Cover image: Alison Saar at the Brooklyn Museum in 2017
Image by Brooklyn Museum (4x3 crop)
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Creative Commons License: CC-BY-3.0

There are a little over six weeks left to visit the Centre Pompidou to see Paris Noir (Black Paris), the monumental tribute to African and Afro-descendant artists who influenced Paris' artistic cultural landscape between 1950 and 2000.

Despite the enormity of the exhibition, curator Alicia Knock could not include all the artists she wanted to honor in it. 

"Echoing Paris Noir" is an ingenious "workaround" through which additional works by artists included in Paris Noir and works by artists not included in the exhibition are being displayed across Paris.

Here are a few of the shows that are open for viewing during May 2025.

Sweet Life (May 15 - July 11, 2025)

Beginning today, Galerie Lelong is presenting Sweet Life.  This is the first solo exhibition in Europe by American artist Alison Saar, whose poetic yet critical approach explores the complex history of sugar cane in America and its links to Africa and Europe.

Through a series of sculptures, paintings and prints, the artist unfolds a visual narrative in which the bitter irony of the title underlines the brutality of the historical reality it evokes: European and American prosperity built on the exploitation of deported African populations.

Alison Saar at the Brooklyn Museum in 2017
Image by Brooklyn Museum (cropped)
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Creative Commons License: CC-BY-3.0

One of the works in the show, "mischievously" entitled Citizen Cane, is a large female figure wearing a belt of machetes that revisits the iconography of the triangular trade punctuated with revolts.

See images of Citizen Cane and other artworks in the show by clicking HERE.

Galerie Lelong Paris
38 avenue Matignon
75008 Paris Tel : 01 71 72 26 99
Internet: https://www.galerie-lelong.com/en/exposition/426/alison-saarsweet-life/
Hours: Tuesday – Friday from 11 AM to 7 PM

Frank Bowling. Collage (March 22 - May 24, 2025)

Frank Bowling. Collage is Frank Bowling's first solo exhibition in France.  Hauser & Wirth is featuring works by this classically trained Guyanese artist that date from the early 2000s up until the present day.

The starting point for the show is reflected in four new large-scale paintings on display in the ground floor gallery, which are comprised of multiple canvas panels. These monumental works—including the 4.4 meter-tall Skid (2023)—are a renewal of Bowling’s use of collaged canvas and marouflage, which has long formed an important part of his practice.

At the age of 91, Bowling still paints every day.  

See images of Skid and other artworks in the show by clicking HERE.

Hauser & Wirth
26 bis, rue François 1er
78008 Paris
Tel: 01 57 95 19 60
Internet: https://www.hauserwirth.com/hauser-wirth-exhibitions/frank-bowling-collage-paris/
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 10 AM to 6 PM

The Memory of the Future (April 2 - May 29, 2025)

The work of Agustín Cárdenas is prominently featured in Paris Noir.  Galerie Mitterand is showing his works at both of its Paris locations in conjunction with the Centre Pompidou exhibition.

Couple antillais 1957 at Paris Noir
Agustín Cárdenas
Wood
© Entrée to Black Paris

Born in 1927 in Matanzas, Cuba, Cárdenas is referred to as is one of the three great sculptors of Surrealism, alongside Arp and Giacometti. His work was deeply appreciated by poet and philosopher Edouard Glissant.

Galerie Mitterand has brought together works from the 1950s, 1970s and 1980s to highlight Cárdenas' distinctive role in the history of modern sculpture.  See images of the installations at the galleries HERE.

Galerie Mitterand
79, rue du Temple
75003 Paris

95, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré
75008 Paris

Tel: 01 43 26 12 05
Internet: https://mitterrand.com/en/exhibitions/209-agustin-cardenas-the-memory-of-the-futur/
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 11 AM to 7 PM; Monday by appointment

Paris Noir will be on display through June 30, 2025.

For a full list of exhibitions, conferences, and other events that are complementing the show, click HERE.