The fifteen minute boat trip to Porquerolles reminded me of taking the short ferry ride to Naoshima island in Japan. I had a few hours to wait at Toulon airport and when I realized that Fondation Carmignac was just a few miles away, I jumped in a taxi and boarded the crowded Sunday morning ferry to the beaches of this … Read More
Pierre Yovanovitch, the Book!
It was the first book signing of the Rentrée and at Galignani’s, Danielle Cillien-Sabatier, the grande Prêtresse of the bilingual bookstore, was in full steam. Interior architect, designer and art collector Pierre Yovanovitch was chatting to all his friends while dedicating a superb 365 page album of his work, published by Rizzoli in English and in French. Everyone was glamorous, tanned … Read More
Stuttgart, a window on a new world
There is a strange feeling about driving in a very large car park which only contains one brand, Mercedes cars. This is what happens when you drive a Mercedes and you enter the large Museum in Stuttgart. With a smile, you get special access… Cars and garages have a very prominent role in this city which was destroyed at the end … Read More
The Liberation of Paris is celebrated in a new museum
Général de Gaulle walking down the Champs Elysées on Saturday, August 26, 1944 in a liberated Paris, is an image that every Frenchman has kept in mind. When in 1968, the Général was heavily contested, I remember my mother joining the demonstration and walking with millions of people of her generation, in remembrance and in support for the man who … Read More
In Rodez, Pierre Soulages has set an example for all
How does a city with 56 000 inhabitants attract a million visitors in five years? Rodez, where French painter Pierre Soulages was born a hundred years ago (next December 24), is a city in the middle of Aveyron, near the Lot and the Creuse. That is, in France profonde (deep agricultural France), where beef comes from Salers, cheese from Roquefort, … Read More
Ars en Ré celebrates its very special spire
Ile de Ré, an island off la Rochelle which has become a very posh holiday destination, was for an evening, the rendez vous of many Parisian art lovers. 28 artists who have a special relationship to the place, gave a painting or a drawing for the restoration of the church of Saint Etienne d’Ars en Ré. The particularity of its … Read More
Institut Giacometti is thriving, a year later
A year ago, Institut Giacometti was opened in a delightful studio overlooking Cimetière Montparnasse. After four exhibitions based on Fondation Giacometti’s precious collections, the place is thriving as a small charming museum. Catherine Grenier and Michèle Kieffer, curators of the show “Narrating the body”, have researched the artists’ relation to the woman body. And his early drawings at Académie de … Read More
Trees reign at Fondation Cartier
Don’t expect an art exhibition on the theme of trees, “Nous les arbres”, (We the trees) is a scientific and political diatribe for saving trees, essentially in Latin America. The oldest fossils of a forest date back to 385 million years while man appeared only 300 000 years ago. The fight between man and trees is shown through our admiration … Read More