MEMPHIS, TENN.- Dixon Gallery and Gardens presents “Café Society: Art and Sociability in Paris, 1855 – 1914,” an exhibition featuring more than 50 works examining the development of café culture in Belle Époque Paris. The collection reveals how Parisian cafés in the late nineteenth century served as essential hubs of exchange, performance, observation, and artistic innovation and how they ultimately became the subject of art themselves. “Café Society” features works from artists Edgar Degas, Pablo Picasso, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, alongside lesser-known but equally important artists, curated from public and private collections in the United States and Europe. The exhibition runs June 21-Sept. 6 in the main galleries.
The Dixon co-organized this landmark project with the Ordrupgaard in Charlottenlund, Denmark, and the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska. The exhibition has received international praise, noting its range of works that best represent the artists of that time. Though “Café Society” premiered at the Ordrupgaard, the Dixon originated the idea of the exhibition nearly a decade ago and brought it to fruition after acquiring important paintings depicting Paris’ cafe culture. It partnered with the Ordrupgaard and Joslyn, combining forces and merging their collections and curatorial vision to spotlight cafés as vibrant, interconnected spaces where artists observed modern life in all its glamour, grit, and complexity.
“‘Café Society’ is more than a thematic exhibition – it is a collaborative achievement between three institutions committed to expanding viewers’ understanding of modern art’s origins and the social worlds that shaped it,” said Kevin Sharp, Dixon’s Linda W. and S. Herbert Rhea Director. “This year marks the Dixon’s 50th anniversary, and the past 50 years have uniquely positioned our team to initiate the planning and collaboration for ‘Café Society’ to make this ambitious international project a reality.”
Julie Pierotti, the Martha R. Robinson Curator of the Dixon, was the primary organizer of the exhibition. She began planning this exhibition after the Dixon acquired In the Café (1882-84), a dynamic depiction of Paris’ demimonde by American painter Fernand Lungren, in 2018.
“In the late nineteenth century, cafés became ubiquitous across Paris and remained an important part of daily life for artists well into the twentieth century,” Pierotti said. “They were hubs that originated the inspiration to experiment with new approaches to art-making. Our goal for ‘Café Society’ was to highlight the creative energy of this historic era while showing how much of its spirit still resonates today.”
Also on view from June 14 to Sept. 27 is “Debbie Likley Pacheco: Living in Layers.” Pacheco is a Memphis artist currently working in mixed media and is known for combining digital and analog methods to create layered images that straddle a line between naturalism and abstraction. Photographs for this exhibition were taken in New York City and focused specifically on people and buildings, particularly street-facing facades that comprise much of the visual landscape in the densest parts of the built environment. The exhibition will be on view in the Mallory/Wurtzburger Galleries, which always showcases local or regional artists.
