Hyacinthe Rigaud, Portrait of Louis XIV
Two major biographies of great French men have been published in the last year in Great Britain and both are translated into French: “King of the World, The Life of Louis XIV”, by Philip Mansel and “De Gaulle, A certain idea of France”, by Julian Jackson are huge successes in the time of Brexit. And both are published by Penguin UK.Read More
Two armchairs Papa Ours Py, Oops collection, lamp by Paavo Tynell ca 1940 and painting “We shall share our chemistry with the Stars” by Marc Quinn on Central Park West
It was the first book signing of the Rentrée and at Galignani’s, Danielle Cillien-Sabatier, the grande Prêtresse of the bilingual bookstore, was in full steam. Interior architect, designer and art collector Pierre Yovanovitch was chatting to all his friends while dedicating a superb 365 page album of his work, published by Rizzoli in English and in French. Everyone was glamorous, tanned and relaxed by their vacations in Greece or in Provence. What a relief to be back in Paris, to its intense social life and celebrations of artistic friendships!Read More
Valerio Adami, Ascension, 1984
Daniel Templon celebrated the 50 th anniversary of his gallery three years ago and Valerio Adami is one of the artists he has shown for fifteen years, on rue Beaubourg. When Théâtre du Châtelet commissioned a whole balcony painted by the Italian artists in 1989, he had been influential. 34 year old Prune Nourry is a more recent guest and she is shown in the newest gallery on rue du Grenier Saint Lazare. Both openings took place last Saturday, for the elite Parisians who were back in town.Read More
Elle Fanning is the most attractive Ashleigh
At the press screening in July, journalists were laughing out loud and came out commenting on “the mother scene”. With “A Rainy Day in New York” Woody Allen brings out one of his excellent films, a color version of “Manhattan” without Gershwin but with a much better version of Mariel Hemingway, Elle Fanning, who looks stunning. All actors are surprising, including Jude Law who plays a screen writer whose wife (Rebecca Hall) cheats on him, and Timothée Chalamet, wearing Woody’s usual tweed jacket, who looks like a girl most of the time. The sceneries of New York are outstanding from Soho to Central Park and of course the dear Carlyle bar, where Woody still plays the clarinet every Monday night. The film reads like an ABC of Woody’s life including his love for rainy days.Read More
Mercedes-Benz 300 was the fastest and largest Geramn car in 1951. It became known as “Adenauer” when the chancellor (1949-1963) acquired it.
There is a strange feeling about driving in a very large car park which only contains one brand, Mercedes cars. This is what happens when you drive a Mercedes and you enter the large Museum in Stuttgart. With a smile, you get special access… Cars and garages have a very prominent role in this city which was destroyed at the end of the war and rebuilt in a very pragmatic way. To the point that special spaces are reserved for women drivers. How feminist does this get? I loved it.Read More
Camille Bombois, “La Fille à la poupée”, 1925, private collection, © Jean-Louis Losi
“La Rentrée” in Paris is already so busy that you will not have time to recover from your holidays. On September 10th, the Kugel brothers are opening their yearly extraordinary exhibition at the same time as Musée du Luxembourg is showing treasures from the Tate Gallery, “The Golden Age of English painting” from September 11 to February 16. At Musée Maillol, its naïve painters show, “Le monde merveilleux des Naïfs from Douanier Rousseau to Séraphine” starts on September 19 th. Through 100 works, Dina Vierny’s taste for André Bauchant and other Naïve painters will be shown in a thematic hanging (until January 19).
On September 13, Musée Jacquemart André will show the exceptional Alana collection of Italian Renaissance paintings. It belongs to an American couple and 75 works are on loan until January 21, including Carpaccio, Veronese, Bronzino and Gentileschi. Read More
Built in 1785, the Ledoux Pavilion where the museum is based, used to be a tax collection office at the entrance of Paris, from Orléans
Général de Gaulle walking down the Champs Elysées on Saturday, August 26, 1944 in a liberated Paris, is an image that every Frenchman has kept in mind. When in 1968, the Général was heavily contested, I remember my mother joining the demonstration and walking with millions of people of her generation, in remembrance and in support for the man who had freed our country.Read More
The musée Pierre Soulages was designed by RCR in Barcelona which was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2017
How does a city with 56 000 inhabitants attract a million visitors in five years? Rodez, where French painter Pierre Soulages was born a hundred years ago (next December 24), is a city in the middle of Aveyron, near the Lot and the Creuse. That is, in France profonde (deep agricultural France), where beef comes from Salers, cheese from Roquefort, knives from Laguiole and gloves from Millau where Sir Norman Foster designed the most beautiful viaduct. But thanks to the “Bilbao effect” (created in 1997 by the Guggenheim museum designed by Frank Gehry), Rodez is now an arts destination and a major one, thanks to its five year old museum.Read More