Romainville, a communist town turned center for contemporary art

parisdiaArchitecture, Art4 Comments

Ludovic Nino, a graduate of Ecole des Beaux Arts in front of “A chimeric instant” a large ink drawing at Galerie Jeune Création

I am sure that very few of you have heard of Romainville, a town of 28 000 inhabitants just north of Pantin. Its castle used to belong to Maréchal de Ségur in 1723 when only 400 people lived there. It is now, after thirty years of communist and socialist management, an upcoming capital of contemporary art with soon six galleries which have emigrated from Paris. It is the seat of Fondation Fiminco which rehabilitated the former Roussel Uclaf labs, it holds the reserves of FRAC Ile de France which will open February 6, and Parsons School of Design since 2019. Air de Paris, In Situ-Fabienne Leclerc, Galerie Sator and Galerie Jocelyn Wolff were having an opening last Sunday and there was an ambiance of resurrection under the blue sky and beautiful sun. Some of the shows were pretty mediocre but I fell for two artists, Chilean painter Santiago de Paoli at Wolff and a young Martinican graduate from Ecole des Beaux Arts, Ludovic Nino.Read More

At galerie de Vazieux, Chinese and Korean artists are plenty

parisdiaArtLeave a Comment

Nachtsfischen II, (fishing at night) 2018

Sabine Vazieux has been around for many years and yet I had never stepped into her gallery of 5 bis rue du Louvre. She specializes in figurative Chinese and Korean artists, who follow in the steps of the great Zao Wou Ki. At the moment she shows “Immensity” by Rao Fu, a 42 year old painter from Beijing who lives in Dresden. The colors and fulgurance of his style won me over. She also has paintings by Korean painter Youn-Sé Lee and ceramist Myung-Joo Kim.Read More

Radish tops make great soup too!

parisdiaHappy moments, Recipes4 Comments

Radish tops are delicious once they are cooked

I love radishes pink or black, round or long, for their crusty bite and their bitter taste. And also for the bread and butter that you need to eat with them! But I am always sad to throw away the tops (fane in French) especially when they are fresh and pretty. So last night I decided to boil them with a potato and made a delicious soup for two. Read More

“La Familia Grande”, a social study

parisdiaBooks4 Comments

Camille Kouchner, the author

At the time of the Georgia vote, a very Parisian scandal is agitating Saint Germain des Prés’s society. The publication of “La Familia Grande” a book by Camille Kouchner describing the dysfunctional habits of one of the most prominent families of intellectual Paris. In Washington, the mob invades The Capitol, in Paris the daughter of former Foreign minister Bernard Kouchner and a law professor herself, describes how the very respected Constitutional law professor Olivier Duhamel, a chouchou of the medias, was playing with her twin brother, Victor, when he was 14. Another sex abuse scandal, exactly a year after Vanessa Springora’s book  “The Consent” describing her relationship with writer Gabriel Matzneff. (Published by HarperVia in February 2021)Read More

Happy New Year 2021

parisdiaHappy moments7 Comments

A friend from Texas sent me this picture and I can’t resist sharing it. Sorry if you have already received it.

First let me thank you for all the messages that you sent over the phone, by email and post, mentioning Tuesday morning as being very special in your lives. This is the 6 th anniversary of Parisdiary which started on January 20, 2015!  YOU make me happy when you read it and I feel that I have fulfilled my desire to share with all of you my love of Paris. This New Year, is marked by one particularly sad news, that of Brexit being final. But it will not affect in any way our friendships with the Brits and I hope that even though Erasmus, the common European student program will not involve Britain any more, the young will keep befriending each other over the borders. Ironically, English remains the official language used in Europe and while Michel Barnier, nicknamed “the most dangerous man in Europe” by the Daily Telegraph in 2010, spoke of a loose-loose deal (perdant-perdant), we are all relieved that some sort of agreement was signed.Read More

I look forward to…

parisdiaArt, Books, Performing arts3 Comments

Alexandra Lapierre’s new novel on Belle Greene, the creator of the Morgan Library, is fascinating

There are many great projects for 2021 which we should all look forward to. Alexandra Lapierre, author of  many biographies such as “Moura” and “Artemisia Gentileschi”, is publishing on January 20, a 500 page novel on “Belle Greene”, the brilliant creator of the collections of the Morgan Library who hid all her life that she was a Metis. Avenue Matignon is becoming the epicenter of artistic life on the right bank with Emmanuel Perrotin investing a five story building at n°2 bis, with two partners, Tom-David Bastok and Dylan Lessel. They will develop a gallery for second market paintings. Almine Rech is opening a new space with a Kenny Scharf show, at n°18  on January 21. And Sotheby’s will be moving to the historical Bernheim Jeune gallery, at n°27, on the corner of Matignon and Faubourg St Honoré, which premises Patrick Drahi, president of Altice, has bought last summer. But the 17 th of February sale of Christo and Jeanne Claude’s personal collection will still be at galerie Charpentier and online. And Christie’s has opened up a gallery with a window on rue de Ponthieu, showing samples of future sales. Read More

At Templon a powerful Jim Dine!

parisdiaArtLeave a Comment

Rules of the Forest, 2020

After almost fifty years at 30 rue Beaubourg, Daniel Templon has opened up his gallery on the courtyard making it less mysterious and more inviting. He has also recently been promoted to Officer of the Legion of Honor, and I discovered on this occasion that his official first name is Claude. I wonder why he changed it to Daniel? With a gallery in Brussels and two in Paris, he constantly renews his image and at the moment the great American painter Jim Dine is on show with very large paintings for an 85 year old artist!Read More

The people of the year in my heart

parisdiaBooks, Happy moments5 Comments

Guillaume and Louise managed to get married between the different waves of confinement last July in Lubéron

So many happy events were cancelled and so many travelling plans deferred that we rejoice at those that effectively took place like Guillaume and Louise’s wedding in Lubéron last July. Although the marvelous artist Christo left us last May and John le Carré this December there were many good news especially in publishing.Read More