Iris Clert

"Iris Clert, a Greek national active in the French Resistance during WWII, had opened, 'the smallest art gallery in Paris' at 3, rue des Beaux-Arts. It was only one small room, but it had the advantage of a large picture window, was just down the street from the Ecole de Beaux Arts, and directly across the street from the Minotaure, a surrealist bookstore, and the offices of the Pataphysics Society, whose membership included the cult figure Alfred Jarry ... In addition to his participation in the group show, Clert arranged for Klein to have a one-man exhibition from May 10-25, 1957. Klein's childhood friend Arman relates that Iris Clert was a dealer unlike others of the time and that, 'She introduced modern techniques for the presentation of art into a business that was more like antique dealing. She was a pioneer in this.' She was not above shocking the bourgeoisie, and like Klein, was enamored of publicity and spectacle. It is not surprising then that the opening of the exhibition featured a march from the gallery to the popular Left Bank café Deaux Magots, where they released 1,001 blue balloons before an indifferent public, but an attentive film crew, who recorded the event for posterity."