Château de Compiègne is a sleeping beauty which is slowly being awakened by the senior curator Rodolphe Rapetti and at the moment, a modest exhibition of costumes worn by Empress Eugénie, Napoléon III’s wife, is matched by a brilliant book written by Laure Chabanne with photographs by Gustave Le Gray, paintings and watercolors by Eugène Lami, and numerous artifacts which give a good idea of the lavishness of the period. I highly recommend that you visit the well restored apartments where many objects are now being shown and read the book first. It is a charming jump into luxury and glamour of the past. The museum of old cars is also an attraction. Read More
“The Golden Danish Age” at Petit Palais, is very pleasing
Once again Christophe Leribault, director of Petit Palais, gives us a perfect exhibition with “The Golden Age of Danish painting” 1801-1864, a charming mix of studio life and landscapes at the beginning of the 19 th century in Denmark. The exhibition is a happy one, developing themes like family (there are many children), travels to France and Italy, bourgeois life in Copenhagen and sea views. It starts at the time when the English destroyed the Danish fleet and bombarded Copenhagen in 1807 and when the State went bankrupt in 1813. And yet artistic talent flourished and a perfect harmony developed between writers such as Hans Christian Andersen, philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, painters and sculptors. Christoffer Eckersberg, who taught at the Royal Academy, is the leader of a school of painters who described the society of the time. The exhibition is organized with the Statens Museum for Kunst, in Copenhagen and the Nationalmuseum, in Stockholm
With “Der Messias”, Bob Wilson is back at his best
The first live music performance took place on the 16 th at Théâtre des Champs Elysées with Bob Wilson’s “Der Messias” which I was expecting not to like. Well I was wrong, the show is so beautiful visually and musically that it was a revelation for the public. Michel Franck, the director of the theatre, spoke in a warm and intimate way at the beginning, saying how happy and relieved his teams were to have been able to produce these three evenings of Der Messias, created last January in Salzburg. Everyone was concentrated and happy to be sitting in an opera house again. The oratorio in three parts composed by Mozart after Haendel’s Messiah, was considerably enlivened by a funny, handsome and exciting set of characters, singers, dancer and actor. The original libretto in English by Charles Jennens was sung in German in an 18 th century translation by Christoph Daniel Ebeling.Read More
Who was Henri II? an ambitious warrior now at Vincennes.
I had barely ever heard of our king Henri II (1519-1559), whose father François I and wife Catherine de Médicis, mistress Diane de Poitiers and cousin Henri IV, completely eclipsed him. He reigned for twelve years, ten of which were at war, trying to expand the Kingdom of France. And he should at least be remembered for taking back in 1558, Calais, from the English after 211 years. Strongly backed by Connétable Anne de Montmorency (who reigned in Chantilly), he fought Charles V in Italy and financed a French expedition which discovered the bay of Rio de Janeiro in 1554. He never fought himself but achieved to enlarge a “Christian” empire and created the order of Saint Michael first held at Mont Saint Michel. He is represented as such in the Chapel of Château de Vincennes on a large stained glass window.Read More
DDessin, a modest drawing fair with great young artists
What is interesting about DDessin, a drawing fair celebrating its 8 th edition, is the number of young artists who show on their own. Of course, the star this year is Korean artist Yoon Ji-Eun, whom I had spotted at Drawing now 15 years ago. I love her work on plywood or paper and her galerist Maria Lund has always supported her heartily. She won last year the DDessin Prize and is therefore the main attraction this year. Margaux Derhy who embroiders paintings and Clovis Retif who draws waste and accumulations of objects, were my two other choices. And of course, I was happily surprised by novelist Tahar Ben Jelloun‘s works in acrylic on paper at gallery Art Absolument. Read More
Josef Koudelka is magic at BNF
It’s rare to enter an exhibition of photographs and to be mesmerized. Of course, you rarely have the conjunction of an amazing space, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France with its huge heights, a brilliant photographer Josef Koudelka, and a team of scenographers (Jasmin Oezcebi), researchers, curators as high in quality. This show “RUINS” of 110 panoramic prints (124 cm X 260cm) took thirty years to prepare, was shot in twenty countries around the Mediterranean sea, with 200 archeological sites. And Josef Koudelka gave all but three photographs to the Library. Very elegant.Read More
Lunch outside at Golf Paris Longchamp
I already told you last May about Nathalie Jeanson, the great French Pro, who took over the management of Golf Paris Longchamp, the golf practice in the Bois de Boulogne. Well, I went recently to check out the changes and had lunch at Le Restaurant du Golf, which opens all day and serves lunch but no dinner. My first surprise was to run into a number of elegant friends who seem to use it as their cantina in the middle of the week, when the weather is pretty.
ArtParis, Christie’s, Philip Mansel, Nathalie George and more fun
The sun was shining over the Grand Palais for the opening of ArtParis, the first art fair to be held since February. The 112 courageous galleries who committed to attend were so happy and optimistic. Claude Bernard, could not be missed just in front of the entrance, with his four Spanish artists from the gallery. Templon had his usual stable of Gérard Garouste, Kehinde Wiley and Pierre & Gilles (also at his gallery of rue Beaubourg). Jeanne Bucher showed Vieira da Silva and Fermin Aguayo, Jean François Cazeau had a beautiful “Red fish and chrysanthemums” by André Masson and Picasso etchings. I personally fell in love with fabric works by Ayako Miyawaki from Galerie Frédéric Moisan, on rue Mazarine. A whole wall of beautiful patchworks with crabs, fishes and flowers. It was fun to try and recognize everyone behind their masks and eye contact was more active than ever! A new seduction technique…Read More