In Senlis, contemporary art takes over at Fondation Francès

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Cat Loray, “Virga”, 2021, ceramic sculpture ( 50 000€) and “Madre”, 2021 on the wall, 5 000€

You might remember the extraordinary exhibition of ceramic sculptures by Cat Loray at Ivry sur Seine last year? I was totally overwhelmed by this artist who happens to live near Senlis with her husband Clément Borderie, also an artist, who creates canvases which are “tinted” by time and nature in the open. Estelle and Hervé Francès, started Fondation Francès to show their collection of contemporary art in 2008. At the moment, they have picked couples who create in the area and the show “La vie est un entre-deux” (life is a go between) which just opened, is the second in the series. The works speak to each other in a very natural way.Read More

A formidable Jean Hélion is revealed at Alain Margaron

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Study for a hand, 1955

Jean Hélion (1904-1987),  had a long career full of adventures, (4) marriages, and life in the thirties and forties  in America. Alain Margaron, who has patiently collected his paintings from different members of his family, is showing a little known decade of his works, forty canvases painted between 1955 and 1966. What struck me is the variety of styles, between abstraction and figuration, even though the palette of colors has similarities. There are geometrical Paris roofs seen from his apartment of rue Michelet, lyrical waves and rocks in Belle-Ile-en-mer, where he acquired a house in 1953, a large cabbage and an extraordinary self portrait as well as a meeting of 1968 militants. Read More

Gonzague Mézin revives precious gilt bronze in Geneva

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Thirst, 2021, Straw marqueterie wheel carried by three ostriches in gilt bronze, Lignereux photo Luca Fascini

I met Gonzague Mézin years ago at an exhibition of his works at MAD within the fabulous show of Pierre Gouthière‘s gilt bronze objects and furniture. This young man (he turned 40 the day after his opening), has revived the art of gilt bronze with contemporary creations like straw marqueterie, “luminophilie”, ceramics and lacquer. His precious exhibition at Espace Muraille in Geneva presents artifacts as if they were jewelry or clockwork and where else but in Switzerland could he reach the right public? Read More

Whistler came from the Frick to Orsay in minimal form

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“Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland”, 1871-1874, New York, The Frick Collection

I was overexcited by the announcement of the Frick collection’s James McNeill Whistler chefs d’oeuvre coming to Musée d’Orsay for three months and if you are too, don’t rush. The exhibition is minimal with four paintings, three pastels and a few more prints of Venice. And you probably know most of them anyway. The other disappointment was that Christophe Leribault, the new president of Orsay, was nowhere to be found. How sad. At Petit Palais he used to conduct the visit, in the most charming way, and introduced foreign curators. But I was nevertheless relieved to see that the museum had not been hurt by the huge fire which, last night, burned part of Hotel de Seignelay, a few hundred meters away on rue de Lille, next to the German Embassy, which is also totally safe thanks to the intervention of 150 firemen. Read More

In Evian, “Bébé” Bérard revives grand old times

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George Hoyningen-Huene, Christian Bérard, collection Catherine Houard

My taxi driver in Evian, Nicolas Fleury, who is on the American football team, holder of the French national title, had never heard of Christian Bérard even though large adds promoting the new exhibition are all over town. But this energetic man, who was raised in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers, could not stop talking about what a wonderful town it was to live in. Famous the world over for its mineral water and its Women’s golf Open, Evian, population 8 000, is also a cultural town with its magnificent concert hall entirely built in wood, “La Grange au Lac” and its “Palais Lumière“, formerly the thermal institution, inaugurated in 1902. I was there to visit the new exhibition curated by Lausanne based journalist Jean Pierre Pastori on Christian Bérard (1902-1949), one of the most prodigious and adulated decor and costume designer of the 1930-1949 era. The mission of the show is to reestablish his career as a painter, when he is mostly remembered for his intense social life and stage and movie sets and costumes.Read More

At IMA, Jews from the Orient and Raymond Depardon’s photographs

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Jean-Jules Antoine Lecompte de Noüy, Portrait of Isaac Adolphe Crémieux, 1878, Paris MAhJ. He spent his life trying to emancipate Jews and especially when he was minister of Justice in 1848 and in 1870

Institut du Monde Arabe always has nice surprises for us and the exhibition “Juifs d’Orient” puts a light on the eternal coexistence of Jews and Muslims in most of the Mediterranean countries. It covers twenty six centuries with 280 objects from Syria, Yemen, Iran, Egypt, Turkey, and a large section on North Africa where the French had strong interests until 1962. The expulsion of Jews from Spain, in 1492, led to an emigration of the communities to Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. A large presence of menorahs in Jewish iconography is particularly interesting, the Roman synagogues in European countries and Tunisia, the importance of new laws in the 19 th century and various photographs are some of the hight points of the show. There were a few visitors from North African origins while I was there and it was fun to listen to their excited comments. Read More

Another full day in Paris!

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Shang Xia, tea set in porcelain and bamboo, at MAD

The day started with the celebration of Chinese New Year with Shang Xia at MAD‘s boutique on rue de Rivoli, went on with the discovery of the new contemporary furniture acquired by Mobilier National and ended with Alexandra Lapierre’s conference at Christie’s on the occasion of the paperback publication of “Belle Greene“, the extraordinary portrait of J.P. Morgan’s African American assistant, which is about to be published in the US on June 14. Paris is still “A Moveable feast“…Read More

Geneva is taken over by storm, with Jean Hubert Martin…

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The first room, “From Cross to Globe”, Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève, photo, Julien Gremaud

Geneva is well known for its calm and orderly Swiss manners and its Musée d’Art and Histoire, located on top of the old city, is a municipal museum which few tourists take the time to visit. Art historian and curator Jean Hubert Martin was invited by the Director of MAH, Marc Olivier Wahler, to choose anything he liked in the storage rooms, a mountain of 500 000 paintings, sculptures and objects spanning over a period of 15 000 years, and create what he enjoys most, a treasure hunt of 850 objects throughout the museum galleries. The show “Pas besoin d’un dessin” (“Draw your own conclusion”) literally means in French, “you don’t need any explanation”. It was prepared over two years and the installation took two months in the main galleries, a supreme luxury for the curators. I completely fell for it and loved discovering Ferdinand Hodler‘s multiple paintings of bearded men and mountains, musical instruments with faces and the similarities between Swiss national flags and Matisse’s costumes for a ballet. The show goes on until June 19, so you have time to plan your Swiss expedition. Read More