5 January 1875, marks the inaugural Gala for the Paris Opera created by Charles Garnier. Napoléon III has been deposed. The show on stage is very “pale”, all eyes are directed on King Alfonso XII of Spain, the Lord Mayor of London and the President of the French Republic, Patrice de Mac Mahon. The building was the real hero of … Read More
Free exhibitions and expensive shopping in the Seventh
With Christmas getting dangerously closer, my steps led me to rue du Bac and rue de Sèvres where two small exhibitions are quite enchanting. While doing your shopping at Hermès, at Laurence Tavernier (for nightgowns) or at “38” rue de l’Université for South African and Mexican artifacts, make sure to step into Fondation EDF next to the Récamier restaurant to … Read More
Obsidian stones are volcanic at Pierre-Alain Challier
It’s a good idea for the Christmas season to have commissioned mirrors and jewelry from famous French artists. And this is exactly what Pierre-Alain Challier, the charming galerist from the Marais, has conceived with Anne and Patrick Poirier, designer Mattia Bonetti, Jean Michel Othoniel, Hubert Le Gall and more terrific designers… The result is a fun show on two floors … Read More
Marigny, a new restaurant on the Champs Elysées
Théâtre Marigny has just reopened after five years of rejuvenation by his new operator, Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière and two architect-decorators, Jean-Michel Wilmotte for the public spaces and François Joseph Graf for the “Costes” restaurant. It is a huge aesthetical success, since modernity mixes with the 19 th century style of the theatre founded by Jacques Offenbach, in 1855. Ushers … Read More
Diego Giacometti, the talented brother
Some brilliant characters have the knack of bringing people together and Daniel Marchesseau, curator of over seventy exhibitions in Paris, Tokyo and Martigny, is one of them. The cocktail party organized at Christie’s for the launch of his thirty second book “Diego Giacometti, sculptor of furniture “(Editions du Regard), was the most fun, chic, amicable event of the month. And … Read More
Giampietro Campana’s collection is reunited at the Louvre
In twenty years between 1830 and 1857 Giampietro Campana, who was running the Monte de Pietà in Rome, managed to create the most extravagant collection (12 000 pieces) of Italian art from Antiquity to his time. It was dispersed when he was accused of mixing the Papal state’s money and his own, and for the first time, the Hermitage museum in … Read More
Bamboo art is astonishing at Quai Branly
“I create art with the spirit of an artisan” declares Tanabe Chikuunsai IV in one of the videos of “Fendre l’air, Art of bamboo in Japan”, the new exhibition at Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac. There are 600 endemic types of bamboo in Japan. It grows quickly, is flexible, does not rot, and can be used as a container, … Read More
Ariane Fruit, from photography to printing
On opening night, Ariane Fruit was very appropriately stuck in the subway, one of her two favorite themes with crime sites. Fascinated by thrillers and detailed descriptions of police crime scenes, this very complete artist started with drawing and argentique photography when it was still a demanding physical and scientific art. With the growth of digital photography, she felt the … Read More