All shows are not well adapted to the small rooms of Musée Jacquemart André, but the 75 Italian Renaissance chefs d’oeuvre collected by Alvaro Saieh and Ana Guzman, have found their ideal decor in the private house on Boulevard Haussmann. They are mostly in small formats and perfectly set in the “jewelry box” of Nelly Jacquemart and Edouard André, a couple of collectors in perfect adequation with them, a hundred years apart.Read More
2O th anniversary of the Prize for the Intelligence of the hand
Fondation Bettencourt Schueller is celebrating 20 years of what could be considered the greatest French award for Artisans, “The Prize for the Intelligence of the hand”. Started by Liliane Bettencourt, it is now run by her daughter Françoise Bettencourt Meyers who, very courageously attended the event with a broken foot! The joy and gratitude of thePrize winners was immense. They are all hard working artists and one of the laureates, Jeremy Maxwell Wintrebert, a glass blower, had applied seven times! His sculpture “”The Beginning: Dark Matter” (2018) was the winning piece.Read More
Salomon Slijper’s collection of Mondrian at Marmottan.
Where else but at Musée Marmottan-Monet, could a private collection of sixty seven Piet Mondrian paintings and drawings have found a better home? The new show “Mondrian figurative” is a little jewel of quality for each work was selected by Salomon Slijper, the son of diamond dealer who met the penniless artist in a guest house in Laren in 1915. He bought a hundred and eighty works, mostly figurative paintings, between 1916 and 1920 somethings paying them with expensive clothes. Until now, Mondrian was mostly famous in France for his abstract work.Read More
A Dutch Impressionist and a Swiss print maker, at Fondation Custodia
Fondation Custodia is one of these research centers and precious gallery, which celebrate quality in art above all. This new exhibition is devoted to, a little known in France Dutch impressionist, Willem Bastiaan Tholen, (1860-1931). Downstairs, the director Ger Luitjen, uncovered late Swiss artist Gérard de Palézieux’ s life long career as a drawer and a print maker. Both shows are precious. Read More
Le Sergent Recruteur, is reborn on île Saint Louis
When I saw the first course of tomato pineapple and melon being set on the table, its colorful beauty reminded me immediately of a starter, “The palette of vegetables” I had a few months ago at Laurent, the restaurant in the Elysées gardens. Well, little did I know that the creator of both dishes was the same! Alain Pégouret, who started with Monsieur Robuchon at Jamin, and went on to work with Christian Constant at the Crillon, has now opened his own restaurant, “Le Sergent Recruteur“, on rue Saint Louis en L’Ile. Read More
Baselitz in Pantin, an explosion of paint
Driving to Thaddaeus Ropac gallery in Pantin is always an effort but there is always a great reward! This time, East German artist Georg Baselitz is showing his “Homage to Elke”, his wife of nearly sixty years. The thirty paintings might seem repetitive in different colors but as soon as you come near them in the gigantic space, you realize the beauty of the details and of the paint texture. Do take the time to go, it is a unique experience like entering a cathedral of contemporary painting.Read More
Julio Le Parc at Sèvres, and more news
“The beauty of the gesture” is the new theme of exhibition at Manufacture de Sèvres, which often commissions contemporary artists to work on their premises. The wonderful workshops are only accessible on demand but a small gallery has just opened on the ground floor of the museum and you can dream about acquiring a vase by Nicolas Buffe (80 000€) or one by Ettore Sottsass, (25 000€). I fell for Julio Le Parc’s, “The Wave” (33 000€). During school vacations there are demonstrations of the savoir faire of the Manufacture. Do not miss these very special moments.
When you wander around the first floor galleries, your eye is stopped in every room by splendid vases, sculptures, royal plates and even a secretary with porcelain made in 1870. There are collections of treasures from all around Europe including from Meissen, where I discovered an intriguing little Chinese character. The contrast between a Lalanne sculpture and a huge Vase Neptune made in 1867, Annabelle d’Huart’s refined jewelry and Etienne Hadju’s Gensoli vase is just mind-blowing.
I particularly laughed at the Elephant feet vases, made in stoneware clay by Hervé Rousseau in 2003, and loved the bowls by Jay Kvapil in basaltic earth. A whole collection of stoneware sculptures by contemporary artists is visible in one of the large rooms. It includes Danish artist Turi Heisselberg Pedersen and Swedish Eva Hild.
Once you have visited the galleries, stop by the “showroom” where everything is for sale. There are a number of master classes for adults and children mostly on Saturdays and Sundays, films shown downstairs and a visit of a workshop every third Thursday of the month at 2 pm. The artisans will give demonstrations of their talent during the school vacations in October, February and April.
Manufacture de Sèvres until August 31, 2010 and from October 12, Julio Le Parc is in their Paris shop, 4 place André Malraux next to the Comédie Française.
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At quai Branly, twenty years of collecting with Jacques Chirac
If you have never been to Musée du Quai Branly Jacques-Chirac, the museum conceived and wanted by the President of France from May 17, 1995 to May 16, 2007, now is the time to go and celebrate “twenty years of acquisitions”. President Chirac died last Thursday, September 26, and the museum designed by Jean Nouvel near the Eiffel Tower, is dedicated to non European arts, reflecting his passion for Asian and Oceanic art, Arts Premiers in general. 80 000 pieces have been given acquired among which a Tapa cloth that belonged to Matisse