Heidi Ellison
Maurizio Cattelan: Not Afraid of Love
Post Requiem for The Artist
In 2011, at the age of 51, the artist Maurizio Cattelan announced he was giving up his art career, an event marked by a major retrospective (or “artistic suicide,” as some termed it) at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. … Read More
La Vague
Niceties of Nikkei Migrate to Paris
Strange to say, but until fairly recently Paris’s restaurant scene was rather provincial. If you didn’t want French food, you had to settle for mediocre, dumbed-down Chinese, Japanese, Italian or Indian. Mexican was pretty much nonexistent. The occasional exception was for food from former French colonies in North Africa or Vietnam.
Louise en Hiver & Ma Vie de Courgette
Tough Times and Salvation for Both Young and Old
After a good BD (bande dessinée, or graphic novel), what a French person loves best is a good animated film. I recently saw two that stand out for their great humanity and empathy: Louise en Hiver (Louise by the Shore) … Read More
Quinsou
A Rare Bird Spreads Its Wings
I thought I had mistaken the address on the restaurant-lined Rue de l’Abbé Grégoire (home to the excellent Cézembre) when I saw the beat-up facade of a café whose salad days were obviously long gone. But no, I was in the right place: a new restaurant called Quinsou.
American Painting in the 1930s: The Age of Anxiety
In the Run-up to A New Art World
Is Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” (1930) the American “Mona Lisa”? This iconic painting is certainly just as recognizable to people around the world, although it may not have the latter’s gravitas. “American Gothic,” with its dour farm couple and their … Read More
Rembrandt Intime
A Small Feast of Works of Genius
The title of the exhibition “Rembrandt Intime” at the Musée Jacquemart-André is slightly misleading; although the show does include a number of the artist’s self-portraits (he made around 80) and paintings featuring family members, it goes well beyond the intimate … Read More
Bernard Buffet
Reassessing a Beloved/Despised Artist
I heard it over and over again whenever I mentioned the Bernard Buffet (1928-99) retrospective at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris to a friend or acquaintance: “I don’t like him. I’m not going.” From what little … Read More
Belle Maison
More Fish than Fowl, Bistro Excels at Both
They’ve done it again. The youthful owners of the excellent bistros Le Pantruche and Caillebotte have spawned another success. La Belle Maison fully lives up to its name, offering fine food at reasonable prices with friendly service in a pleasant (although sometimes noisy) setting.
Chez la Vieille Daniel Rose
Joyeux, Joli et Généreux
After creating Spring, with its beautiful, starkly modern decor, American chef Daniel Rose seems to be in a mood for tradition. Aside from his successful venture in New York City, Le Coucou, he has acquired two Paris restaurants with resonant histories, retained their original names, and refreshed the decor and food, updating both but staying in the same vein as the original incarnation.
Tout Est Art: Ben
The Word Is Ben, Ben Is the Word
Like many people, I imagine, I didn’t know that there was much more to the artist Ben Vautier (born 1935 and better known as just “Ben”) than those clever handwritten sayings in white on black seen on walls in Paris … Read More