From Paris to New York :

35 years later, a dive into the history of the Neotu gallery, Pioneering French Design of the 80’s

Following the success of Neotu Paris, co-founded in 1984,Gérard Dalmon and Pierre Staudenmeyer opened a second gallery in New York in 1990. The space, a 300 m² loft in SoHo, was located near the renowned Leo Castelli Gallery.

Now, 35 years later, Mouvements Modernes and Galerie Gabriel present a retrospective of Neotu’s

transatlantic adventure. Hosted in a penthouse within the Sutton Tower, this exhibition is curated by Sophie Mainier-Jullerot—former collaborator of Pierre Staudenmeyer and founder of Mouvements Modernes—and Nancy Gabriel, founder of Galerie Gabriel. Together, they pay tribute to these visionary gallerists, reaffirming the legacy of Néotù, which helped shape the Design Gallery model in the history of both French and American Decorative Arts.

As pioneering talent scouts and publishers, Neotu’s founders, Gérard Dalmon and Pierre Staudenmeyer, played a major role in revitalizing French design since 1984. Their two galleries, in Paris and New York, hosted over a hundred exhibitions featuring around forty French and international designers, leading to the publication of 850 pieces of furniture, objects, and lighting. Over sixteen years, four emblematic designers— Szekely, Garouste & Bonetti, Friedman, Sipek—defined an extraordinary creative journey.

When they first began their work as design publishers, Dalmon and Staudenmeyer were driven by a mission: to reconnect art with domestic life. For them, furniture became the new medium for aesthetic emotion, once reserved only for fine art.

The New York Adventure

By the late 1980s, “the Neotu”, as they were known, sought to expand their gallery internationally. With an established American clientele already visiting their Paris space near the Centre Georges Pompidou, New York was the natural choice for their expansion.

In September 1990, they inaugurated their SoHo gallery at 133 Green Street, a 300 m² industrial space, with a show dedicated to Garouste & Bonetti.

At the time, SoHo was a vibrant art district, and their neighbor was none other than Leo Castelli. Over the next three years, they presented a series of exhibitions showcasing the “Neotu family of designers”, as well as American talents like Godley Schwann. They also represented VIA, France’s design promotion institution, and in 1992, they exhibited the first and only furniture collection by Jean-Paul Gaultier.

As Manhattan underwent rapid urban transformation, rising developments in SoHo led them to relocate to a smaller space on Wooster Street, which functioned as a showroom for the Neotu catalog. In 1995, they moved again, this time to a townhouse on 44th Street and later a loft on 34th Street.

Throughout their ten years in New York, Gérard and Pierre worked closely with clients on interior design projects, furnishing spaces for notable figures such as Lou Reed and the Girbaud couple in Manhattan. Similarly, major American institutions have works in their collections, such as the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

This retrospective, curated by Sophie Mainier-Jullerot - Mouvements Modernes Gallery - and Nancy Gabriel - Gallery Gabriel - in collaboration with CMS Collection, revives the original spirit of Neotu. Much like Gérard Dalmon’s final loft in Chelsea, the exhibition will highlight the duo’s vision of aesthetic emotion, their boundary-breaking approach to design, and their ability to create unique dialogues between objects and images.

The exhibition will feature works by Martin Szekely, Garouste & Bonetti, Dan Friedman, Pucci de Rossi, and others, furnishing a contemporary New York space in harmony with selected artworks curated by CMS Collection.