David Platzer
Beat Generation
Interplanetary Agents In a Deadly Struggle
Seeing the Beat Generation enshrined in a museum like the Centre Pompidou can give pause to one old enough to have started reading books by Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, William Burroughs and such fellow travelers as Lawrence Ferlinghetti … Read More
The Velvet Underground: New York Extravaganza
On the New York Scene With Nico, Andy, Allen et al
Back in the late Sixties, the Velvet Underground would have seemed an unlikely subject for an exhibition like “The Velvet Underground: New York Extravaganza” at the Philharmonie de Paris. Though well-received by perceptive reviewers of the time and played by … Read More
Gainsbourg 2008
Comprehending a Cult France’s beloved bad-boy troubadour Serge Gainsbourg is an acquired taste for foreigners. His cynical, grizzled, Gitane-puffing, pastis-soaked image can seem posy and pretentious. After years of trying to understand this French obsession, I have finally been convinced … Read More
Astérix at the Musée de Cluny
Cover of the exhibition catalogue. © Rmn Astérix, the plucky mustachioed Gaul created by the cartoonist Albert Uderzo and the scenarist René Goscinny, is 50 years old this autumn. Where better to celebrate … Favorite
En Toutes Lettres: Cent Ans de Littérature à La Nouvelle Revue Française.
The colorful story of La Nouvelle Revue Française is illustrated in an exhibition in an abbey near Caen. “There are three powers in France: the Banque de France, the Communist Party and the NRF. Start with the NRF,” said Otto … Read More
Fastes Royaux
“Automne” (c. 1668), after Charles Le Brun. © Lawrence Perquis, Mobilier National The historian Ernest Lavisse, whose manuals on the history of France influenced generations of teachers, dismissed Louis as a philistine with no feeling for the arts, except as … Read More
Jacques Prévert: Paris la Belle
A Boom in Préversions “Les Garçons de la Rue,” a collage by Jacques Prévert on a photo by Robert Doisneau. © Fatras, Succession Jacques Prévert/Collection privée Jacques Prévert Jacques Prévert reminds me of men I knew in childhood, the picture … Read More