Galerie Chalette

Galerie Chalette
Company type	Private
Industry	Art gallery
Founded	February 1954
Founder	Madeleine Chalette Lejwa, Arthur Lejwa
Defunct	1978
Headquarters	Manhattan, New York City, United States
Products	Contemporary art exhibitions, art dealing

Adapted from the English Wikipedia article Galerie Chalette, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 29 November 20254 sources

Galerie Chalette was a privately owned contemporary art gallery situated in Manhattan, New York City. It was established in February 1954 by art dealers and collectors Madeleine Chalette Lejwa (1915–1996) and Arthur Lejwa (1895–1972), who had fled the Nazi invasions of Poland and France. The gallery initially concentrated on contemporary French and Polish prints and paintings but gradually shifted its emphasis toward 20th-century American and European sculpture,^[1] with a particular focus on the works of Jean Arp.^[2]

Referred to as "La Chalette," the gallery gained recognition for curating important^[3] group exhibitions such as Construction and Geometry in Painting (1960) and Structured Sculpture (1960, 1968), which toured prominent museums across the United States. A highlight of its legacy was the 1972 landmark exhibition, Jean Arp: from the collections of Mme. Marguerite Arp and Arthur and Madeleine Lejwa, hosted at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.^[4]

Operations at the gallery concluded in 1978.

Establishment

Madeleine Chalette was born in 1915 in Paris, France, before relocating to Poland during her childhood. In 1940, after successfully securing her father Leon Chalette's release from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, they escaped to Shanghai and ultimately reached the United States by 1946. Arthur Lejwa, originally from Poland, was a biochemist who served as a representative for the Polish Government in Exile throughout World War II; he immigrated to America in 1939. Having lost his family during the Holocaust, he met Madeleine shortly after her arrival, and they wed in 1947.

45 West 57th Street

During the 1950s, the gallery’s early thematic shows capitalized on Chalette’s pre-war connections and included works by artists such as Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, and Georges Braque drawn from their family collection, which helped establish the gallery’s commercial presence. The Lejwas maintained close ties with their represented artists. Within four years, they presented new pieces by Jean Arp, Chagall, Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Henri Matisse, and Picasso—whose sketch of Madeleine Lejwa is now part of the holdings at the Israel Museum. Additionally, the couple explored markets for African art; in 1956, they facilitated collaborations with North African craftsmen to produce limited edition carpets designed by Picasso, Alexander Calder, Joan Miró, Jean Lurçat, and Fernand Léger.

1100 Madison Avenue

In 1957, the gallery relocated to a new venue on Madison Avenue. During this era, the Lejwas worked closely with Josef Albers, who was then leading the Yale Department of Design. In 1960, they organized a group exhibition titled Construction and Geometry in Painting, from Malevich to “tomorrow”, showcasing pieces by Albers, Arp, Max Bill, Sonia Delaunay, César Domela, Victor Vasarely, among others. This exhibition traveled to Cincinnati, Chicago, Minneapolis, and San Francisco.

While galleries were predominantly featuring abstract expressionist art at the time, this exhibition introduced American viewers to geometric abstract painting—a refined, understated style highlighted in the bilingual catalogue authored by Michel Seuphor. Advocating for geometric abstraction became a hallmark of Galerie Chalette.

Another 1960 show, Structured Sculpture, linked through Albers, presented artists such as Norman Carlberg, Kent Bloomer, Erwin Hauer, Stephanie Scuris, and Robert Engman, many of whom were associated with Yale and Albers.

Galerie Chalette maintained its promotion of Geometric and Constructivist art with solo exhibitions by Burgoyne Diller (1961) and a series featuring Leon Polk Smith, including his 1968 show Constellations.

88th Street

The gallery’s final relocation occurred in March 2020 to 9 East 88th Street in New York City. Situated on the ground floor entry hall of a historic five-story brownstone close to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and just two blocks from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this location was near the venues that hosted Galerie Chalette’s last significant exhibitions: Fangor at the Guggenheim in 1970 and Arp at the Met in 1972.

Aesthetic

Galerie Chalette was devoted exclusively to geometric abstraction, reflecting a sustained commitment and financial investment in this artistic approach. The founders blended their roles as collectors and gallery owners, merging commercial goals with artistic advocacy.

The Lejwas produced catalogues for each show, frequently incorporating color plates and critical essays, underscoring their dedication to elevating artists’ profiles beyond gallery walls. This emphasis on the secondary art market significantly enhanced Galerie Chalette’s prominence during the 1960s.

Their catalogues consistently exhibited a minimalist design ethos, ranging from modest printed materials to elaborate, numbered limited editions.

Artists

The roster of artists represented by Galerie Chalette included:

Exhibitions

Selected highlights:

Hepworth (1959), Barbara Hepworth
Construction and Geometry in Painting (31 March – 4 June 1960) Traveling schedule: Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati (July–October), Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago (November–December), Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (January–February)
Structured Sculpture (1961, 1968)
Torn Drawings (1965), Leon Polk Smith
Fangor (1970) in partnership with the Guggenheim
Jean Arp: from the collections of Mme. Marguerite Arp and Arthur and Madeleine Lejwa (1972) in collaboration with the Met

Galerie Chalette: exhibitions & associated catalogues
Date		Artist	Exhibition Title	Catalogue
Year	Dates	Artist	Exhibition Title	Catalogue
1953	19 Nov - 10 Dec	Template:Sort	Lithographs Linoleum Cuts Aquatints 1925-1953	Softcover Catalogue
1955	19 Nov - 10 Dec	Template:Sort	Recent Paintings	Preface: Roland Dorgelès
1956		Template:Sort	Picasso - The Woman (Paintings, Drawings, Bronzes & Lithographs)	Preface: Eugene Victor Thaw
1956	Nov 13 - Dec 08	Template:Sort	Recent Paintings	Catalogue
1957	14 Feb - Mar 9	Template:Sort	Paintings	Essays: Armand Hoog, Jacques Maritain
1957	12 Nov - 14 Dec	Template:Sort	Kandinsky	Catalogue
1958		Template:Sort	Sculpture by Painters
	March - April	Template:Sort	Chagall: A Selection of Paintings from American Museums and Private Collections	Preface: Raissa Maritain
	07 Oct - 02 Nov	Template:Sort \| Manolo \| style="text-align:center;" \| Preface: Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler
1959 \| style="text-align:center;" \| Oct \| Template:Sort \| Hepworth \| style="text-align:center;" \| Preface: Sir Herbert Read \|- \| style="text-align:center;" rowspan=2 \| Nov – Dec /12 Nov -14 Dec	Template:Sort / Template:Sort	Laurens: Collages, Gouaches, Drawings, Water Colors, Sculpture / Recent Artwork	Catalogue / Preface: Alfred Werner
	1960	March – June / Oct – Nov / Dec	Template:Sort / Template:Sort / Template:Sort	Construction and Geometry in Painting: From Malevitch to Tomorrow / The Spiritual Mission of Art / Structured Sculpture	Preface: Michel Seuphor / Preface: Michel Seuphor / Catalogue
		1961	Early year / Oct – Nov	Template:Sort / Template:Sort	Diller: Paintings Constructions Drawings Watercolors / Recent Work	Catalogue (Green Cover) / Preface: Hilton Kramer
1962		1961	Various	Template:Sort / Template:Sort / Template:Sort	/ / Gustave Singier	Catalogue / Preface: Jean Cassou / Preface: Roger van Gindertael
	1963	Mar – Apr / Nov – Dec	Template:Sort / Template:Sort	Works / Kurt Schwitters	Catalogue / Essays: Hans Richter, Jean Arp; hard & soft cover catalogues
	1963	1965	Jan / Apr / Oct	Template:Sort / Template:Sort / Template:Sort	/ The Figure / Torn Drawings	/ Text & Quotes: artist / Portfolio
1966	Various		Template:Sort	Paintings	Preface: Michel Ragon
1968	Oct – Nov / Nov – Dec		Template:Sort / Template:Sort	Structured Sculpture / Constellations	Catalogue
1968	1969	Jan – Feb	Template:Sort	Recent paintings by Fangor	Catalogue
1975	n.a.	Template:Sort	Sculpture, Reliefs, Works on Paper	Catalogue (Chalette International)

Legacy

Arthur Lejwa passed away in New York in October 1972 and was laid to rest in Jerusalem. Afterward, Madeleine Lejwa transitioned the gallery into Chalette International, shifting its focus toward art dealing and advisory services while reducing the frequency of exhibitions. She generously gifted significant artworks to prominent American institutions, including Arp's Oriforme, which was donated to the National Gallery of Art in 1978.

Upon Madeleine Lejwa's passing in 1991, the archives of Galerie Chalette were entrusted to the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, and the majority of the Lejwa Collection was relocated to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. In 2004, this museum issued an extensive catalogue dedicated to the Arthur and Madeleine Lejwa Collection, prominently featuring Picasso’s portrait of Madeleine Lejwa on its cover. There are no surviving heirs from either the Chalette or Lejwa families.

Bibliography

External links

Galerie Chalette catalogues on AbeBooks

↑ Hartog, Aria The loyal underdog. Observations on Hans Arp and Galerie Chalette, Gerhard Marcks Haus, University of Bremen. p. 144.
↑ "Galerie Chalette records, 1916–1999: Historical Note". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution.
↑ Mellow, James R. (1962). "The Best in Arts: New York Galleries". Arts Yearbook. 6. Art Digest, Inc: 22.
↑ Jean Arp: from the collections of Mme. Marguerite Arp and Arthur and Madeleine Lejwa. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1972.

[1] Hartog, Aria The loyal underdog. Observations on Hans Arp and Galerie Chalette, Gerhard Marcks Haus, University of Bremen. p. 144.

[aaa-si-2] "Galerie Chalette records, 1916–1999: Historical Note". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution.

[3] Mellow, James R. (1962). "The Best in Arts: New York Galleries". Arts Yearbook. 6. Art Digest, Inc: 22.

[The_Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art-4] Jean Arp: from the collections of Mme. Marguerite Arp and Arthur and Madeleine Lejwa. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1972.

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