Just at the time when I.M. Pei, the architect of the Louvre’s pyramid and of so many chefs d’œuvre around the world, is turning 100 at Rockefeller Center, La Cité de l’Architecture at Trocadero is celebrating “Portraits of architects”. I consider architects as true magicians, artists, technicians, and sociologists. They have to understand their clients’ needs and think ahead of society’s new rules. This is what the exhibition is trying to show throughout the centuries. And it is very successful !Read More
Happy Premier Mai!
I picked these especially for you in my garden so you can share what all Parisians enjoy on May 1st. Everyone in France is allowed to sell lily of the valley on the streets of Paris or on country roads. The communist party which celebrates the First of May as their official Labor Day (fête du travail), usually sells it to raise money for the party! and I just learned that the Red Cross does too…Read More
Pierre-Joseph Redouté, a master of flowers
Nicknamed the « Raphaël of flowers », Pierre-Joseph Redouté spent almost 60 years collecting and identifying flowers that he then meticulously painted. His artistic talent rivals his scientific rigor as we can see at Musée de la Vie Romantique, in the first ever exhibition devoted to his art in France. There are 250 items celebrating flowers and the garden of the museum, conceived by Catherine de Bourgoing is a perfect extension of the galleries.Read More
Pissarro, a double bill at Marmottan and at Luxembourg
I am not a particular fan of Camille Pissarro but Musée Marmottan always has nice shows and walking through the Ranelagh gardens on the way, is an extra bonus. The new exhibition « Pissarro, the first of the Impressionists » is a good surprise. From the painter‘s origins in St Thomas in the Caribbean, to his paintings of Norman harbors and gardens in winter, the 60 paintings are definitely worth the tripRead More
Dalida at Galliera
One needed a magician like Robert Carsen to build the perfect whimsical setting for the collection of dresses of Italian/Egyptian singer Dalida, who was Miss Egypt in 1954 and became one of France’s most popular singer in the 1970’s and 80’s. After her death in 1987, her brother Orlando decided to give her « garde-robe » to Palais Galliera. And the show is very fun.
Prune Nourry plays around at Musée Guimet
I first attended a Prune Nourry show in 2011, when Tatyana Franck, then 26, exhibited her work in an empty apartment of Faubourg St Honoré with Sophie Ubald Bocquet. These very young ladies were quite excited over their friend’s « Terracotta Daughters » and one could sense success around the corner. Tatyana went on to exhibit Prune Nourry in Mexico, Zürich and New York and became the curator of Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne. Six years later, Prune Nourry shows at Galerie Templon in Brussels and is given a « carte blanche » on the four floors of Musée Guimet. Where will she stop ?Read More
Cars are stars at Fondation Cartier
It was great fun as usual at Fondation Cartier for the opening of « Auto Photo, from 1900 to today » a show of 450 pictures by American, British, German, Swiss, Japanese, Mexican, Chinese, African and French photographers who, one way or another, were attracted by cars. Small and large formats, color and black and white, esthetical or social themes make for a very varied exhibition curated by Xavier Barral and Philipe Séclier, two adventurers who love photo.Read More
Camille Claudel and the Marquise de Maillé
It was a short drive from the beautiful village of St Loup de Naud where I slept in Violet Trefusis‘s house (now owned by a close friend), and we arrived at Château de la Motte-Tilly promptly for the 10.30 am tour. This house which used to be Louis XV th treasurer Abbé Terray’s, was built in 1754 by architect Francois Nicolas Lancret, the nephew of Nicolas Lancret. It passed on to the Rohan Chabot family and was entirely restored in the 20 th century by both Charles Gérard de Rohan Chabot and his daughter Aliette de Maillé. It is a few miles away from the new and beautiful Camille Claudel Museum in Nogent sur Seine.