Isabella Ducrot’s debut solo show with Petzel Gallery in New York this past January opened with a quote from the artist: “You can make a drawing of two people in love, but the tenderness doesn’t always come out. I’m trying to make tenderness come out, tenderness and the possibility of touch.” This feeling radiates through Ducrot’s luminous depictions of flowers, lovers, and landscapes. It also describes the way she transforms rare, centuries-old papers and fabrics sourced from across the globe in her collages and works on paper—and the way she has gently enchanted the art world.
Hardly a month passed this year without a major moment for the Rome-based artist, whose rise to renown primarily took place after she turned 90. Ducrot’s Petzel show coincided with Big Aura (2024), her stunning installation that enveloped Dior’s spring/summer runway show at the Musée Rodin in Paris. In April, her solo show at Le Consortium in Dijon, France, marked her first major international museum exhibition. By June, her second solo show with Sadie Coles HQ opened in London, followed in August by another exhibition at the Museo delle Civiltà in Rome.
In October and November, Ducrot’s work was presented in solo booths at Frieze Masters and ADAA’s The Art Show—she is represented by Petzel, Sadie Coles, Galerie Gisela Capitain, and Standard (Oslo)—cementing her status as a favorite among collectors. Yet it may well have been a widely admired New Yorker profile by Rebecca Mead that really catapulted Ducrot into the public consciousness this year. Ultimately, her work transcends trends, offering a timelessness that is delightfully seductive.
— Casey Lesser
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