I was taken to Abbaye de Maubuisson, near Pontoise, on a beautiful day by a good friend who was baffled that I had never heard of this highly praised center for contemporary art. And discovering Patrick Neu (pronounce the German way NOI), was a unique experience thanks to the curator Isabelle Gabach, who has been exhibiting artists with a soul, … Read More
Jean-Jacques Henner and red hair, a missed opportunity
It sounded like a great idea! To celebrate red headed women in painting in one of the prettiest 19th century houses of the 17 th arrondissement, the superbly renovated home of Jean- Jaques Henner. But I should have been alerted by the subtitle of the exhibition “From J.J. Henner to Sonia Rykiel”. Well if you have never seen any work … Read More
“Hauteville House”, Victor Hugo’s magical retreat in Guernsey
Victor Hugo was the greatest French writer, dramaturge and poet of the 19 th century, he was a talented drawer and apparently a dedicated decorator. At least in the only house that he ever owned, Hauteville House on the British island of Guernsey, where he wrote “Les Misérables”, and many more plays and novels, between 1856 and 1870 when he … Read More
La Creuse, a forgotten river adored by painters
The Vallée de la Creuse, an area surrounding the Creuse river North of Limoges and South of Chateauroux, was discovered by painters in the 1830’s and writer George Sand brought many or her artist friends there from her house of Nohant in Berry. For one hundred years, landscape painters enjoyed the “Great wilderness” of this “lost country” as Claude Monet … Read More
Calder-Picasso, what a fascinating conversation!
There are moments in life when you feel blessed by God and visiting the dazzling Calder-Picasso exhibition at Musée Picasso yesterday, in the full midday sun, was one of these. The 120 sculptures and paintings by the two masters, who met only four times in the course of their lives, are whimsical and aerial, strong and dark at times, and … Read More
“Tissage, tressage” is the new art!
Danièle Kapel-Marcovici is a character. She transformed her mother’s modest company of cartonage Raja, into the largest European wrapping company in thirty years and has now developed two major foundations. One Fondation Raja for women’s rights et education and another, in Lubéron, called Fondation Villa Datris. Her mother’s workshops in Paris’ 20 th arrondissement have recently opened as the Parisian … Read More
Paul Sérusier, a Nabis magician at Orsay
With a small painting called “Le Talisman”, made in the open air in Pont Aven in 1888, Paul Sérusier immediately became the founder of the Nabis (prophet in Hebrew) movement. A disciple of Gauguin, he brought with his abstract painting, a new influence to the young painters of Académie Julian in Paris. This Talisman will later belong to Maurice Denis, … Read More
Tsuguharu Foujita is back in Paris after fifty years
During the 82 years of his life, Foujita (1886-1968), travelled extensively and chose to live and die in France. He came as a young man in 1914, became almost immediately successful in Montparnasse in the “roaring twenties”, then left for Latin America and was back in Japan during the second world war. He returned to Paris in the late forties, … Read More