Albert Ayme and Denise René: Two Lives Devoted to Abstract Art

In early summer 2012, painter Albert Ayme (92) and gallerist Denise René (99) died. Their aesthetic views were close yet divergent—Ayme wrote critically about Vasarely. For both, aesthetics coincided with ethics. Catherine Millet recalls writing about Ayme's recent exhibition for Art Press's April issue. In 1991, she asked René if early collectors of Cézanne and Léger were the same as those who later bought Vasarely and Mortensen; René replied, "No, they belonged to another world," signaling a shift from modern art to a post-war avant-garde seeking wider audiences. Millet argues that contemporary art's broader societal recognition was made possible by Op art's popular success and René's efforts to disseminate works through multiples. Ayme was the first to create a "free canvas" in 1962, crucial for French abstraction, and maintained a dialogue with intellectuals like Francis Ponge, Jean-François Lyotard, Jean-Yves Bosseur, and Jean Petitot. Despite this, Ayme never received a major institutional retrospective; his last was at Musée Réattu in Arles in 2007. In 2001, Centre Pompidou's homage to Denise René was modest compared to a large Pop exhibition that year. Millet laments that obituaries praising René's audacity make her an alibi for a milieu that has shifted to ersatz and business, and that if today's art world had her probity, it would have given Ayme a better place.