Join renowned French conceptual artist and sculptor Xavier Veilhan and legendary art collector Hubert Neumann W’52 for a conversation with the Arthur Ross Gallery’s director of exhibitions and curatorial affairs, Emily Zimmerman, about the impact of long-term patronage on artists’ careers and trajectories. What kinds of cultural achievements are possible when collectors dedicate themselves to supporting visionary artists with expansive and ambitious artistic programs? Refreshments provided.

Hubert Neumann (W’52) began collecting art as a teenager and is still actively adding to his collection. Over the past eight decades, he has developed strong relationships with dozens of contemporary artists whose work he owns and whose visionary work he has sought to support, including Ashley Bickerton, Jeff Koons, Karen Kilimnik, Nina Chanel Abney, and Xavier Veilhan. Hubert is dedicated to the study of philosophy and mathematics, finding the work of French theorists Alain Badiou (on immanence) and Quentin Meillassoux (on finitude) to be particularly helpful in understanding the “Aftermoderism” impulse in contemporary art that pushes into the space of the viewer with an openness that fails to easily resolve itself.

Xavier Veilhan (born in 1963, lives and works in Paris) has since the late 1980s created an acclaimed body of work (sculpture, painting, installation, performance, video, photography) at the intersection of classicism, modernity, and technology. His exhibitions question our perception and often generate an evolving ambulatory space in which the audience becomes an actor, like for Veilhan Versailles (2009), the series Architectones (2012-2014), Studio Venezia (2017), his proposition for the French Pavilion at the Biennale di Venezia.  His projects often involve collaboration with artists from other fields, such as architecture, music and fashion. He designed the visual universes for three Haute Couture shows for Chanel (2022-2023).  

Xavier Veilhan’s sculptures are displayed in many publics spaces across France and abroad including the cities of Bordeaux (The Lion, 2004), Lille (Romy, 2019), Paris (Renzo Piano & Richard Rogers, 2013), New York (Jean-Marc, 2012), Stockholm (Vårbergs Jättar, 2020), Tokyo (The Audience, 2021), Amsterdam (Hendrik Petrus Berlage, 2023), Mons (Saint-Georges et le dragon, 2024).   His work has been shown in various institutions across the world, like Le Louvre (Paris), Mucem (Marseille), Mamco (Geneva), the Phillips Collection (Washington), Mori Art Museum (Tokyo) or MAAT (Lisbon) and has been included in numerous public collections, including the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (Paris), the Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain (Geneva), the Centre National des Arts Plastiques (Cnap), the Moderna Museet (Stockholm), the Musée d’Art Contemporain (Montreal) and the National Museum of Contemporary Art (Seoul). Xavier Veilhan is represented by Andréhn-Schiptjenko (Stockholm, Paris), Perrotin (New York, Hong Kong, Paris, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghaï, Los Angeles), Galeria Nara Roesler (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, New York) and 313 Art Project (Seoul, Paris).