Cover image: Black woman contemplating a painting
© Entrée to Black Paris

As mentioned in last week's article about Paris Noir: Circulations artistiques et luttes anticoloniales 1950-2000, several of the artists whose works hang in this show are women.

Looking at the list of exhibition artists, I count 22 of them.

Because the exhibition is so large, and because these artists' works are not grouped in a single area based on gender, visitors will be need to be diligent when looking for them.

The one exception to this statement is Valérie John's installation, entitled SECRET(S)... RÊVES DE PAYS... FABRIQUE À MÉMOIRE(S)...PALIMPSESTE..., 1998-2025. 

This work is literally built into the architecture of the show, and everyone who visits the entire exhibition cannot help but see it.

Various views of SECRET(S)... RÊVES DE PAYS...
FABRIQUE À MÉMOIRE(S)...
PALIMPSESTE..., 1998-2025
Valérie John
Multimedia installation
© Entrée to Black Paris

Today I am presenting a non-exhaustive list of the women who are represented in the show, along with images of their displayed work.

Luce Turnier is the first woman whose work visitors will encounter.  There is a brief video interview of her in Room 6 and a display of several of her collages in Room 7.  Both of these spaces are devoted to abstraction. 

Luce Turnier video interview
© Entrée to Black Paris

In Room 14 of the show, Turnier's Portrait of Yanick Lahens hangs near another video installation.

Portrait of Yanick Lahens, c. 1970
Luce Turnier
Oil on isorel
© Entrée to Black Paris

Younousse Seye's untitled oil with cowrie shells hangs in Room 10 of the Paris Dakar Lagos section.

Untitled, 1972
Younousse Seye
Oil on canvas, cowrie shells
© Entrée to Black Paris

About two-thirds of the way through the exhibition, the information panel for the New Abstractions section (Rooms 19 and 20) specifically mentions "a new generation of African American women artists" whose works "offered critical interpretations of modernist history, balancing feminism, erasure, and self-affirmation." 

In this area and beyond, visitors will find several works by Black women artists (not all of whom are American).

Faith Ringgold and Mildred Thompson are represented here.

The Bitter Nest, Part IV: The Letter, 1988
Faith Ringgold
Oil on canvas, quilt
© Entrée to Black Paris

Radiation Explorations 8, 1994
Mildred Thompson
Diptych, Oil on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Mary Lovelace O'Neal's Purple Rain hangs next to the wall text for the Self-Affirmation section.

Purple Rain (from the Two Deserts, Three Winters series), 1990s
Mary Lovelace O'Neal
Mixed media on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Works by Ming Smith (photography) and Elodie Barthélemy (sculpture) can be found in the Parisian Syncretism section (Rooms 25 and 26).

Hommage aux ancêtres marrons, 1994
Elodie Barthélémy
Wool, iron, wood, hair affixed to metallic arrows
© Entrée to Black Paris

Other women whose work is exhibited in Paris Noir include Manuèla Dikoumè, Mavis Pusey, Afi Nayo, Diagne Chanel, and Roseman Robinot.

Works by Manuèla Dikoumè
Multimedia installation
© Entrée to Black Paris

(Manuèla Dikoumè and Diagne Chanel were panelists for discussions held during the Paris Noir colloquium on March 21.)

I would be remiss not to point out that the curators of Paris Noir are also women.

Curator Alicia Knock is curator and head of the Contemporary and Prospective Creation Department at the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris. Paris Noir is the culmination of years of seeking to develop a transnational history of art at the Centre Pompidou.  Knock works specifically on modern and contemporary African and Central European art and is interested in the visibility of women artists.

Associate Curator Eva Barois De Caevel is a curator in the Contemporary and Prospective Creation Department at the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris. She was awarded the Cnap Curatorial Research Grant in 2020 and the ICI Independent Vision Curatorial Award in 2014.  Past notable activities include working for the RAW Material Company in Dakar, curating the LagosPhoto Festival, and co-curating EVA International, the Irish biennial. 

Eva Barois De Caevel (L) and Alicia Knock (R) at Ford Foundation reception
on Monday, 17 March 2025 
© Entrée to Black Paris

The exhibition catalog includes a 16-page essay by Marie Signier called "Femmes Artists et Féminismes Noirs à Paris" ("Women Artists and Black Feminisms in Paris") about Black women artists in Paris.

Paris Noir will be on display through June 30, 2025 in Galerie 1, Level 6 of the Centre Pompidou.

Click HERE to purchase tickets.