The new exhibition at Louvre Lens, “The Rose Empire” is devoted to the Qajar dynasty, who reigned over Persia from 1786 to 1925, when Reza Khan Pahlavi took over. Four hundred pieces came from 35 French institutions and private collections and twelve countries to describe the world of this family, whose descendants now mostly live in Europe and the United … Read More
Lafayette Anticipations, a new meeting place in the Marais
The staircase and elevator are particularly well conceived
The concept store Colette closed last December, a new artists’s store is born in the Marais : « A Rebours » inspired by Joris Karl Huysmans’ famous novel (Against the grain), a novelty store which is the tip of the icebeerg of the new Lafayette Anticipations Foundation. You will not find an art collection there but a building enlarged and renovated by … Read More
Alicia Drake, the master painter of Parisian life
You know Alicia Drake‘s name from her masterful book “The Beautiful Fall“, published in 2006, about the lives of Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld. It stirred so much interest from both sides of the Atlantic that she barely had time to deliver her fifth child in the middle of the turmoil of the French translation (Ed Stock). Alicia is … Read More
Bernard de Fallois has left us and he will be missed
The day after he died, his office was well organised with a new manuscript still unpacked, lying on his desk. Five « orphans », Christophe, Marie-Claire, Philippine, Tristan and Anne, his faithful collaborators, were meeting to discuss the future of the house which he had founded 30 years ago when he left Editions Julliard. Bernard de Fallois was one of the last … Read More
Marilyn Yalom, champion of the heart
When I met Marilyn Yalom, twenty years ago, she was just publishing “A History of the Breast”, which started in the Middle Ages and ended with Madonna. A historian, very francophile and a contributor to the center for women’s studies at Stanford University, Marilyn has steadily published eight major books on women and death. She is married to the great … Read More
Slobodan Despot becomes a literary Casanova
When I met Slobodan Despot a few months ago at editor Catherine Blanchard-Maneval’s house, I was immediately charmed by his frank manners and brilliant conversation. This young Swiss-Serb writer has published two books with Gallimard and was just awarded the Prix Casanova created by couturier Pierre Cardin for the best book written in French by a European.
Edgar Degas and Paul Valéry exchange letters at Orsay!
The friendship between painter Edgar Degas (1834-1917) and poet Paul Valéry (1871-1945) was also an extraordinary artistic collaboration and the new exhibition at Musée d’Orsay celebrating the hundredth anniversary of Degas’s death is a little treasure of refinement and erudition with many unknown drawings and letters. A peaceful pause and marvelous contrast from most blockbuster exhibitions.
Gérard Garouste, at last elected at the Académie des Beaux Arts
Pinocchio, 2017
I woke up this morning and my best reward was to get a message from Erik Desmazières, our most brilliant French engraver and drawer who has a show at Galerie Dietesheim &Maffei in Neufchatel Switzerland (until January 28), announcing that the Académie des Beaux Arts had elected Gérard Garouste to the painting section. This is a long awaited honor for … Read More