As you now know, I am a great fan of Jean Hubert Martin, the very original museum curator who stages exhibitions in every country. So when I heard that he had opened a show on musical animals at Musée de la Musique (which is run by his homonymous colleague Marie-Paule Martin), I immediately rushed to porte de Pantin. “Musicanimale” is a … Read More
The pleasures of the week…
Every year the awards ceremony of “Prix Liliane Bettencourt for the Intelligence of the hand” is a pure pleasure. This is where one discovers extraordinary young talents who will one day become stars of design or genius artisans… Last week, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers was seconded by the minister of Culture who talked about the importance of artisanat for the French … Read More
Sam Szafran at l’Orangerie, a disappointment
I love Sam Szafran for having seen his paintings many times, first in the early 1980’s, his staircases on rue de Seine, then in Martigny and at Musée de la Vie Romantique with Daniel Marchesseau and at Galerie Claude Bernard, a long time friend and supporter. So I was probably expecting too much from this new show of sixty pastels, … Read More
The Sun shines over Musée Marmottan Monet
The theme, “Facing the sun” could sound a little common for an exhibition at Musée Marmottan Monet but when you learn that this new show is celebrating the 150 th anniversary of Monet’s iconic painting, “Impressions, Sunrise” painted from his little hotel room in le Havre on November 13, 1872, it suddenly makes sense. And it is an occasion to … Read More
Oskar Kokoschka, a precursor of Jean Michel Basquiat?
Dieter Buchhart and Anna Karina Hofbauer, the two Austrian and Danish curators of the show “Oscar Kokoschka, un fauve à Vienne” at MAM Paris, are passionate. And they speak with great talent about Kokoschka’s “revolutionary” style at the time of Klimt and Schiele, the shock waves he sent to the public and the critics, who called him “Oberwidling” (savage) and … Read More
Jef Aérosol, celebrates 40 years of stencil art
He loved English and American culture and became an English teacher, but he also liked to play the guitar and to paint. Jef Aerosol decided in 2008 that he had taught long enough and became a full time artist. He started using stencil forty years ago in 1982 and is now one of France’s foremost street artist. His first experience … Read More
Bibliothèque Richelieu reopens with Palm trees
The main entrance of the Bibliothèque Nationale Richelieu (French public library) is now on rue Vivienne, facing Le Grand Colbert restaurant. And a large garden “Hortus Papyrifera” with palm trees and many “paper trees”, created by Gilles Clément, welcomes you instead of the more austere courtyard of rue de Richelieu. Once you walk inside, a modern staircase in aluminum and … Read More
Munch, a poem of life, love and death at Orsay
What we always remember about Edvard Munch‘s work is “The Scream“, his most famous painting which represents anguish. But the show at Musée d’Orsay is an exploration of the painter’s (1863-1944) 60 year long itinerary, with the connections and repeats of this iconic painting. It is both exhilarating with bright colors and very depressing at times. Munch’s anticipation of modern art, … Read More