibited here · 1935
Christian Zervos gave Kandinsky a solo showing of recent watercolours at Cahiers d'Art in June 1935, at a point when few Paris dealers were interested in abstraction.
Galerie Cahiers d'Art, 14 rue du Dragon
Still standing
Outside only
Someone else
Christian Zervos's hybrid of art magazine, publishing house and gallery on the rue du Dragon, where Kandinsky showed watercolours in 1935 — and where the Picasso catalogue raisonné was compiled.
- 14 rue du Dragon, 75006 Paris
- Christian Zervos's magazine, publishing house and gallery
The place, briefly
Christian Zervos ran Cahiers d'Art as three things at once: a review, a publisher and an exhibition space. In a period when the commercial trade was nervous about abstraction, that combination mattered — a painter could be written about, published and hung by the same person in the same building.
Wassily Kandinsky was one of the beneficiaries. Zervos championed him after his arrival from Germany, and in June 1935 gave him a solo showing of recent watercolours here, at a point when very few Paris dealers were interested in what he was doing.
Zervos's other monument is the Picasso catalogue raisonné, thirty-three volumes compiled over decades and still the standard reference, known simply as 'the Zervos'.
The building stands on a narrow street off the boulevard Saint-Germain.
Key facts
- Christian Zervos
- Magazine, publishing house and gallery in one
- Solo exhibition of new watercolours, June 1935
- The Zervos catalogue raisonné of Picasso
- The historic gallery is gone; exterior only
Timeline
Kandinsky shows recent watercolours at Cahiers d'Art in June.
On the map
Questions before you go
What was Cahiers d'Art?
Christian Zervos's art review, which also functioned as a publishing house and a gallery. It supported abstraction when the commercial trade would not.
Who was Christian Zervos?
A Greek-French critic and publisher, best known for the thirty-three-volume Picasso catalogue raisonné and for backing Kandinsky in the 1930s.
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173 boulevard Saint-Germain
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