Nicolas de Staël (1914-55) ended his own life at the youthful age of 41, but he managed to pack a lot of living, loving, painting and traveling into those short years on Earth: though he only worked for a period … Read More
Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980) was a wild young thing in staid turn-of-the-20th-century Vienna. A critic even called him the Oberwildling, or “head savage” of the exhibition ”Kunstschau,” where he exhibited his illustrated poem “The Dreaming Youths,” a tale of teenage sexual … Read More
The exhibition “Anni et Josef Albers: L’Art et la Vie” at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris focuses on the ultimate 20th-century art-and-design-world power couple, she a weaver and printmaker, and he a painter. Both of their careers began at … Read More
When Paris museums attack a subject, they don’t mess around. The exhibition “Les Flammes: L’Âge de la Céramique” at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris is a deep dive into a vast subject: ceramics. Ceramics of every imaginable type, style, … Read More
The better-known names of photographer Sarah Moon and painter Victor Brauner are the big attention-getters at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris right now, but upstairs is a show (which had only a few visitors the day I was there, … Read More
I have to admit that, not knowing much about her and having a vague memory of fuzzy, romanticized fashion photos, I was not expecting much from the exhibition “Sarah Moon: PasséPrésent” at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de … Read More
A fascinating exhibition called “Deadline” at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris a decade ago presented works by 13 artists made in the run-up to their deaths, mostly when they were ill or disabled. One of the … Read More
Some artists are so well known that it seems almost pointless to do yet another straight-forward exhibition of their work. But those big names bring in the bucks, so curators scrape around for new exhibition angles. For Picasso, the Grand … Read More
The Artist’s Life as A Short, Intense Celebration “Jeune Fille Tenant des Fleurs Jaunes dans un Verre” (1902). © Paula-Modersohn-Becker-Stiftung, Brême Paris museums are hosting a welcome spate of exhibitions of artists whose work has been more or less neglected … Read More
If Poussin Painted Like a Child “La Varenne Saint-Hilaire, la Barque” (1913). © Richard Nathanson, London/ADAGP, Paris 2016 At first glance, many of the paintings of Albert Marquet (1875-1947) look simple, almost childlike. There is great power in that simplicity, … Read More
