PARIS.- 2016 marks 50 years since Galerie Templon first opened its doors, a story that is a part of the history of contemporary art.

In those five decades the gallery has held over 500 exhibitions, with three exhibition spaces (in Paris and Brussels), represented almost 300 artists, collaborated with great international institutions and participatied in international art fairs such as Art Basel (Asian and swiss versions), Art Dubai, FIAC and the Armory show.

At the age of 21, starting in a cellar in saint-Germain-des-Prés in 1966, founder Daniel Templon had no capital to invest or contacts in the art world. It is thanks to the gallery’s curatorial choices based on open-mindedness and insatiable curiosity for new, daring and international art that the gallery became a success, bringing art from ground-breaking movements from Conceptual, Minimalist, Pop Art to the attention of the French and european audience. Galerie Templon was the first gallery in Paris to take such an international approach, fueled by Daniel Templon’s constant travels to major exhibitions, openings and artist studios, biennales and art fairs around the world. Regular trips to new York in the 1970s forged a strong relationship with key figures in the Us art scene including Leo Castelli, Donald Judd, Carl Andre, Willem de Kooning, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. In tandem with the gallery’s global outlook, it has continued to champion French artists alongside the art community and scene in general. Two examples are co-founding the now famous Artpress in 1972 with Catherine Millet and establishing ADIAF, a non-profit organisation with the aim of promoting French artists around the world, in 1994.

Despite the 50 years of contemporary art Galerie Templon has covered, the gallery still has fresh ambitions and ongoing passions. It continues to innovate and make new discoveries in the international art community exhibiting them in dialogue with established names who have already made their mark.

The gallery’s exhibition programme for 2016 reflects its approach of bringing together established names from its history and that of contemporary art with new artists. It will hold exhibitions of the works of Arman, Claude Viallat, Francesco Clemente, in contrast with younger and emerging artists René Wirths, Franz Ackermann, Gregory Crewdson and the group show ‘You go to my head’ which looks at the inheritance and perceptions of Africa in the contemporary art scene.

In addition, for Art Basel in June, Galerie Templon will present a stand dedicated to the theme of its 50th anniversary. Then in september it will participate for the first time in the Biennale des Antiquaires in Paris with an exhibition celebrating the art of 1966, the year the gallery was founded. In october the Petit Palais will exhibit a solo show of work by Kehinde Wiley, an artist represented by Galerie Templon.

To mark this special year in the gallery’s long history there will be two books published firstly Daniel Templon, une histoire d’art contemporain (Daniel Templon, a history of contemporary art’) a historical and sociological study of five decades of contemporary art by historian through the vehicle of Daniel Templon’s career. The book by Julie Verlaine and published in French by Flammarion will be launched at the end of May. The english version will be launched for the occasion of Art Basel.

In September, the gallery will publish ‘50 Years Galerie Templon’, a large edition with bi-lingual foreword and press articles. It will look back at all of the exhibitions in its 50-year history serving as an encyclopedia or companion to the history of contemporary art, for art-lover, students as well as those looking for inspiration.