Grenier des Grands Augustins

February 7, 2010 | By Heidi Ellison | Archive

Picasso Meets Balzac Even jaded longtime residents of Paris often stumble across hidden gems they didn’t even know existed. The other day I discovered a charming example laden with historic, artistic and literary connections. On the Rue des Grands Augustins … Read More

Three Exhibitions

February 7, 2010 | By Heidi Ellison | Archive

“Chat Polymorphe,” a sculpture by François-Xavier Lalanne with a bar hidden inside, at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Here’s a feel-good show if there ever was one, full of works that are not only admirable but that also inevitably bring … Read More

William Kentridge: Five Themes

February 7, 2010 | By Heidi Ellison | Archive

“Act III, Scene 9” (1996) from William Kentridge’s portfolio of eight etchings “Ubu Tells the Truth,” © 2010 William Kentridge. Photo: John Hodgkiss. The South African artist William Kentridge has made politics his theme ever since the era of apartheid, … Read More

Edvard Munch: The Modern Eye

February 7, 2010 | By Heidi Ellison | Archive

“Weeping Woman” (1907) © Munch Museum/Munch-Ellingsen Group/BONO 2011 © Adagp, Paris 2011   Edvard Munch’s “The Scream,” the artist’s best-known and most reproduced image, is nearly as iconic as Leonardo’s “Mona Lisa,” to the point where it … Favorite

HEY! Modern Art and Pop Culture

February 7, 2010 | By Heidi Ellison | Archive

“Initiation, Cord” (2009), one of the inexplicable, dream-world images by Lin Shih-yung in the exhibition “HEY! Modern Art and Pop Culture.   HEY! is an art magazine that specializes in a particular kind of art, which might be called the … Read More

Not for Sale

February 7, 2010 | By Heidi Ellison | Archive

Anne Brunet’s “Olympia Forever,” an update of the famed painting “Olympia,” brings tears to the eyes of Manet’s proud courtesan.   Many art dealers have personal art collections, but, being salespeople, they often have a hard time resisting an offer … Read More

Fra Angelico and the Masters of Light

February 7, 2010 | By Heidi Ellison | Archive

Fra Angelico’s “The Coronation of the Virgin” (1434-1435). Uffizi Gallery © 2010. Photo Scala, Florence courtesy of the Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali   For sheer visions of loveliness in heavenly, harmonious colors, the paintings of Fra Angelico (1387-1455) reign … Read More

Evento

February 7, 2010 | By Heidi Ellison | Archive

One of Pascal Marthine Tayou’s “poupées” from his installation at the Musée d’Aquitaine.   The city of Bordeaux’s biannual citywide contemporary art festival, Evento, took a sociopolitical turn this year under the artistic direction of Italian Arte … Favorite

Cézanne and Paris

February 7, 2010 | By Heidi Ellison | Archive

Cézanne’s “Le Quartier du Four à Auvers-sur-Oise” (c. 1873). © Philadelphia Museum of Art   Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), the painter recognized by the great artists of the early 20th century as “the father of us all,” is perhaps best known … Read More

Dance Your Life

February 7, 2010 | By Heidi Ellison | Archive

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s “Totentanz der Mary Wigman” (1926-28). Wichtrach/Berne, Galerie Henze & Ketterer& Triebold   Dance lovers will adore the new exhibition “Vivez la Danse” (“Dance Your Life”) at the Centre Pompidou, but even dance skeptics and the dance-indifferent will … Read More