It’s May 2018, 50 years after the “events” of May 1968, and commemorative exhibitions are popping up all over Paris. The Hôtel de Ville alone has two exhibitions: outside on the fence is “Quand 68 Prend la Parole,” a show featuring reproductions … Read More
“La Collection Bic,” an exhibition at Paris’s Centquatre cultural center, shows us a new facet of the humble Bic pen, which, along with its relatives the Bic lighter and razor, have been a familiar part of our lives for decades. … Read More
To celebrate the 80th anniversary of the painting of Picasso’s “Guernica,” Paris’s Picasso Museum has put together an absorbing exhibition that dissects the symbolism of the monumental work and explores in detail its genesis and influence. “Guernica” was the Spanish-born … Read More
The exhibition “Kupka: Pioneer of Abstraction” at the Grand Palais takes us on a fascinating journey through one artist’s evolution from figurative painting to the radical modernity of pure abstraction. For me, the exhibition was even more exciting since I … Read More
Visiting the three exhibitions of the work of Gérard Garouste currently on show in Paris is like taking a tour of the artist’s unconscious as expressed through philosophical, literary, mythological and religious themes. Collectively called “Zeugma,” the shows are being … Read More
The exhibition “Tintoretto: Birth of a Genius” at the Musée du Luxembourg concentrates on the early career of the exuberant Venetian Mannerist painter Jacopo Tintoretto (né Robusti), who painted fast, fluently and furiously. Tintoretto (c. 1518-94) was ambitious and hardworking, … Read More
Sheila Hicks, the subject of a solo show at the Centre Pompidou called “Sheila Hicks: Life Lines,” defines herself as a “contemporary fiber artist.” She is an artist who defies categories, using yarn, once scorned as a “woman’s medium” in … Read More
Although we don’t hear much about them, there was still life left in Dutch artists long after the waning of the Golden Age and the disappearance of the Old Masters. I saw evidence of that in the exhibition “Dutch Modernity: … Read More
I am sorry to be so late in reviewing Sophie Calle’s exhibition “Beau Doublé, Monsieur le Marquis!” at the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (February 11 is the last day), but if you get a chance to … Read More
It seems to me that artists have far too much fun in their work compared with the rest of us. I thought about that while visiting the César retrospective at the Centre Pompidou, especially as I watched a film of him guiding … Read More
