Ai Weiwei, the superstar Chinese artist and courageous activist, left China and moved to Berlin following the return last year of his passport, taken from him when he was jailed by the Chinese authorities for three months in 2011. His … Read More
It’s difficult to believe that the Marais, today a bastion of elegance – as it was when its graceful hôtels particuliers were built in the 17th century – was for much of the 20th century a grimy, dilapidated, poverty-stricken quartier … Read More
A friend with a sharp eye spotted Botanique even before it opened, when its pretty little two-story yellow-brick building with a long row of windows was being renovated. A couple of months after the opening, she invited me to dinner upstairs in the “gastronomic” dining room, where a tasting menu is served in the evening.
SURREAL INSPIRATIONS Only two weeks left to see a spectacular exhibition at the Musée du Quai Branly: “Sepik: Arts of Papua New Guinea” (through Jan. 31). The surprising and fascinating objects are beautifully displayed and arranged according to the way … Read More
“God, what a bore it is to have to dress up and go out when one would ever so much rather stay at home,” the Duchess de Guermantes says ingenuously in Marcel Proust’s novel A la Recherche du Temps Perdu … Read More
Wealth combined with good taste and an eye for the new often leads to the creation of a great art collection. That was the case with the Swiss couple Hedy Bühler and Arthur Hahnloser, who in the early 20th century … Read More
When his pictures weren’t downright naughty, they were often breathlessly passionate, but apparently Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806), the illustrator of the libertine era par excellence, didn’t practice what he painted. Falsely credited with passionate liaisons with famed courtesans, he was actually … Read More
Gutenberg’s invention of mechanical movable type in 1450 made printing possible, but the term has an entirely different meaning in the exhibition “Type in Motion” at the Lieu du Design in Paris. This is movable type for the digital age, … Read More
Feminism was already under serious discussion in enlightened 18th-century France. In 1790, the Marquis de Condorcet (1743–94), for example, published an essay entitled “On the Admission of Women to the Rights of Citizenship” (a right they did not receive until … Read More
Robert De Niro’s line “You talkin’ to me?” from Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver has entered the language as a popular catchphrase. In “Scorsese: The Exhibition” at the Cinémathèque Française, visitors may well have the impression that Scorsese is talking directly … Read More
