Young artists show at l’Institut de France

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Katarzyna Wiesolek, August II, 2020, charcoal on paper, courtesy Eric Dupont, Paris

Pavillon Comtesse de Caen is this little gallery within the Institut de France (Académie Française) on the right side of the building. It often has charming exhibitions of laureates or memorable ers of teh Academy, which are free and at the moment (until March 21), eleven alumni from the prestigious French Academy in Madrid (Casa de Velazquez), show their work in “Itinérance”. Video, drawing, painting, printing, cinema and architecture are all represented here. It’s a nice way to discover new young artists who often already have a gallery.Read More

Museums keep hanging their shows and some, in Spain and Italy, are even open…

parisdiaArt, Books1 Comment

José Arrue
, The Team of the Athletic Club
 (Equipo del Athletic Club)
, 1915, Colección Athletic Club Museoa-ren Bilduma © José Arrue

In Paris, Musée Marmottan has just finished hanging the ravishing Krøyer exhibition, Petit Palais, which was bequeathed by Academician Jean Marie Rouart, twelve works by Henri and Auguste Rouart, Henry Lerolle and Maurice Denis is preparing its prints show “Edition Limitée, Vollard, Pétiet et l’Estampe de Maître” and in London the V&A is hosting the largest Iranian show in a long time.  In the meantime, Guggenheim Bilbao is exhibiting its historical paintings from its industrial, naval and financial apogee, and also Kandinsky until May 23. Like all Spanish museums it is officially open. In Florence, Eike Schmidt has decided to open and then had to close the Uffizi like most places in Tuscany and in Venetia, museums are open, an event which has created a (small) touristic rush to Venice from Parisians.Read More

Jean Dunand is everywhere this week!

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Jean Dunand in his studio of rue de Hallé in Paris  in June 1941, in front of the model for the conquest of the horse for the ship Normandie

Editions Norma is a remarkable publishing house which always publishes refined books with the greatest care. Founded and run by Maïté Hudry, it specializes in 1920 to 1970’s architecture and design, but has recently published the catalog of an exhibition of sneakers “Playground” which took place in Bordeaux.  And their latest publication is about “Jean Dunand”, by Amélie and father Felix Marcilhac whose son, Felix Felix, now runs the famous gallery of 8 rue Bonaparte. Jean Dunand was the decorator of Solomon R. Guggenheim’s music room in 1925, he worked for Charles Templeton Crocker in San Francisco in 1928 and is most famous for his decors of the ship Normandie built in 1934 to sail from Le Havre to New York with a stopover in Southampton. In 1939 he creates the French pavilion at the International Exhibition in New York.  18 monumental panels of horses from the Normandie’s smoking room are being auctioned in Le Havre this Saturday, February 20 at 3 pm, by Maitre Allix and Revol.

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Roger-Viollet, a paradise for photo lovers

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Boulogne-sur-Mer, (Pas-de-Calais). La plage à l’heure des bains. (Beach at swimming time) 1890-1900. © Neurdein / Roger-Viollet

The address at 6 rue de Seine is well known by lovers of old photos and archives. Roger-Viollet, is the temple of 7 million photographs collected over 45 years by Hélène Roger-Viollet and her husband Jean Fischer since 1936. The agency is owned by the City of Paris and is now being managed by the owners of a photo agency. The premises have been modernized and all photos are digitalized which means that you can walk in the shop and choose prints from everywhere in the world on specific topics for a modest sum of money. Magazines and newspapers use their photographs on a regular basis. Read More

Christo’s auction at Sotheby’s it’s on the 17 th…

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William N. Copley, Lady Windermere’s Fan, est 50,000 – 70,000 €, Sotheby’s / ArtDigital Studio

Following the death of the artist last May in New York, part of Christo and Jeanne Claude’s art collection is being sold at Sotheby’s Paris on February 17 at 3 pm. Only 22 people will be admitted in the room but you can follow the sale on line and already bid in a silent auction for many works until the 18 th. Altogether 400 lots, paintings, drawings, sculptures and cards by their friends artists, Andy Warhol, Yves Klein, Lucio Fontana, Claes Oldenburg, Marcel Duchamp, William Copley, Nam June Paik… If you look at the catalog, you see souvenirs from a period, from the 1960’s to the 1990’s, when New York was the destination for all art lovers. The two (they were born on the same day, June 13, 1935) had met in Paris at 23 and spent their life creating together. It is very moving to keep even just a postcard era car plate from this famous couple and some of their preparatory works of the Gates and the Umbrellas are included in the sale.Read More

Poulet Molière by Joseph de Vilmorin

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The chicken cooks for ten minutes in a pan

Joseph de Vilmorin is probably the best amateur cook I know and he practices his father’s recipes as well as his aunt, Mapie, who was one of the most famous food critic in the sixties in France. He sent us a recipe of Poulet Molière which I cooked yesterday and I found it delicious and easy to reproduce. It’s very tasty with a strong lemon flavor. Read More

Cat Loray hangs ceramics in the air

parisdiaArt6 Comments

Virga, a mobile made of hundreds of ceramics sticks

I had never met the artist Cat Loray before and visiting her exhibition at Galerie Fernand Léger, a municipal space in Ivry-sur-Seine, was a moment of pure joy. It is hard labor to get there either by subway (50 mns from Madeleine) or by car (the same length of time and you can’t park) but once you find the art space located under a concrete bridge, a few meters from the imposing Mairie, and surrounded by nasty smells in an abandoned shopping mall, the contrast is a relief. Her mobiles and wandering sculptures are very inspiring and appeasing.Read More

For Valentine a few happy images and a sculpture walk

parisdiaHappy moments8 Comments

A “tableau” of hellebores by Marie Noël de Gary

This year Valentine is on a Sunday but you can spend the whole week celebrating. It’s the time to be inventive and to create your own beauty with little details of your life. Not everyone is as talented as Marie Noël de Gary who always seems to manage beautiful “tableaux” with the few flowers or accessories she keeps at home. Nor as good an artist as Danish painter Lin Utzon who sent in the mail this dove carrying a heart from Majorca. To celebrate love and beauty, I suggest you take a walk across the Tuileries and end up on quai Voltaire, where Patrick Hourcade exhibits the 32 photographs of  “Versailles Nuit” he shot at night at Versailles in the former Alain Demachy gallery,  now called Gradiva. Read More