Heidi Ellison
Fernande Olivier and Pablo Picasso: In the Intimacy of the Bateau Lavoir
Happy Times in Montmartre
Fernande Olivier (1881-1966), one of the many serial women in Pablo Picasso’s long life, started her career as an artists’ model in Paris after running away from an abusive husband, whom she had been forced to marry after he raped … Read More
Bouillon Chartier Gare de l’Est
Eating on the Cheap
Every tourist and hard-up student in Paris has surely passed through the doors of the first Bouillon Chartier on Rue Faubourg Montmartre. Opened in 1896 in a former arms factory, the bouillon (a 19th-century workers’ restaurant specializing in soup and … Read More
Pacifiction–Tourment sur les Îles
Entranced in Tahiti
Take a very thin script, set your film on a gorgeous tropical island, hire some good actors but let the main character do most of the talking, then stretch the movie out to two hours and 45 minutes. The result … Read More
Paris Update Events 09.11.2022
Through November 12 Calder Unfolding The Almine Rech gallery presents a major exhibition of the work of Alexander Calder, including the mobile pictured above: “Untitled” (1963). Almine Rech, Paris November 13 French film with English subtitles Lost in Frenchlation presents … Read More
Sam Szafran: Obsessions d’un Peintre
Dazzling Madness
Never heard of the artist Sam Szafran? You are not alone. Szafran (birth name: Berger) the subject of the exhibition “Sam Szafran: Obsessions of a Painter” at the Musée de l’Orangerie, was born in Paris in 1934, not an auspicious … Read More
Aux 2 Saveurs Restaurant
How to Prolong Your Vacation
Returning to Paris from a relaxing vacation in the South of France some years ago, a friend and I walked out of the Gare de Lyon and looked at each other balefully. We were not yet ready to return to … Read More
Rosa Bonheur
Rosa Redux
This must be the season for exhibitions of the work of ballsy women artists in Paris’s museums. It’s about time. While I used the word to describe Alice Neel, whose work is on show at the Centre Pompidou, it could … Read More
Le Jourdain Restaurant
By the Book(ing)
In Paris, as you probably already know, if you want to eat at a good restaurant, you can’t expect to reserve at the last minute or just pop in unreserved. A case in point: on Wednesday of last week, I … Read More
L’Innocent
A Question of Innocence
L’Innocent is not really sure what kind of film it is. It’s a kind of stylish mystery/thriller/family drama, like Sophie Marceau’s latest, Une Femme de Notre Temps, but it’s also a kind of heist film, a kind of comedy and … Read More
Paris Update Events 02.11.2022
November 4 French film with English subtitles Lost in Frenchlation presents Le Sixième Enfant, directed by Léopold Legrand. L’Entrepôt, Paris November 6 Soirée in aid of Ukrainian culture United Artists for Ukraine will auction off artworks and stage a party … Read More