20 Power Women Ruling the French Art Scene

From the Louvre to the Pompidou, from David to Louise Bourgeois, you can’t talk about art history without mentioning France. While Paris might not be one giant artists’ colony like at the turn of the twentieth century, contemporary French artists are holding their own—and then some—on the global art scene. With Art Paris and PAD coming up in April, let’s take a look at the ladies running the Seine… I mean, scène… in France.

Not to be confused with Louise, this Bourgeois is a former gallerist, independent curator and art advisor. She’s also the curator behind the Collection Pinault, the private collection of the billionaire business magnate François Pinault in Venice.
IG: @bourgeois0490

Former gallerist and director of Maison Rouge – Fondation Antoine de Galbert, Madame Aisemberg is an art historian who studied at the prestigious École de Louvre and Université Paris 1 – Sorbonne. She’s recently been tapped to be the new director of artistic projects of the future Fondation Emergie in Paris.
IG: @paulaaisemberg

Marie-Ange (left) with Agathe Moulonguet.
The first director of Espace Vuitton in Paris, Moulonguet is an art collector and consultant of the eponymous MAM Arts Conseils in Paris. This year, she sits on the selection committee of Art Paris, as well as of ‘ADIAF, l’Association pour la diffusion international de l’art francais (the Association for international diffusion of French art).
IG: @marie8375

With a master from Paris 1-Sorbonne in arts and a doctorate in history under her belt, Azimi has been a fixture on the Paris art scene for two decades, working as an art journalist for Le Monde and M le magazine du monde. She’s also an editorial advisor for L’Hebdo du quotidien de l’Art. And in her free time, she wrote the contemporary art guide Hazan. Casual.
IG: @roxana.azimi

Ms. Macel is kind of a big deal. The chief curator of contemporary art at the Centre Pompidou, she became the fourth woman ever to be artistic director of the international pavilion of the Venice Biennial in 2017. She’s not on IG, but you can read all about the “Woman Woman of the French contemporary art world” here.

Ms. Benhamou-Huet, on the other hand, is very much on IG—she’s verified, guys. One of the loudest voices on the French art scene, she runs the popular art blog Judith Benhamou-Huet Reports, where you could lose yourself for hours. She moonlights as an independent curator and also has columns in Les Echos and Le Point.
IG: @judithbenhamouhuet

Art historian, curator, author, teacher, museum director, Ms. Debray-Amar has an impressive career under her belt. Before becoming the director of the Orangerie Museum in Paris and the chief curator of the modern art collections at the Centre Pompidou, she had a long career in museums and even teaches at the École de Louvre.
IG: @cecile.debrayamar

Clara Rivollet has recently joined Phillips as International Specialist of 20th Century & Contemporary Art, based in Paris.
Clara is a key business-getter for 20th Century & Contemporary Art across France, Belgium and Switzerland. Primarily supporting 20th Century & Contemporary Art sales in Asia, she also leads all client engagement activities in our Paris space. This includes auction highlight tours, private selling exhibitions, pop up shows and talks, and selected third party events.
Before joining Phillips, Clara spent over seven years as a Specialist in Christie’s Paris, where she was a key business getter in Europe for their Asian Contemporary Art sale in Hong Kong.
IG: @claripage

Founder and director of Galerie Chantal Crousel, Ms. Crousel is a name you should know.

Former working as senior specialist of Asian 20^th century and contemporary art at Christie’s Paris, Chabrillat today is the senior director of Almine Rech Gallery in Paris. And she has a great IG feed to boot.
IG: @aureliachabrillat

With Charles Aznavour (center) and Martine Dassaault.
Ms. Botton kicked off her career at Sotheby’s, where she created the contemporary art department in 1995, before hopping over to Christie’s Paris, where she is currently the VP of the contemporary art department.
IG: @florencedebotton

Recently named the director of MAD, Musée des arts decoratifs, in Paris, Corréard is also a culture and communication counselor to the Prime Minister of France—no biggie. But that’s not even the full extent of all the impressive titles she’s held; before, she was an administrator at the Centre Pompidou, general secretary of the museum of modern art of Paris, and even director of Cinéfondation of the Cannes Film Festival.

Last name look a little familiar? You’re not wrong; Emily Marant is, in fact, the niece of the famed French fashion designer Isabel Marant. But she’s much more than just a famous fashion baby; Ms. Marant runs the Paris-based atelier Studio Marant, an “ecosystem” for fashion, art and design. Guess good taste is just in her jeans… um, genes.

Curator and art historian, Ms. Jousset is the president of this year’s PAD art fair, Paris Art and Design. She’s also head of the design department of the Centre Pompidou.

Seasoned art market specialist Cécile Bernard is the general director of Sotheby’s France. Before Sotheby’s, she sharpened her claws at Christie’s, where she directed the ancient and nineteenth century painting departments. After a stint at Drouot, she took the helm of Sotheby’s France in 2016.

Quaroni is the current director of collections at the Cartier Foundation. She’s also an art historian and has taught at Sorbonne Dubai, Paris 4 Sorbonne and NABA.

Art historian and curator Suzanne Pagé is the director of Espace Vuitton in Paris.

Art critic, curator and creator of the first virtual museum in 1996. Guggémos has been contributing to Huffington Post since 2012, and she’s the author of L’histoire de l’art pour les nullissimes, or Art History for Dummies. She is an Internet, social media and digital art expert.

Historian, critic, curator and feminist, Flora Katz holds a PhD in philosophy from Paris 1-Sorbonne. She was named one of the top 10 independent curators by Le Journal des Arts.

Besides running the show at her eponymous contemporary art gallery, Nathalie Obadia is also the Vice President of the CPGA, Comité Professionnel des Galeries d’Art.