Heidi Ellison
Mantegna
Renaissance Fashions “The Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth and Saint John the Baptist.” © Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden This mega-exhibition at the Louvre might better have been called Mantegna & Co., since the works by the Italian master Andrea … Read More
Emil Nolde
Storms of Color “La Mise au Tombeau” (1915). © Nolde Stiftung-Seebüll This exhibition, which promises to be one of the fall season’s blockbusters, will be a delightful eye opener for anyone who is not familiar with the work of Emil … Read More
Georges Rouault
Through a Stained Glass Darkly “Bénigne” (1939). © ADAGP Paris 2008 Having never understood the appeal of the paintings of Georges Rouault, whose works can be immediately recognized by the heavy black outlines around the figures in them, I was … Read More
Première Etoile
Delivering the Gourmet Goods The media-savvy The ingredients and the recipe finally arrived around 9 p.m. Photo: R. Hesse posed for the cover of her own book. Some time ago, I bought an exquisite takeout lunch salad at a fancy … Read More
Le Silence de Lorna
Hard Choices
With Le Silence de Lorna (Lorna’s Silence), brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have made another of their morally complex films about marginalized people coping with the situations they find themselves in. These are no hapless victims of a cruel society, … Read More
La Rentrée Littéraire Sept. 2008
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll The usually bloated list of new books coming out during France’s fall publishing season, known as la rentrée littéraire, has slimmed down somewhat this year, with “only” 676 novels being published, 466 of … Read More
Sagan
Making Up the Past
Following on the enormous success of La Môme (La Vie en Rose in English), which detailed the rise and fall of French singer Edith Piaf, we now have Sagan, directed by Diane Kurys, which details the rise and fall of … Read More
Hôtel Arès Eiffel
Design Details The “white room” in the hotel’s lobby. It’s all in the details at the Hôtel Arès Eiffel, which has just been transformed into a design hotel where – unlike many others that claim the moniker – the design … Read More
Ferrandaise
Well-Bred Critic’s Choice February 15, 2006; updated May 23, 2008 French restaurant critics have a new chouchou. La Ferrandaise, which opened last September, has already been named restaurant of the year 2006 by Claude Lebey’s “Le Petit Lebey 2006 des … Read More
Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire
Eclectic Estate The “Eloge du Compost” garden includes a “dry toilet” (in the structure in the background). Photo: Eric Sander pour le Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire Big changes are afoot at the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, a Loire Valley château/estate best known … Read More