Le Petit Salon, an intimate space on the upper floor of the Putman Gallery, is hosting a selection of prints by Per Kirkeby (1938–2018), a leading figure in Danish art of the second half of the 20th century, for its first exhibition.

Conceived as a counterpoint to the gallery’s exhibitions, Le Petit Salon is designed to host occasional presentations devoted to a series, a technique or a selection of an artist’s works.

A painter, sculptor, poet and geologist by training, Per Kirkeby built a body of work in which reflections on matter, strata and geological time constantly inform his pictorial practice. Having exhibited numerous times at the Venice Biennale and documenta in Kassel, he occupies a unique place in post-war European art. 
Printmaking plays an essential role in his work: he has explored all its techniques with the same freedom as in painting. 

Created between 2000 and 2017, the seven works brought together here demonstrate the full range of his technique: lithography, colour etching, monotype, woodcut, aquatint and drypoint enhanced with watercolour. All untitled, they allow the image to emerge without the mediation of language — each sheet becomes an abstract territory where forms emerge that evoke rock, landscape or vegetation.