Everyone was complaining as always that the Paris Biennal was very thin this year, due to all the furniture scandals that took place last year. There were fewer jewelers and more modern art booths. But I found six wonderful reasons to be happy when I had lunch at the center of the vegetal walls under the sunny Grand Palais glass roof.
Chantilly at its grandest
It was a very International affair but also a privileged family moment which took place at Château de Chantilly on Prince Amyn Aga Khan’s 80 th birthday and all guests were mesmerized by the beauty of the castle which houses the largest collection of paintings in France besides the Louvre.
Photos, photos and more at MEP
The first exhibitions of the Rentrée in Paris were held last week at Maison Européenne de la Photographie and there were three openings at the same time. The French artists Anne and Patrick Poirier are showing old and new photographs “Vagabondages argentiques, 50 ans de bricolage photographique”, the Burmese-Indian father and son Richard and Pablo Bartholomew are exhibited in parallel in “Affinités” … Read More
Martigny, the center of artistic world, again
Cecilia Bartoli was singing at Fondation Pierre Gianadda for the 25 th time and Daniel Marchesseau was curating an exhibition there for the fifteenth time. The combination of Haendel sung by the diva with cellist Sol Gabetta and her brother’s baroque orchestra, Cappella Gabetta, with a hundred paintings and drawings by Paul Cézanne in the background, was a winner. Again … Read More
Transatlantic travels at the Peabody Essex museum in Salem
My first visit, when I am in Marblehead in the summer, is always to the Peabody Essex Museum, in Salem, Ma. Founded in 1799 by sea captains who wanted to preserve their discoveries from Cape Horn and other exotic Asian and African countries, it was enriched by local merchants and moved into its own building in 1825. George Peabody, one … Read More
Mount Stewart gardens under beautiful sun
We were blessed at Mount Stewart, Northern Ireland, where the beautiful garden and house of Lord Londonderry confirmed its reputation of a micro climate. It was sunny during the three hours we spent there and only started pouring when we were at the other end of the lake, admiring the gigantic rhododendrons and gunerreas.
In Tours, Oliver Debré is celebrated
I met painter Olivier Debré in the 1980’s when he was teaching at the Paris Beaux Arts school and was exhibited at Daniel Templon gallery. Henry Racamier, then President of Louis Vuitton, had commissioned a stage curtain for the Hong Kong Opera from him. And he was always the sweetest and an incredibly modest artist. Since his family lives near Tours, … Read More
Chaumont sur Loire, a garden full of surprises
It is rare to find such a great combination of history and contemporary art as in Chaumont sur Loire, a Renaissance castle inhabited by Catherine de Médicis set in a park over the Loire and magnificently embellished by Prince and Princesse de Broglie at the turn of the century. It was given to the state in 1938 and is now … Read More