Last chance to see… Thomas Demand at Jeu de Paume

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Poll, 2001, Chromogenic print/Diasec

It seems that I totally forgot to tell you about the Thomas Demand exhibition “The Stutter of History”, at Musée du Jeu de Paume in the Tuileries and it ends on May 28, next Sunday, so if you have time this week, rush to see it, it is very fascinating. The artist who was born in Munich in 1964, works on the imbrication of History into our lives. He searches the media for meaningful photographs of events such as the bedroom in Cheremetievo where whistleblower Edward Snowden lived before being arrested or the complete destruction of a house hit by an earthquake or a bomb, Scientologist Ron Hubbard’s bedroom, Donald Trump’s press conference regarding his business activities in 2017 … There are 60 large photographs printed on Diasec which hang on two floors of the Museum and are spectacular. The show is curated by Quentin Bajac, director of the museum since 2018. It is both disturbing and very pleasing.

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At Musée Guimet, medicine comes from India, China and Tibet

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Model for acupuncture, China Qing Dynasty, 18 th century, Paris, musée Guimet

Once again, Yannick Lintz, the unique President of Musée Guimet, surprised us in shocking pink with orange training shoes. She insisted in her presentation of the new exhibition “Médecines d’Asie” (Medicine from Asia), on her wish to attract everyone into the museum, not just people who like Asian art. For a new visiting experience, the scenography for this beautiful and fascinating show includes a meditation room, with music and the voice of Matthieu Ricard, a French Tibetan monk, and lovely curtained alcoves as well as an installation with lights, which alludes to the circulation of the fluids in the body. It is playful and goes deep into the understanding of yoga and acupuncture. Read More

Three young printers are hosted at 100 rue de Charenton

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A general view of the exhibition at 100 rue de Charenton with Ariane Fruit’s large linogravure print “Scène de crime” 2018

I am an admirer of Ariane Fruit, a printer whom I met at Documents 15 for two of her exhibitions. She is showing until July 15 in a communal space, which I had never seen before, at 100 ECS, 100 rue de Charenton, between marché d’Aligre and Gare de Lyon.  The show “Fragile Memories” includes two other printers, Emmanuel Gatti and a Ukrainian artist who had invited him two years ago to show in Kiev, Olesya Dzhurayeva. The works are for sale at very modest prices for some of them, and the cooperative space is interesting to discover as a melting pot of artistic creativity in theater, music and graphic arts.Read More

Léon Monet, a collector who loved Rouen, at Musée du Luxembourg

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Auguste Renoir, “Paris, l’Institut au quai Malaquais”, 1872, private collection

Léon Monet is “the brother of… Claude” and he was a chemist and industrialist, developing artificial colours, who helped his brother and some of his Impressionist friends (Sisley, Pissarro, Renoir…) in acquiring and exhibiting their paintings, thus becoming an important collector. The small exhibition at Musée du Luxembourg has all the charm of Normandy with many views of Rouen where he lived and was active in a number of cultural associations. He bought his brother Claude’s drawing albums from 1856 when he was 16, 45 precious leafs which are exhibited here. They are very moving of course. There is an irresistible caricature of an English man with large “favoris”.Read More

Sir Norman Foster is a true star at Centre Pompidou

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The Millau Viaduct in Aveyron, 1993-2004 © Daniel Jamme/Eiffage

When you walk into the 2 200 sq meter exhibition dedicated to Norman Foster on the 6 th floor of Centre Pompidou (until August 7), you feel completely lost at first. As if you had dived in a pool too large for you. Almost sixty years of drawings are exhibited in the first room, on the walls and in very pretty glass tables, with no captions and no explanations. This is how the architect, who made in France the fantastic viaduct in Millau and the Carré d’Art in Nîmes, as well as a luxurious house in Southern Corsica, wanted the show to start. He designed it entirely with his team and it is so large that you might want to see it a second time.Read More

Near Evreux, a new glass museum in Conches!

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Zora Palova, “What is on top is below”, Bratislava 2013

Since it formally reopened last year, Musée du Verre François Décorchemont has received a number of glass collections and this month, it celebrates Jean and Dominique Vitrat’s donation, which resurrects a forgotten glass manufacturer François-Théodore Legras (1839-1916), a competitor of Gallé, Lalique, Baccarat and Daum.  The 1880’s, the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods are represented by 150 objects and more precious archives on the company, based in Saint Denis and Pantin, which counted 1 300 workers and 10 ovens. I had never heard of this museum which is very pretty, with turn of the century collections focused on “pâte de verre” and a few rooms of contemporary creations. It is named after the artist Décorchemont (1880-1971), who lived in Conches and made stained glass windows as well as vases in pâte de verre. Read More

London, the Coronation and more…

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King Charles looked very moved during the whole ceremony

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 the shape of a mini hamburger on the train. Was I living a fairy tale? Was life actually becoming nice again on the eve of the first British coronation in seventy years? When we walked back from watching the very long celebration, it was drizzling and then pouring, and everyone seemed relieved there had not been any incident (except the arrest of 52 pacific demonstrators in London and elsewhere). So was the coronation as extraordinary an event as we all hoped? Read More

Mexico is definitely a creative country

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Hector Zamora, Solar, bricks, 2017

The last time I reported on the Mexican cultural center in Paris was on Eduardo Zamora‘s exhibition last February. And very sadly, the magical painter died a week after his show closed, at 81, from heart failure. I regret not having visited his studio in the 13 th arrondissement, which he invited me to do. He was extremely charming and self effacing. This month, a series of contemporary photographers and artists are showing in the same institute a very interesting mix of political and environmental works. The pieces all come from the Famille Servais’ collection.Read More