Galerie Claude Bernard

AMERICAN REALISM 70-80
Group show

ROBERT BIRMELIN, The stadium alight blue city, acrylic on canvas,183 x 198 cm. Courtesy Galerie Claude Bernard

Galerie Claude Bernard presents a group exhibition dedicated to a generation of American realist painters active in the 1970s and 1980s. Bringing together some thirty works—paintings and drawings—by William Bailey, Jack Beal, Robert Birmelin, Bruno Civitico, Mary Ann Currier, Rackstraw Downes, John Gordon, Michael Mazur and others, the exhibition invites visitors to rediscover a constellation of artists who remained on the margins of the dominant narrative of post-war art, even though they are now widely represented in major American public collections.

In contrast to the abstract painting and conceptual, minimalist, queer, graffiti and Pop art movements that defined the New York art scene at the time, these artists chose realistic figurative painting. Their work is now seen in a new light, at a time when figurative art is making a comeback and there is a renewed focus on the real world.

Group show of William Bailey, Jack Beal, Robert Birmelin, Bruno Civitico, Mary Ann Currier, Rackstraw Downes, John Gordon, Michael Mazur, and other artists from the same movement.

From March 26 to May 31, 2026

7-9 Rue des Beaux Arts
Paris, France 01 43 26 97 07 claude-bernard.com/index.php?lang=fr

The gallery

The gallery was founded in 1957 by Claude Bernard, near the School of Fine Arts in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

Internationally recognized for its exhibitions such as Bacon in 1977, Picasso in 1980, Hockney in 1975, 1982 and 1985, or Giacometti in 2012 to name but a few, the vocation of the gallery is the presentation of contemporary artists in both painting and sculpture.

After the death of Claude Bernard in November 2022, the adventure continues with his nephew Michel Soskine.
Founder of the galleries Claude Bernard Ltd. New York and Michel Soskine Inc. Madrid-New York, he is now leading the gallery in Paris.

New program, new artists, this historical gallery opened in 1957, is making a new start.

Gallery artists

Angel Alonso, Geneviève Asse, Abel Barroso, Ronan Barrot, Jean-Pierre Bertrand, Peter Blake, Juan Cardenas, Henri Cartier-Bresson, César, Leonardo Cremonini, Antonio Crespo Foix, Roël d'Haese, Robert Doisneau, Martine Franck, Alberto Giacometti, Alan Glass, Ipoustéguy, Horst Janssen, Denis Laget, Lee Jin Woo, Eugène Leroy, David Levine, André Marfaing, Armando Morales, Zoran Music, Agathe Pitié, Louis Pons, Paul Rebeyrolle, Maryan S. Maryan, Saul Steinberg, Antonio Seguí, Edik Steinberg, Sam Szafran, Gao Xingjian, Daniel Zeller