The event of the week end for me was of course the wedding of my niece Alix de Gramont, an organizational change strategist, who lives in Brooklyn but chose with her husband Matthew Inman, a music critic and writer, to come to France to tie the knot or seal the vows…as you wish. The French American ceremony was intimate in … Read More
The Day the Queen died, IKSEL decorative arts opened on rue Bonaparte
We all remember where we were on September 11 and we will forever remember where we were the evening Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8. She managed to complete her 70 year jubilee AND to meet the new prime minister Liz Truss at Balmoral, two days before leaving us. What a determination and courage she had! When we learned … Read More
A 90 th birthday, a French wedding, family life in the countryside
The birthday cake was a pile of her books, 49 to this day, and she is writing the fiftieth. The guests were strictly family, her six children, grandchildren and great grand children with a few siblings and very intimate friends such as playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard. Lady Antonia Fraser, whose second husband of twenty eight years, Harold Pinter, died … Read More
New England is the best in the summer
There is nothing that I like more in the summer than flying off to Boston and land in Marblehead, on the North shore, where a fabulous sunset awaits me with a gin and tonic and the view of the harbor. And this is an experience I had not had in four years. So you can imagine my level of excitement … 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
What’s new this week?
The greatest national French news was certainly the award of the Fields Medal (the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for Mathematics) to French mathematician Hugo Duminil Copin (36), along with Ukrainian Marina Viazovska (37), American June Huh (39) and British James Maynard (35). The rule is that the laureate be under 40, and it is awarded every four years to up to … Read More
“Vegetal” and Chaumet at the Beaux Arts, Exceptional!
This week, at every dinner party, only one word was been mentioned “Vegetal” (botanical): the title of the new fantastic exhibition based on plants’ designs in Chaumet’s jewelry, where one almost regrets that there is not more jewelry. Contemporary artists and classical painters have been united by curator and botanist Marc Jeanson to fill two floors of celebration of nature at Ecole … Read More
Gulbenkian meets Al Thani and Vermeulen enters Studio Harcourt
There are some wonderful artists/artisans around and Maison Parisienne specializes in original creators. One of them, the plumassier (feather magician) Julien Vermeulen, works with feathers and started in fashion before becoming a full time artist. He is being shown at Studio Harcourt, the very pretty studio and gallery of black and white photography in the 16 th arrondissement, from June 23 … Read More