SAINT LAURENT BABYLONE presents an exhibition of works by French artist Jacques Villeglé, curated by Anthony Vaccarello, on view from September 29 to November 29. The exhibition coincides with the centenary of the artist’s birth and with a major presentation of his work at the Musée Carnavalet in Paris.
Born in Quimper in 1926, Jacques Villeglé was a French painter and visual artist recognized as one of the leading figures of post-war French art. A founding member of the Nouveaux Réalistes movement, he developed a practice centered on torn posters collected from the streets, transforming fragments of urban life into works of art. From 1949 onwards, he removed posters weathered by time or torn by anonymous passers-by, titling each appropriation after the location from which it was taken.
For Villeglé, the act of selecting and removing posters from their original environment was comparable to a photographer framing an image. Following a three-step process of walking and collecting, removing, and mounting, he considered himself a collector of fragments of contemporary civilization, preserving traces of political events, advertisements, and everyday life. Often described as a “revolutionary of the gaze”, he challenged traditional notions of authorship and artistic creation, revealing the beauty hidden within layers of paper.
Villeglé’s work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions since the 1950s and is represented in major public collections. The exhibition is presented with the support of Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois.
All exhibited artworks at SAINT LAURENT BABYLONE in Paris will be available for sale.
SHEP - LYON, 26 AVRIL 2002, 2002
© Aurélien Mole ; Courtesy Fonds de Dotation Villeglé / Galerie GP & N Vallois
© ADAGP, PARIS, 2026
EXHIBITION DATES :
SAINT LAURENT BABYLONE
29.09.26 - 29.11.26
9 RUE DE GRENELLE, PARIS