Ian Penman and Lou Stoppard, Erik Satie Three Piece Suite, Richard Saltoun x Fitzcarraldo Editions, September 2025

An evening of conversation at Richard Saltoun in collaboration with Fitzcarraldo Editions, between the music critic Ian Penman and writer and curator, Lou Stoppard. The discussion focused on Ian’s latest book, Erik Satie Three Piece Suite, amongst his other work.

Composer, pianist and writer Erik Satie was one of the great figures of Belle Époque Paris. Known for his unvarying image of bowler hat, three-piece suit and umbrella, Satie was a surrealist before Surrealism and a conceptual artist before Conceptual Art. Friend of Cocteau and Debussy, Picabia and Picasso, Satie was always a few steps ahead of his peers at the apex of modernism. Moving from the variety shows of Montmartre’s Le Chat Noir to suburban Arcueil, from the Parisian demi-monde to the artistic avant-garde, cult critic Ian Penman’s masterful Erik Satie Three Piece Suite is an exhilarating and playful three part study of this elusive and endlessly fascinating figure.

This talk was not filmed.