The rain was drizzling on Maison de Sylvie in Chantilly but the atmosphere was electrical when Mathieu Deldicque, director of Musée Condé, and Marie Pierre Dion in charge of the rare books, announced that the “Mona Lisa of Manuscripts” Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, would be (partly) exhibited for three months in June-October 2025. The last time … Read More
A book on Fashion in the paintings of the Louvre, what a great idea!
I met Sabine de la Rochefoucauld years ago when she was the VIP guide at Versailles, and Harold Pinter and Antonia Fraser who was writing on Marie Antoinette, raved about her. She has now been for many years at the Louvre as chief of Protocol for royalties and stars, but still organizes visits for normal people. One of her cherished … Read More
Claire Bretécher, Prix Émile Perreau Saussine, Journée des Plantes in Chantilly and a novel on worms…
The Autumn Journées des plantes in Chantilly were heavenly with perfect cool and sunny weather and newcomers such as Jean Marie Dheedene from the Clematis Foundation in Belgium. He develops new clematises which survive better the heat and need little watering and has classified them all according to the flowering period and the perfume. I visited Claire Le Meur who … Read More
Trendy books get signed at Galignani’s!
What does an art book on “Bagatelle” and a biography of Princesse Bibesco have in common? They get signing parties at Galignani‘s, the English bookshop on rue de Rivoli, where Karl Lagerfeld used to buy hundreds of thousands of € of books every year. The month of September is traditionally rich in new novels and the rentrée littéraire is ready … Read More
From Santa Barbara to Cape Cod, a fabulous holiday
The two long weeks I spent in the US were the best holidays I’ve had in many years and flying from the Pacific in L.A. to the Atlantic in Boston, was a romantic experience. Both airports are on the water and I almost felt like I was sailing. My trip started in Santa Barbara where jacarandas were in bloom in … Read More
“Over the Rainbow”, at Centre Pompidou, celebrates homosexuality in art
Surfing on the LGBTQIA+ wave, a small exhibition “Over the Rainbow” is showing, on the ground floor of Centre Pompidou, a few paintings and photographs on the topic of homosexuality, which belong to Musée d’Art Moderne. And there are some finds which make the visit worth while. Thirty photos of transvestites photographed in 1931 at the Magic City ball, 180 … Read More
French Sculpture in America, a data base and now a book
Laure de Margerie is a long distance runner. For the past twenty years she has been researching the presence of French sculpture in the US which resulted in a database of 14 051 sculptures by 1047 artist in 612 locations, from 1500 to 1950, and she has just recently published a book in both languages, with 444 pictures based on … Read More
Two young art curators are awarded the Prix Michel Laclotte
She is 30 and he is 36, Giulia Longo curator at Musée Anne de Beaujeu in Moulins, and Lionel Arsac, curator of sculptures at Versailles both received the second Prix Michel Laclotte, dedicated to young curators at the beginning of their career. Introduced by Geneviève Bresc-Gaultier, who talked about working with Michel Laclotte (1929-2021) at the Louvre when he was … Read More