An American friend, who knows everything happening in Art Deco in Paris, mentioned this exhibition of paintings and furniture by Jeanne Malivel, 1895-1926, at Bibliothèque Forney and of course I rushed… She probably would have remained in the reserves if she had not been a woman, who died at 31, and a Bretonne on top of it. Mostly self taught … Read More
The most portrayed woman ever, Sarah Bernhardt is at Petit Palais
Out of 400 works shown at Petit Palais in the exhibition “Sarah Bernhardt, and the woman created the star”, there must be at least 200 portraits of hers in oil, watercolor, photographs and sculpture including a number of self portraits and works done by her lifelong companion Louise Abbéma. I had never realized what a good artist the actress was … Read More
Kraemer Gallery opens a pop up store on avenue Matignon!
I ran into Patrick Hourcade last week and this former stylist from Vogue who worked closely on Karl Lagerfeld’s art collections, is full of new projects in photography and sculpture. While his garden decors in Vaux le Vicomte have inspired a New York museum to hire him, he did the scenography of a chic pop up store on 1 avenue Matignon … Read More
Vincent Darré creates a stir with le Mobilier National at Les Gobelins
The only mistake with the new show at Mobilier National called “Le Chic, Decorative arts from 1930 to 1960” is its title which could deter anybody to go and visit. But so many friends told me it was a great exhibition that I went, after seeing the Art Deco show at Chaillot. And it was, in a way, a welcome … Read More
In Versailles, Louis XV’s world is very conventional but superb
It was particularly difficult to access château de Versailles this time because of school vacations and even though we had booked tickets, the line to enter the castle was going all the way to the main gate… So be prepared. But once inside, the magic of the Sun King always operates even though we were there to discover his great grand … Read More
At MAD, the 1980’s reign
Former minister of culture Jack Lang was visiting the exhibition with a following of admirers and I am glad I started the visit in reverse, escaping all the politics of the Mitterrand years which are the prologue to the show. Instead, I immediately ran into the heart of the subject, the craziness in design, fashion and advertising of the 1980’s … Read More
The Wadsworth Atheneum museum in Hartford is a must
As a member of Frame (French American museum exchange) the Wadsworth Atheneum is on the list of the most excellent “provincial” museums in America and I could not skip a visit there since my last encounter with its galleries dated back to 2017. I went with art historian Cynthia Saltzman whose latest book “Plunder” on Napoleon’s love for Veronese!!! is … Read More
At Christie’s and at Galerie Kugel, Hubert de Givenchy’s taste is revived.
It took a whole year for the French and International teams of Christie’s to organize this “house” sale of Hubert de Givenchy‘s two properties: his apartment in the Hôtel inhabited by the Bemberg on rue de Grenelle, and his country house of Manoir du Jonchet. Bedrooms, gardens, a few salons have been reinvented on avenue Matignon and the privileged visitors … Read More