Henri de Toulouse Lautrec was born in 1864 in an aristocratic family and spent his first years with his mother near Narbonne and in the Rouergue. They moved to Paris when he was 8 and he attended the future Lycée Condorcet, the same as Proust’s. His health was unsteady for he had inherited a genetic disorder similar to osteoporosis and … Read More
Antony Gormley and Lucian Freud, a double bill at the Royal Academy
Every time I travel to London, I try to have the same routine. From King’s Cross, I take the tube to Piccadilly, visit Hatchards book store, have lunch at Fortnum’s and visit the Royal Academy of Arts. And this time was particularly successful, for there were two admirable exhibitions: “Lucian Freud, The Self- portraits” (until January 26) and “Antony Gormley” … Read More
Joy de Rohan Chabot is back with her treasures
Joy de Rohan Chabot never stops surprising us. She was probably the most beautiful débutante of her generation and her Scottish blood always attracted her to nature. You might remember her spectacular show at Musée Jacquemart André in 2008 or her first one at Tiffany’s, in New York, in 1987? Her bronze creations are all melted by David de Gourcuff in … Read More
Striking Iron in Africa, a delicate art
There are two excellent exhibitions opening at Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, “Helena Rubinstein’s African art collection” and “Striking Iron, the Art of African blacksmiths”, but I have to admit, my weakness for the latter, which is a huge surprise and aesthetical shock. It was conceived by the Fowler museum at UCLA, which is a scientific partner of the museum … Read More
In Ecouen, Etienne Delaune, a master of printing!
Château d’Ecouen, the Museum of Renaissance, is probably the less visited and yet the most extraordinary of Paris’s suburban museums. Its collections of precious Murano glasses and French or Flemish tapestries are unique, and at the moment, a special exhibit projects a new light on Etienne Delaune, a printer born in Milan (French at the time) in 1518. His father, … Read More
Luca Giordano, another giant painter at Petit Palais
For his first exhibition in Paris, Neapolitan baroque painter Luca Giordano, transports us from Italy to Spain in the grandest manner. Born in 1634, almost a hundred years after Greco, this student of Jusepe de Ribera very inspired by Caravaggio, and adept of Rubens and Poussin, painted close to 5000 works for which he was nicknamed “Luca fa presto”, (Luca the … Read More
The mythical château de Groussay is revisited by Alexandre Serebriakoff
At his conference at Sotheby’s, Pierre Arizzoli Clementel, who used to be Director of Versailles for 15 years, had the perfect voice for telling the magical story of Charles de Beistegui‘s life and style. The book he just wrote, based on the 35 watercolors by Alexandre Serebriakoff of château de Groussay, is important: it is the only thing left from … Read More
Min Jung-Yeon shines at Musée Guimet
I first met the Danish galerist Maria Lund when I bought, at Salon du dessin, a drawing on wood, by Korean artist Yoon Ji-Eun who studied at Ecole des Beaux Arts in Jean Michel Alberola’s studio. And I was happily surprised to meet at Musée Guimet one of her fellow students Min Jung-Yeon, who, like her, has remained in Paris … Read More