This year should be very festive for Château de Chantilly where a new administrator, Anne Miller, has just been named and the 200 th anniversary of Duc d’Aumale’s birth is being celebrated with two exhibitions of drawings and rare Arab manuscripts under one title “Le Duc d’Aumale and Algeria“. A show of Ingres drawings curated by Nicole Garnier, will open … Read More
Books on films, Films on books, Paris has never been more ebullient.
The publication of one of Nicolas d’Estienne d’Orves‘s book is always a fun and trendy event since 2001 when the hero of his first book was a cannibal. This time, “Ce que l’on sait de Max Toppard” (what we know of Max Toppard), was launched at le Grand Rex, a mythical movie theatre on the Grands boulevards, which also has … Read More
At Bibliothèque Mazarine, Piranesi and Desmazières have a ball
I took a friend, who is a true Parisian, to the opening of Piranesi, Albert Decaris, and Erik Desmazières‘s exhibition at Bibliothèque Mazarine and Bibliothèque de l’Institut and he was mesmerized by the beauty of the library. At 70 he had never visited it. And this is true of many French people who have no idea that one of the prettiest … Read More
“The Second Half” of life by photographer Ellen Warner
Ellen Warner is a photographer who one day started asking questions to her models: do you prefer your life before fifty or after? and she was surprised to find out that most women preferred the second half with more experience and more “letting go”. “In the second half you know who you are, and you are liberated by not caring … Read More
In London, great excitement makes up for train disruptions
Spending the week end in London was utterly exciting after a three year gap and I was lucky to see both Beatrix Potter‘s show at the V&A and “The Collaboration“, a play featuring Andy Warhol and Jean Michel Basquiat at the Young Vic, the best of English acting! I also loved going to Dulwich to visit my goddaughter’s new house … Read More
Saint Exupéry’s “Le Petit Prince”, lands at MAD at last
Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry (1940-1944), is the book most translated in the world after the Bible. Over a 140 millon copies have been sold in 301 languages and dialects. An encounter with his young hero is organized at MAD, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, with over 600 books, photographs, drawings and letters featuring Saint Ex’ airplanes, books … Read More
In Evian, “Bébé” Bérard revives grand old times
My taxi driver in Evian, Nicolas Fleury, who is on the American football team, holder of the French national title, had never heard of Christian Bérard even though large adds promoting the new exhibition are all over town. But this energetic man, who was raised in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers, could not stop talking about what a wonderful town … Read More
At IMA, Jews from the Orient and Raymond Depardon’s photographs
Institut du Monde Arabe always has nice surprises for us and the exhibition “Juifs d’Orient” puts a light on the eternal coexistence of Jews and Muslims in most of the Mediterranean countries. It covers twenty six centuries with 280 objects from Syria, Yemen, Iran, Egypt, Turkey, and a large section on North Africa where the French had strong interests until … Read More