I took a friend, who is a true Parisian, to the opening of Piranesi, Albert Decaris, and Erik Desmazières‘s exhibition at Bibliothèque Mazarine and Bibliothèque de l’Institut and he was mesmerized by the beauty of the library. At 70 he had never visited it. And this is true of many French people who have no idea that one of the prettiest … Read More
Graciela Iturbide, from Coyoacan to Fondation Cartier
The first pictures I ran into at Fondation Cartier, in the show “Heliotropo 37 ” are of the Oaxaca botanical gardens, a well kept secret which I visited in 2006 with a group of friends. It was being restored by local artist Francisco Toledo who toured us around. He is the same man who in 1979, had invited photographer Graciela … Read More
Cedric Riou reigns over a world of sculptures
Atelier Prométhée is a magic manufacture in Saint Denis, just behind the stadium, which specializes in reproductions of XVII th and XVIII th century sculptures and decors. Its collections include orders for Versailles’ bosquets, swimming pools or palazzo floors for famous decorators, and the Iznik decor it created for a private spa in Gstaad is a little miracle. Cedric Riou, … Read More
In Sceaux, the Musée du Grand Siècle already whispers…
I was by chance at Château de Sceaux with two hours to spare and noticed that the Pavilion for the Prefiguration of the Musée du Grand Siècle was open in the petit château, a ravishing house in the old part of town. So I knocked on the door and Etienne Faisant, a specialist of 17 th century architecture, who was recently … Read More
A day at the Garde Meuble de la Couronne with Agnès Walch
One of the events of the Spring was the opening of Hotel de la Marine on place de la Concorde with the refurbished apartments of the two intendants in charge of Louis XVIth’ Garde Meuble (furniture storage), Pierre Elisabeth de Fontanieu and Marc Antoine Thierry de Ville-d’Avray. One was a libertine, the other, a family man very close to the … Read More
Paris bridges glow at night, thanks to Gary Zuercher
Gary Zuercher moved to Paris for the only good reason there is: he fell in love with a French woman, Dominique, whom he met on a flight from Cancun to Mexico City. The book on the thirty five Parisian bridges on the Seine, “The Glow of Paris”, which he photographed at night over a period of five years, is the … Read More
Architect Bernard Desmoulin enters the Académie des Beaux arts
The name of Architects is often less known than their buildings and today at the Académie des Beaux Arts, both the newly installed candidate Bernard Desmoulin and the colleague who received him, Aymeric Zublena were unknown to me. Except that the latter is the author of Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou and of Stade de France in Saint Denis, two major … Read More
Christo makes everyone smile at Arc de Triomphe
As the young Bulgarian architect Iva Stanisheva (who works as a mediator on the project) was telling me: “some people don’t understand the project, others love it, but no-one is indifferent”. She explained why some of the red ropes were not perfectly aligned “they are fixed with strong hooks on the structure of the Arc and respect the underlying sculptures”. … Read More