Brian Childs
Nina Khemchyan: Echo
Meditations on Sin and Repentance, from Venice to Paris
A catwalk of contemporary artistic fashions and a display case for the projection of cultural soft power, the Venice Biennale has grown in size and extravagance over the years as powerhouse nations have vied to outcompete one another for the … Read More
Berthe Morisot, Postimpressionists, Gwen John
French Art Across the Channel
A couple of hours by Eurostar from Paris, two essentially French art shows in London offer an excuse for a weekend immersed in the Anglo-Gallic love-hate relationship. And, if you’ve time to spare for a long weekend, a day trip … Read More
Musée Bourdelle
Bourdelle Museum Beautified
Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929) was a big beast in his lifetime, one of a triumvirate of famed French sculptors, alongside Auguste Rodin and Aristide Maillol. After he died in 1929, his reputation faded, but he’s been rediscovered in recent years, and … Read More
Saint Germain en Laye
A Royal Outing with Plebian Pleasures
At the western end of the first Parisian railway, now the RER A rapid transit line, Saint Germain en Laye is 12 miles and a far world away from the hassle and pollution of the capital. Perched above a meander … Read More
Women War Photographers
Women on the Front Line
War photographers are mostly portrayed as a macho breed, summed up in the death-defying bravado of Al Rockoff as played by John Malkovich in the movie The Killing Fields, about the genocide in Cambodia, or the frontline action motto of … Read More
Au-delà des Étoiles: Le Paysage Mystique de Monet à Kandinsky
A Search for Meaning in Nature’s Charms
Question: What do Monet, Mondrian and Munch, O’Keeffe and Kandinsky have in common? The Musée d’Orsay’s show “Au Delà des Étoiles” (“Beyond the Stars”) has some answers. Subtitled “The Mystical Landscape from Monet to Kandinsky,” it connects these and many … Read More
Johan Creten: La Traversée/The Crossing
Desire and Pain, Humanity and Nature
In 1988, Noëlle Tissier, an artist turned feisty culture warrior, set up the Villa Saint Clair in the Mediterranean fishing port of Sète as an incubator for budding talents. Among the younger fellow-artists she nurtured, many went on to win … Read More
Le Douanier Rousseau: L’Innocence Archaïque
Missing Link in the Birth of Modernism?
When Guy Cogeval was campaigning for a third term as president of the Musée d’Orsay this year, one of his strongest arguments was his record as a producer of money-pulling blockbuster art shows. His reappointment this month by President François … Read More
Christopher Forbes Collection
Tragicomic Coda orMisunderstood Monarch? “Empress Eugénie Surrounded by her Ladies-in-Waiting,” after Franz-Xavier Winterhalter. © Osenat Louis Napoleon, a.k.a. Napoleon III, gets a bad rap from history: he is often seen as a sort of tragicomic coda to the glories of … Read More
The Plaza Athénée
Princely Comforts at Parisian Dream Palace The recently redecorated restaurant Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée. © Pierre Monetta We can’t all be born with a silver spoon in the mouth or live in a palace, but, for a taste of … Read More