The atmosphère at ArtParis was very electrical and within ten minutes I had already seen four galleries with works I loved. At Mayoral, Vieira da Silva with a large “Blue and Yellow, The Villages”, and a remarkable Joaquin Torres-Garcia, “Dos formas en ocre y rojo” from 1938. At Claude Bernard, Sheila Hicks and Julius Bissier transformed the booth into a … Read More
Toyen, a revelation at MAM Paris
Toyen was born Marie Čermínová in Prague in 1902. And she died in Paris in 1980 where she had lived for thirty two years in relative poverty but surrounded by very close friends. One of them, French writer Annie Le Brun, met her through André Breton in the 1950’s and co-curated the show of 150 paintings and drawings at Musée … Read More
Boldini is always the most elegant, at Petit Palais
One thing is certain with Giovanni Boldini‘s retrospective at Petit Palais: the Italian painter (1842-1931) loved women and when he pictures them fairly denuded in pastel or lavishly dressed in full length portraits, they are always sensuous and beautiful. Yet he was not handsome at all, quite the contrary as described by his best friends. He was so short that … Read More
The best and the worst, make your choice
What a relief to see at last a good painting exhibition at Lafayette Anticipations with the Chinese artist Xinyi Cheng show “Seen through others” and how sad to see the nightmarish “Pionnières” (pioneers) at Musée du Luxembourg. At least we have the choice not to go… I watched the new series on Netflix, “Drôle” (Standing Up), written by Fanny Herrero, who is … Read More
At Musée Guimet, every floor has a show
On the top floor of Musée d’Art asiatique, Mnaag, which you access by the elevator and a few more steps, Chiharu Shiota, the Japanese artist, has stretched her red threads across the rotunda. Like many other artists, she has worked during the last two years on the importance of one’s home and the domestic space. Below, in the Japanese galleries … Read More
At l’Orangerie, colour explodes in Impressionist painters’s decors
It is again a well researched show which Musée de l’Orangerie is presenting with one hundred paintings and objects by the Impressionists which were important in the development of a new decorative language at the turn of the century. Dismantled dining rooms or country houses lead to framed flowers and boaters which were originally part of a series. “Le Décor … Read More
So many things to do in Paris and so little time…
Hofesh Shechter, OBE, the Israeli choreographer whose mother is Ukrainian, had a spectacular première at Opéra Garnier for “Uprising” and “In Your Rooms”, two vibrant ballets created at The Place and Sadler’s Wells in London more than fifteen years ago. They are now both part of the Repertoire of the Paris Opera. Sophie Calle attracted the contemporary art world at … Read More
Charles Camoin at Musée de Montmartre, a discovery
The two curators were really surprised but I had never heard of Charles Camoin before seeing the new show “Un fauve en liberté” (The Free Fauve) at Musée de Montmartre whose garden is waking up to spring on top of the Butte. His long career (1879-1965) started in Gustave Moreau’s atelier where his mother, a talented artist herself, had brought … Read More