Art Dealer Daniel Lelong Dies at 92
Daniel Lelong, co-founder of Galerie Lelong in Paris and New York, died on Wednesday, June 4, at the age of 92. The news of his death was confirmed by the gallery.
Remembered for his “positive spirit, sociable demeanor, and enthusiasm for life,” in the words of Mary Sabbatino, Galerie Lelong’s vice president and partner, the late dealer was also known for his commitment to the gallery’s success. Today, Galerie Lelong maintains a roster of international artists including Yoko Ono, Sean Scully, and Nancy Spero, with a notably strong representation of high-profile Latin American artists including Cildo Meireles, Alfredo Jaar, and the estates of Ana Mendieta and Zilia Sánchez.
“His instrumental work in the art world of the later 20th century included exhibitions by and collaborations with many artists now celebrated as key figures, as well as placements in some of the most important collections of the time,” Sabbatino told Hyperallergic.
Born in Nancy, France, in 1933, Lelong was trained as a lawyer but made a career pivot in 1961, when art dealer and collector Aimé Maeght approached him to provide legal assistance in establishing the country’s first-ever private art foundation. Fondation Marguerite et Aimé Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, which opened in 1964, was modeled after American institutions like the Barnes Collection in Philadelphia and the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC.
“There was no model for such status: No contemporary art or modern art foundation existed in France, back then,” Lelong told Flash Art in 2014.
While working on the Maeght foundation, Lelong collaborated with some of the most well-known artists of the 20th century, including Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, and Francis Bacon. These connections, the gallery said, helped Lelong facilitate significant artwork acquisitions by notable collectors of the era, such as Joseph Hirschorn, namesake of the DC museum and sculpture garden. He also made scholarly contributions to the careers of these artists, publishing a monograph of Calder’s work in 1971 and some of Miró’s catalogue raisonnés.
In 1981, after Maeght’s death, Lelong founded Galerie Maeght-Lelong alongside critic Jacques Dupin and gallerist Jean Frémon in Paris. That gallery would later open a location in New York in 1985 and adopt the abbreviated name Galerie Lelong, securing its present-day space in Chelsea in 2001.
“I find comfort in knowing he lived a long and happy life, and pride in knowing the gallery team can carry on his legacy by following his examples of leadership and passion for his work,” Sabbatino told Hyperallergic.
