Paris Diary by Laure

Do you like pepper? Try it at Bernard du 15…near Beaugrenelle

parisdia19 July 2020Restaurants & HotelsLeave a Comment

Bernard Sellin is obsessed with pepper which he tracks all over the world

If you find yourself near Beaugrenelle, in this dreary area where shopping malls reign supreme, don’t hesitate to stop at Bernard du 15, a restaurant on rue des Entrepreneurs which specializes in pepper. Some cost 240 € a kilo! and they come from all over the world. From Ahom in India, Sarawak in Malaysia, or Likouala in Congo. Kerala, Lampong, Cameroun, Malabar or Madagascar. With a modestly priced menu at 28€, you get to travel all over the world and taste new flavors. Read More

At MAD, an explosion of drawings

parisdia19 July 2020Architecture, Art2 Comments

Bénédicte Gady, curator of the show, in front of Jean Souverbie’s model for the staircase of Théâtre National de Chaillot, 1937

When Bénédicte Gady, head of graphic arts at MAD, announced two years ago that they were opening up the department of drawings to the public, a small group of collectors congratulated her politely just before Salon du Dessin. At the time, the Getty Foundation offered to pay for a full time researcher, Sarah Catala, to help her. Today, with the determination of Olivier Gabet, director of MAD, this has become a reality. Partly thanks to the generosity of a few drawing lovers who paid for the restoration of the large works, the show “Le Dessin sans réserve” (Drawing limits), has just opened quietly at the museum and she was nice enough to take me around, pointing to the most important discoveries that were made in the collection of 200 000 documents. Yes, two hundred thousand, can you believe it? This is more than the Louvre and Orsay together… and most of them had never been shown to the public.

Giorgio de Chirico at Museum of Modern Art, MAM

parisdia9 July 2020Art5 Comments

Cavallo e zebra, 1948

I was very frustrated to enter the Museum of Modern art of the city of Paris and to be told that no, the Victor Brauner exhibition was not opening until September 18… So I went in anyway, to walk around the permanent collection (which is free) and I had a wonderful surprise. The Giorgio de Chirico room with eight or nine of his masterpieces which are part of the collection of 61 given by his widow Isabella Pakszwer de Chirico‘ heirs, in 2011. It is exceptional.

At Louvre Lens, Black is the winning color

parisdia9 July 2020Architecture, Art3 Comments

The permanent exhibition of treasures from the Louvre is tantalizing in this modern space

The Louvre Lens is a place I try to visit every year and their program of exhibitions is rich enough to justify the 2 hour and a half drive from Paris (1.30 on the train). Their new show is devoted to “Black Suns, from Egypt to Soulages” and its diversity is very exciting. I was almost alone at 10.30 and loved the way the garden has grown around the steel and glass building designed by SANAA, the Japanese architects. The permanent gallery filled with treasures from the Louvre is incredibly intimate and happy.

What’s new this week? a new government…

parisdia6 July 2020Art, Books, Happy moments1 Comment

Jean Castex our new prime minister has a nice southern accent

I was quietly having a bath listening to the news that we had a new prime minister when suddenly workers in orange garb started moving around a crate, and a large glass window was lowered on the building under construction… there is never a moment of peace in our world.

Prime minister Edouard Philippe, who was loved by 60 % of the French was dismissed. He is back running his city of Le Havre and Jean Castex, the mayor of Prades, a French Catalan village in the Pyrénées, is now at the helm. He was in charge of deconfining France and seems to have -so far- been quite successful. We will probably never see him in yellow pants on the cover of Paris Match like his predecessor who could have been a model in Men’s Vogue, but he seems to be revered by the unions and the villagers from Prades, alike. And he hired Roselyne Bachelot as minister of culture, an idea I love. She is an opera lover and speaks her heart in every occasion. We should have fun with her! Let’s pray he manages well the “rentrée” which will be tough.

At MahJ, berber jewelry is worn by Moroccan Jews

parisdia2 July 2020Photography3 Comments

Sarah Abehassera and Messaoud Assouline in wedding clothes, Erfoud, region of Tafilalet, 1935

It all started with Hannah Assouline‘s passion for history and when she found a picture of her father’s as a young groom, shot by Jean Besancenot in 1935 in Southern Morocco, this woman who is herself a photographer, decided to research more about the Jewish community in Morocco. Photographer Jean Besancenot (1902-1992) spent his life documenting costumes and jewelry in Morocco with photos and with gouaches. He published a book of drawings in 1942 and worked at Musée de l’Homme.Read More

Taisho, a Japanese restaurant for a Japanese aquarium at Trocadero

parisdia2 July 2020Restaurants & HotelsLeave a Comment

Taishô is located just below Cité de l’Architecture in the Trocadero gardens

It’s a pity that l’Aquarium Paris did not put a little bit more effort in the temporary decoration of its summer restaurant, Taishô, named after the 1920’s era in Japan. A few bamboos and no Martini sign on the deck chairs would have helped. But it’s still a pleasant experience to have lunch outside in the garden facing the Eiffel Tower. And the excellent Japanese chef, Keisuke Yamagishi, whose cuisine I had tasted at his fancy restaurant Etude last year, was there to supervise the kitchen. Read More

Musée d’Orsay resurrects with James Tissot

parisdia30 June 2020Art1 Comment

It was so exciting to be able to return to Musée d’Orsay that people in the short queue at 9.30 am last Tuesday could not stop smiling. And the occasion was definitely worth it with the “James Tissot, Ambiguous modernity” long awaited exhibition (it was due to open on March 24). There are many paintings of the Thames that you have already seen at Petit Palais in 2018 or the large “Cercle de la Rue Royale” which is permanently at Orsay, but there are also wonderful surprises such as the series of religious gouaches from the Brooklyn museum, the Parisiennes, the different versions of the Prodigal son and the enamel cloisonnés that the artist designed. The works have come from Providence, New York, San Francisco, Dublin, London, Karlsruhe, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto… just before confinement, it is a true miracle.Read More