Marcel Proust and his mother at MahJ

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Marcel Proust was baptized but he loved his mother who was Jewish. At Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme, Professor Antoine Compagnon and curator Isabelle Cahn have produced an exhibition on the writer’s Jewish world with -disappointingly- already well known paintings recently shown at Musée Carnavalet and at IMA. The greatest discovery of the show is Baruch Weil, 1780-1828, his … Read More

“The Christie affair”, by Nina de Gramont

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I had read only one book of short stories by this talented and distant cousin, “Of Cats and Men” published in 2001. She has since published five more books and her latest one, “The Christie Affair” is on the New York Times best seller list. And it is a fantastic read. Nina used an article on Agatha Christie’s disappearance for … Read More

Cameroun is celebrated twice this week at l’Odéon and at Quai Branly

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This week marks a double success for Cameroun, the large country in Central Africa, which is home to Djaïli Amadou Amal, the writer (in French) of “Les Impatientes”, winner of Prix Goncourt des Lycées in 2020 and Ambassador for UNICEF since. She has been named Writer of the Year 2021 by Trophées de l’Edition, and a ceremony at Théâtre de l’Odéon … Read More

At Chantilly, Orientalism and a new administrator, Anne Miller

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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