It is always a little adventure to go to Musée de la Céramique de Sèvres just on the other side of the Seine from Boulogne. The 18 th century museum is a paradise for china, ceramics and plates of all kinds and to enliven the public’s appetite, the director of collections and curator of the show, Christine Germain-Donnat, has organised … Read More
Many newcomers at Journée des Plantes in Chantilly
It was an extraordinary edition of the Journées des plantes de Chantilly with 26° centrigrade all week end and the most beautiful newcomers to this 32 year old garden festival started at Château de Courson by Hélène and Patrice Fustier.
Andres Serrano, a treasure hunt at Petit Palais
After Kehinde Wiley last October, Petit Palais is now exhibiting controversial American photographer Andres Serrano as a teaser for a treasure hunt on the two floors of its permanent collections. The access is free for all and it is quite fun to rediscover the Greek statues or Luca della Robbia glazed terra-cotta through Serrano’s violent photographs. If you decide to attend … Read More
Gauguin as you have never seen him
It is a bewildering show that Grand Palais is offering us again, with « Paul Gauguin, the Alchemist. » which has just arrived in Paris from the Art Institute in Chicago. We know him as a painter of « vahinés », in Tahiti, and as a fervent painter of Britain and Pont Aven’s young peasants. But his passion for ceramics, furniture and decorative arts … Read More
Maurice Rapin, rediscovered
Born in 1927 in his grandfather’s foundry in Paris, Maurice Rapin became a mathematician and a painter at the same time. He taught at a lycée in Versailles and came home to his studio nearby in Chaville. His artistic life was discreet and he always resented exhibiting his work. This is why seventeen years after his death, Sabine Bayasli, is … Read More
Medieval glass at Musée de Cluny
Musée de Cluny is such a discreet place that I had to rely on Australian friends to find out about one of the most magical exhibitions of the moment : ” Inventiveness in glass in the Middle Ages “. It covers all aspects of glass from stained windows in Saint Denis Cathedral to spectacles, house windows and drinking glasses. It shows … Read More
Boros, old fabrics from Japan turned into abstract art
It is an extraordinary space for art that Italian artist Beatrice Caracciolo has opened on rue Jules Chaplain, taking great care in the architecture of the gallery. In the heart of Montparnasse and next door to a lovely Arts et Essais cinema, she exhibits artists that she loves. A show of Boro fabrics from Japan has just opened and it promises … Read More
Peter Paul Rubens in majesty
There is a true sense of excitement when one enters the first room of the magnificent Rubens exhibition at Palais du Luxembourg in which two paintings featuring Queen Marie de Medicis visiting Rubens’ studio and a large Gobelins tapestry are hanging : all are 19 th century works and they tell us how important the Flemish painter remained in art … Read More