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
Overheard at the exhibition “Picasso Mania” at the Grand Palais: American man to American woman as he points to an erotic etching: “Do you recognize this?” Woman (looking bored): “No.” Man: “It’s on your breakfast plate every morning.” The extent … Read More
A New Way of Looking at the World “Chōshi in the Province of Sōshū” from the series “One Thousand Pictures of the Sea” (c. 1830-34). © Rmn-Grand Palais (Musée Guimet, Paris)/Thierry Olivier Japanese illustration and printmaking have been the subject … Read More
Around the World and Down on the Farm “Harar, Ethiopia, 2013.” © Raymond Depardon/Magnum Photos For someone who grew up on an isolated farm deep in the heart of France, Raymond Depardon has probably seen more of the world than … Read More
The Man Who Captured ‘The Beauty of Sinister Things’ Brassaï’s “Le Ruisseau qui Serpente” (1932-33). Brassaï is known as the master of night photography, and it is indeed those images that shine the brightest in the exhibition “Brassaï: For the … Read More
Beyond Cubism: The Whole Picture “Le Parc de Carrières-Saint-Denis” (1909-10). © Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza © Adagp, Paris 2013 “Georges Braque,” one of Paris’s blockbuster autumn art exhibitions, opening today at the Grand Palais, walks us through nearly the whole career of … Read More
Life Cut Short, Career Resurrected “Titre Inconnu (Clown, Cheval, Salamandre)” (c. 1911-12). Lisbon, CAM/Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. Photo: Paulo Costa I was alerted to the exhibition “Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso” at the Grand Palais by a friend in Portugal, who wrote to … Read More
A Partial Look at The Painter’s Painter “The Toilet of Venus” (c. 1647-51). © The National Gallery Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) is justly considered one of the world’s all-time great painters – Manet called him “the painter’s painter” and “the greatest … Read More
A Survey of Haitian Art: Beyond the Stereotypes “Poste Ravine Pintade” (c. 1980), by Fritzner Lamour. Not surprisingly, death looms large as subject matter in the exhibition “Haiti: Two Centuries of Artistic Creation” at the Grand Palais in Paris, … Read More
Art That Saves, Art That Kills “Les Trois Grâces” (1995-2003). © 2014 Niki Charitable Art Foundation. Photo: Philippe Cousin It seems that everyone in the world is familiar with Niki de Saint Phalle’s “Nanas,” those monumental sculptures of curvaceous goddesses … Read More
