I look forward to… in September

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Gérard Garouste, “Pinocchio and the dice game”, 2017, Photo Bertrand Huet/Tutti

Gérard Garouste is one of my favorite painters. I met him with Elie Schulman in 1979 at Le Palace where he painted the decor of the restaurant le Privilège and then later, on many occasions with Daniel Templon who still exhibits him today. A retrospective of 120 of his paintings is starting at Centre Pompidou on September 7 until January 2, 2023. With his wife Elisabeth, a talented designer, he has built a rich career in the theater and as a painter and sculptor. His autobiography “L’Intranquille” written with Judith Perrignon, is an exceptional book and an English translation by Georgia de Chamberet can be found at Galerie Templon. This French artist, one of the rare to have had three exhibition with Leo Castelli in New York, was represented by Durand-Dessert and Daniel Templon. He illustrated a book of Don Quixote by Cervantès with Diane de Selliers in 1998.

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New England is the best in the summer

parisdiaArt, Happy moments8 Comments

Marblehead harbor as seen from the Eastern Yacht club on Marblehead Neck

There is nothing that I like more in the summer than flying off to Boston and land in Marblehead, on the North shore, where a fabulous sunset awaits me with a gin and tonic and the view of the harbor. And this is an experience I had not had in four years. So you can imagine my level of excitement when I boarded my AF flight for a new US adventure full of Key lime pies and lobster rolls. Black Point near New London, Sag Harbor, Madison, Woodbury and Warren in Ct, then back to Old Saybrook and Marblehead… What an enchanting holiday! with cultural high points in Hartford, Salem and Sag Harbor. Read More

The Wadsworth Atheneum museum in Hartford is a must

parisdiaArt, furniture, Happy moments, photography3 Comments

Albert Bloch, Untitled (Cityscape), 1911, Bloch was the only American painter associated with teh Blue Rider movement in Munich

As a member of Frame (French American museum exchange) the Wadsworth Atheneum is on the list of the most excellent “provincial” museums in America and I could not skip a visit there since my last encounter with its galleries dated back to 2017. I went with art historian Cynthia Saltzman whose latest book “Plunder” on Napoleon’s love for Veronese!!! is a bookstore success, which made the visit even more interesting. there are many treasures in this museum founded in 1842 by Daniel Wadsworth, an amateur artist and architect. It now holds 50 000 works from European baroque and Impressionists to the Hudson River School. It was largely endowed by John Pierpont Morgan, born in Hartford in 1837, whose collections (1300 works) of porcelain and Venetian glass can be seen. The mix of modern and old art makes it an exceptional place to visit. Read More

When Picabia steels from Ingres… by Jean Hubert Martin

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Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Eve, ca 1815, Montauban, Musée Ingres Bourdelle

It all happened when Jean-Hubert Martin, who lives part of the year near Montauban, discovered a book of photographs of Ingres’ drawings in the library of the museum. He realized that many of Francis Picabia‘s drawings and paintings were directly inspired by Ingres and that the iconoclast artist had obvioulsy seen the book by Jacques Edouard Gatteaux of 120 drawings and paintings published in 1873 and again in 1921. In 1976, Martin had initiated the exhibition on Picabia at Musée National d’art moderne and writes in the catalog that there have been many discoveries since. The show is cocurated with Florence Viguier-Dutheil the dynamic director of Musée Ingres-Bourdelle in Montauban.Read More

An excellent sole at Garnier and good Muscadet!

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The best sole of Paris at a reasonable price is at Garnier

I don’t know if you like sole, what the Brits call a Dover Sole, a real thick and large fish simply cooked in butter or grilled? For some reason their prices have become astronomical and most often you are being served filets or goujonnettes. What I like is to spend an extensive amount of time preparing it in my plate and looking forward to the first mouthful. So when a faithful friend of mine invited me have lunch at Garnier, across the street from Gare Saint Lazare, and mentioned the soles, I fantasized all week. And I was not disappointed, it is excellent at 47€.Read More

Schiaparelli is shockingly good at MAD!

parisdiaArt, Fashion3 Comments

Marcel Vertès, Schiaparelli, 21 Place Vendôme, 1953, photo Schiaparelli Archives

Sophie Lemahieu is a lucky curator. For her recent arrival at MAD, she gets to open “The Surreal world of Elsa Schiaparelli” exhibition in the middle of  Couture week when the cream of the cream of fashion journalists and stylists are in town. And what a show! Those of you who saw Thierry Mugler’s retrospective last year will find some similar glitzy rooms in this one where Elsa (1890-1973) is confronted to the new house designer, the Texan  Daniel Roseberry. Olivier Gabet who is leaving to run the department of objets d’art at the Louvre was there of course to celebrate the Italian couturière, who was also Marisa Berenson’s grandmother. 520 works are exhibited which represent her world of creativity with Man Ray, Salvador Dali, Jean Cocteau… The scenography is signed Nathalie Crinière. Read More

In Montpellier, Louis Gauffier brings all the light of Tuscany…

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Portrait of Doctor Thomas Penrose, 1798, Minneapolis Institute of Art, The John R. Van Derlip Fund © Photo Minneapolis Institute of Art

I was not able to travel to Montpellier to see this exhibition yet, but since you might be in the area for the summer, I wanted to point it out to you because Louis Gauffier, who is fairly unknown to the general public because he died at 39, has brought all the sun of Italy to Provence. The Musée Fabre, founded by his dear friend François-Xavier whom he spent time with in Florence, owns thirty paintings and more drawings and this is how we are able to see these luminous canvases today in a very large retrospective of his works, the first ever “Louis Gauffier, The Voyage in Italy” (until September 7).Read More

Rifkin’s festival, Woody Allen is back with his old friends

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Woody is back in San Sebastian shooting with his old friend Wallace Shawn

You remember the time when Woody Allen had a new film out every year and it was a ritual (at least for me) to go and see it every time. Well,  there had not been a new Woody film since “A Rainy Day in New York” in 2019,  which featured Ellen Fanning and Jude Law, and I was totally excited to go to the first screening of “Rifkin’s Festival” last Wednesday. It is pure woodyallenian, with his old friends, playwright Wallace Shawn (My dinner with André) in the lead and screenwriter, director, actor,  Douglas McGrath playing a smaller part. Everything in the film seems so familiar that one feels like having dinner with the actors and chatting with them all night. The ravishing Spanish actress Elena Anaya,who played in Almodovar’s films, is the perfect seductress and one has a hard time believing she is a cardiologist…The whole film is set in San Sebastián which Woody loves and we enjoy the moments of tourism included in the script. Read More