French Academician Jean Marie Rouart has made a name to himself in writing books, joining his close friend Gonzague Saint Bris and a group of young Romantics when he was in his twenties. He was a mediocre student and tried many times to pass his Baccalauréat but has since become a respected Academician. He has recently bequeathed to Le Petit … Read More
Prix Bob Calle for Livre d’artiste is celebrated at Beaux Arts de Paris and at Centre Pompidou
Bob Calle would be happy today. Six years after he left us on April 6, 2015, this oncologist turned art lover and creator of the Carré d’Art in Nîmes, is celebrated through a third Prize for Artists’ books conceived with and organised by his widow Laurence Dumaine Calle. The selecting committee, made of 15 experts who come from all over Europe, … Read More
Petit Palais is open again with a fabulous prints show
It was such a pleasure to walk into the Petit Palais again at the invitation of Christophe Leribault, its whimsical director, who can transform a prints exhibition into fireworks! “Edition Limitée” (Limited edition) is devoted to the Vollard collections of prints, rare illustrated books, bronzes and vases, and Henri Petiet’s part in the continuation of his work. The famous merchant … Read More
Books, more books and lunch gossips
Stéphanie des Horts is not only one of the most fun ladies in Paris, she is also a prolific writer. After publishing a book on Jackie and Lee Radziwill in 2019, she is now concentrating on “Les Heureux du Monde”, the heroes of the Cap d’Antibes in the 1920’s, Sara and Gerald Murphy who inspired “Tender is the night”. You … Read More
“Plunder”, or Napoléon’s adventures in art collecting…
Napoléon’s death’s 200 th anniversary is being celebrated everywhere this week, and even President Macron attended the ceremony around his tomb at the Invalides with the young Jean-Christophe Napoléon Bonaparte (b. 11 July 1986), a Harvard Business school graduate, who is the pretender to the throne. The Emperor has created many fabulous schools and law reforms but has also left … Read More
Marc Fumaroli is celebrated three ways
An auction of his personal collection, a book and a colloquium at the Collège de France and at the Louvre. This is how Academician Marc Fumaroli will be celebrated in May and June, barely a year after he died on June 20, 2020. From the sale at Le Fur, I have picked a Balinese puppet and a writing table. His … Read More
Books, mediocre and good and future exhibitions are the talk everywhere
Our very strict lockdown and curfew at 7 pm has an advantage: everyone wants to meet for lunch and discussions are intense over the most minute novelty. This week, the social event is Jacqueline de Ribes’s biography by Dominique Bona, an eminent member of the French Academy, who has already published many successful women’s bios. The problem with this one … Read More
Amos Gitaï and Yitzhak Rabin, a 25 year long story
It was incredibly poignant to meet film director Amos Gitaï at Bibliothèque Nationale de France this week. A small group of journalists were invited to visit the new exhibition of his archives on Yitzhak Rabin‘s assassination on November 4, 1995. Films, interviews, a play and a book, and numeric archives, the result of 25 years of research, are being bequeathed by … Read More