Patricia Faure (April 8, 1928 – October 21, 2008) was an American art dealer, photographer, and gallery owner, based in Los Angeles.
Early life and education Patricia Enk was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the youngest of three daughters. Her father died when she was very young; Patricia moved to California with her mother and sister in 1943.Suzanne Muchnic, "A Dealer in Art and Accolades; Art-world Eminence Patricia Faure is Toasted on her 75th Birthday," Los Angeles Times (April 18, 2003): E25. She attended Hollywood High School, and volunteered at the Modern Institute of Art in Beverly Hills as a teenager."Inventory of the Patricia Faure Gallery Records, 1952-2006," Online Archive of California. As a young woman she lived in New York City for several years, studying at the New School for Social Research and working as a model for Ford Models.Susan Ehrlich, "Interview with Patricia Faure," Archives of American Art (November 17, 22, 24, 2004).
Career During her time living in New York, Patricia Enk met and worked with many New York-based artists of the 1950s, including Robert Motherwell, Larry Rivers, Joseph Cornell, Francesco Scavullo. She carried her familiarity with contemporary artists into the Los Angeles scene when she returned in 1955. She became involved with the Ferus Gallery group as a photographer.Hunter Drohojowska-Philp, Rebels in Paradise: The Los Angeles Art Scene and the 1960s (Macmillan 2011): 97.
From 1959 to 1970 she lived in Paris with her second husband, and worked as a fashion photographer there, most notably capturing the unisex designs of Rudi Gernreich.Finding Aid, Rudi Gernreich Papers, 1891-1993, UCLA Library Special Collections. The couple returned to Los Angeles with their young daughter in 1970, and settled in Santa Monica. She was director of the Nicholas Wilder Gallery in West Hollywood beginning in 1972,Richard Hertz, The Beat and the Buzz: Inside the L. A. Art World (Hol Art Books 2011): 273. and in 1979 she opened the Asher/Faure gallery with Betty Asher.Josine Ianco-Starrels, "Art News: Andre Sculpture at UC Berkeley," Los Angeles Times (May 20, 1979): n69. The gallery changed locations before becoming the Patricia Faure gallery at Bergamot Station. Among the notable artists featured at the Asher/Faure or Patricia Faure Gallery were Salomón Huerta,Susan Emerling, "Salomon Huerta at Patricia Faure," Art in America 91(10)(October 2003): 14. Maxwell Hendler,Marlena Donohue, "The Galleries: La Cienega Area," Los Angeles Times (July 21, 1989): G17. Mattia biagi,"Weekend Forecast," Los Angeles Times (July 20, 2006). Jacob Hashimoto,Leah Ollman, "Jacob Hashimoto at Patricia Faure," Art in America 88(11)(November 2000): 175. Viola Frey,"Art: Domestic Angst," Los Angeles Times (January 6, 1984): g1. Joel Shapiro,"Art: Adding to the Slate," Los Angeles Times (November 18, 1983): j1. Rona Pondick,William Wilson, "Art Reviews: A Populist Work That's Commissioned by an S&L," Los Angeles Times (June 1, 1990): F15. Ellen Phelan,Suvan Geer, "The Galleries, La Cienega Area," Los Angeles Times (October 20, 1989): F24. Franz Kline,Suzanne Muchnic, "Summertime, and the Viewin' is Easy: Art Exhibits," Los Angeles Times (July 28, 1979): b8. Philip Guston, Robert Yarber,"Art: 'Tis a New Season," Los Angeles Times (November 30, 1984): j1. Ronald Davis,"Art: Going Like 60," Los Angeles Times (July 20, 1984): g1. Sam Francis,Suzanne Muchnic, "The Galleries: La Cienega," Los Angeles Times (May 30, 1980): g6. Deborah Butterfield,Suzanne Muchnic, "Galleries: Giving Life to Metal Horses," Los Angeles Times (September 17, 1982): h1. Katy Stone, Llyn Foulkes, and Robert Zakanitch.William Wilson, "The Galleries: La Cienega Area," Los Angeles Times (February 22, 1985): h13.
Of her work, Faure often insisted, "You can't sell art. It sells itself. All you can do is keep the place kind of tidy and get the information out. People come in. If they like it, they buy it."Suzanne Muchnic, "Fixture in the L. A. Art World," Los Angeles Times (October 24, 2008).
Personal life Faure married twice. Her first husband was musician Philip Peyton. Her second was Condé Nast art director Jacques Faure, father of her daughter Zazu (b. 1965).Subseries 3.1, Jacques Faure, 1953-1986, Finding aid of the Oreste F. Pucciani Papers, USC Libraries. Both marriages ended in divorce.
Faure died October 21, 2008, age 80, at the Kingsley Manor retirement community in Hollywood.Christopher Miles, "Patricia Faure, 1928-2008," LA Weekly (October 27, 2008).
References
External links Finding Aid for Patricia Faure Gallery records at the Getty Research Institute