Books, more books and lunch gossips

parisdiaArt, Books, gardens and flowers1 Comment

Virginie des Horts was signing wildly at Galignani’s

Stéphanie des Horts is not only one of the most fun ladies in Paris, she is also a prolific writer. After publishing a book on Jackie and Lee Radziwill in 2019, she is now concentrating on  “Les Heureux du Monde”, the heroes of the Cap d’Antibes in the 1920’s, Sara and Gerald Murphy who inspired “Tender is the night”. You can follow Stéphanie and the Roaring Twenties in Cannes on May 21 and in Saint Tropez on May 22 where she will be signing her book. But it’s in Paris at Galignani’s that she was holding court last week and everyone was happy to see each other in this disguised cocktail party where you were being given a number at the entrance so that health security measures could be monitored…The rainy day did not stop her from signing over a hundred copies.Read More

“Plunder”, or Napoléon’s adventures in art collecting…

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Paolo Veronese,”Wedding Feast in Cana”, 1563, Musée du Louvre

Napoléon’s death’s 200 th anniversary is being celebrated everywhere this week, and even President Macron attended the ceremony around his tomb at the Invalides with the young Jean-Christophe Napoléon Bonaparte (b. 11 July 1986), a Harvard Business school graduate, who is the pretender to the throne. The Emperor has created many fabulous schools and law reforms but has also left tragic remembrances and I chose to read the new fascinating art history book by Cynthia Saltzman “Plunder” to understand the qualities and huge faults of one of France’s most controversial leaders and collectors.Read More

At Propriété Caillebotte, five post impressionist painters to discover

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Maxime Maufra, Holdborn Head (Scrabster), Thurso Bay, Scotland, 1895, Geneva, Association of the Friends of Le Petit Palais

Paul Durand-Ruel (1831-1922), the famous art dealer who admired painters from the 1830’s, represented many Impressionists and exhibited Monet’s series of cathedrals in 1895, also fiercely defended five post-impressionist painters who were represented exclusively by his gallery at 35 avenue de Friedland. He was a major agent in discovering new painters of the late 19 th and early 20 th century. Claire Durand-Ruel, one of his descendants, talked with emotion about her research in the very same building which still holds all his archives and about this third generation of Durand-Ruel artists, who are very little known. She has gathered in Yerres, at Gustave Caillebotte’s house and with art historian Jacques-Sylvain Klein, sixty paintings from private collections and museums for an exhibition called “Paul Durand-Ruel et le post-impressionnisme”. One painting by Henry Moret, Les Moissonneurs, lent by the Vatican, had not arrived for the opening but is expected soon.Read More

Raoul Dufy also loved Paris…

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“L’Atelier de l’impasse Guelma”, 1935-1952, Musée National d’Art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, legs of Mme Raoul Dufy, 1963 © Adagp

Musée de Montmartre is a charming small museum near the Basilica which always offers original themes of exhibitions. This time, Raoul Dufy(1877-1953) the colorful painter born in Le Havre in a family of 9 children, and well known for his numerous landscapes, scenes of regattas and racecourses and his passion for music inherited from his father, is the centre of attention in “Le Paris de Dufy”. It is amusing to notice that he worked at 12 rue Cortot  (the museum’s address today), where he shared a space with Othon Friesz. He studied with Léon Bonnat at Ecole des Beaux Arts, met the couturier Paul Poiret in 1908, and became a keen interior designer. And he was obsessed with the Eiffel Tower and diverse monuments of Paris. As the latest sale at Christie’s proved, his rating has never been higher.Read More

Drawings of Paris are exceptional at Galerie La Nouvelle Athènes

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Attributed to Gustave Fraipont, La Salle Labrouste at Bibliothèque Nationale, after 1888, ink and blue pencil on paper, 750€

It is an exceptional work of research that was performed by the two owners of Galerie La Nouvelle Athènes, Damien Dumarquez  et Raphaël Aracil de Dauksza, in finding out more about obscure artists who represented the monuments and streets of Paris for the 1889 and 1900 Expositions universelles. Three drawings of the Eiffel Tower (1888) are very rare but I was mostly fascinated by the views of the Paris Opera just after it was completed by Charles Garnier and the rue de Rivoli, the Louvre, the Institut, and panoramas of Paris including the Seine and seen from Notre Dame. The catalog is online and you can buy these drawings which are preparatory to prints for very modest amounts starting at 300€ for “La Bourse” by Gustave Fraipont.Read More

Veau aux asperges, an old recipe from Périgord

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Veal, carrots, celery and onion with a little white wine

Jean Lavit, a curator and inspector of Historical Monuments is at present cooking in Saint Jean de Luz and he shared this recipe which dates back from his childhood at his grandmother’s, when the cook from Périgord created marvels. Veau aux asperges (veal with asparagus), is made of onion, carrot, celery and asparagus of course.Read More

At Drawing Factory, young artists have a ball until September

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Juliette Green is still a student at the Beaux Arts de Paris. She paints on the walls and questions “what happened in this hotel room before”?

On May 29 and July 3, you will be able to visit the empty hotel on avenue Mac Mahon whose empty premises are dedicated by the Drawing Factory (founded by Christine Phal and the real estate group Soferim) to young artists studios until September. Out of 400 applications, thirty three young men and women from very diverse horizons and nationalities, have been selected and lent a studio (hotel room size with bathroom) to develop their own projects. Some of them already have galleries, others work with videos or movies, some draw on the floor or on the walls, all use drawing as a medium. And going up and down the corridors and the elevator (four floors) is great fun. From 10 to 13 June the Drawing Now art fair will exhibit some of their projects at 42 rue du Faubourg Saint Antoine. Here is a subjective choice of their works. Their energy is fantastic.Read More

I wish you a Happy May 1 and lots of lilies of the valley

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A little frog brought me lily of the valley on the terrace in Paris

As we do every year, Saturday May 1 will be devoted to picking lily of the valley… In France it is a holiday, Labor Day for all and  shops are closed so make sure to stock everything you need for the week end… I will be celebrating three birthdays of my dear aunt Aliette,  of my niece Marguerite and of cousin Thibaud. Read More