Music in nazis camps was instrumental in many ways and this small exhibition at Memorial de la Shoah, in the Marais, tells its story and is incredibly moving. To see musical instruments manufactured in the camps and surviving scores makes you shiver. “The marches of popular songs …lie engraved in our minds and will be the last thing in the … Read More
London, the Coronation and more…
When I arrived at King’s Cross and waited for the tube, King Charles’s voice suddenly could be heard wishing us a good journey and “please mind the gap “. It was so unreal! We had already been offered horrible paper yellow crowns while boarding the Eurostar in Paris and a delightful young Finnish girl had offered me a sweet in … Read More
La Chapelle Expiatoire celebrates Louis XVI th’s surviving daughter
La Chapelle Expiatoire is a discreet little chapel built by Louis XVIII in 1815, on the former Madeleine Cemetery, in memory of his brother Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, who were buried there after their heads were chopped off on place de la Concorde. Their bodies were then transported to the St Denis basilica and the monument finished under Charles X’s … Read More
The tragedy of Izieu is illustrated at MahJ
“You will remember me” words and drawings of the children of Izieu“, 1943-1944, is a fascinating illustration of how innocent Jewish children and loving surrogate parents died or survived (85%) during the war in France. At MahJ, Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme, 150 photographs, drawings and documents illustrate the adventure led by Sabin and Miron Zlatin, a Polish Russian … Read More
A precious twinning of Mortefontaine and Bordentown, brings Joseph Napoleon back to life
When Napoléon was exiled in 1815, his brother Joseph Bonaparte (1768-1844), who had been King of Naples and of Spain but mostly loved “reigning” on the small village of Mortefontaine, thirty miles north of Paris, moved to America and settled in Bordentown, New Jersey, on the Delaware river 32 miles from Philadelphia. He collected 15 000 books and created the … Read More
Claude Bernard, the galerist who played the organ
Claude Bernard Haim, born on 5 October 1929, was an extraordinary art lover who founded his gallery on 5 rue des Beaux Arts in 1957 and detected talents among the greatest painters. His friendship was instrumental in Sam Szafran’s career, he was the first one to exhibit Bacon in Paris in the 1970’s, and defended Xavier Valls and the charming Jacques … 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
French American friendship is celebrated at Cité de l’Architecture
At Palais de Chaillot’s Cité de l’Architecture, a very specialized exhibition “Art Déco, France and Northern America” studies the architectural and artistic relationships between the 1890’s and 1930’s. It starts with Pierre Charles L’Enfant‘s plan for Washington D.C. commissioned by George Washington in 1891, and the tribute paid to “The adopted French architect” by an elegant table on baluster legs created … Read More