Heidi Ellison
Giorgio de Chirico: La Fabrique des Rêves
The Artist as Enigma “Le Vaticinateur” (1915). © ADAGP, Paris 2009 What could be more recognizable than a Giorgio de Chirico painting? A large stretch of empty space; lonely, featureless human figures or a statue; an architectural element here and … Read More
David LaChapelle
Irreality Show “Statue” from the “Deluge” series (2007). © David LaChapelle What happens when Jeff Koons meets Andy Warhol meets Pierre et Gilles? You get David LaChapelle. Call him camp, kitsch and commercial all you like, but his giant photographic … Read More
Donations Daniel Cordier: Les Désordres du Plaisir
What Is Art? Nineteenth-century sugar silos from Southern Kerala, India. Photo: Georges Meguerditchian, Centre Pompidou After a recent visit to the Barnes Foundation and the nearby home of a private collector just outside Philadelphia, both of which demonstrated just how … Read More
Albert Marquet: Itinéraires Maritimes
Paris by the Sea “Sailboats in Sète” (1924). © Adagp, Paris 2008 What better way to spend a couple of hours on a winter day in Paris than looking at pretty pictures of the sea at the Musée National de … Read More
Seventies: Le Choc de la Photographie Américaine
Seeing Is Believing “USA, Alabama, Anniston, Woman in Training” (1977) by Mary Ellen Mark. © Mary Ellen Mark The exhibition “Seventies: Le Choc de la Photographie Américaine,” in its final days at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, may tell us … Read More
Dial M for Merde
Fishing for Trouble in the South of France
Paris-based British writer Stephen Clarke has made the word “merde” something of a trademark – well, whatever works for you. And this franchise apparently works well for Clarke, since he has just published the fourth in a series of novels … Read More
Rapa Nui: Easter Island
Islanders Vindicated Moaï Papa. © Galerie Louise Leiris Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, has always exerted a strong fascination: a tiny “lost” island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 2,000 kilometers from the nearest land, it was home to … Read More
L’Art de Lee Miller
Convulsive Beauty “Portrait of Space” (1937). © Lee Miller Archives, England 2008. All rights reserved. www.leemiller.co.uk What a life Lee Miller led! The exhibition now on at the Jeu de Paume tells us rather more about its fascinations than about … Read More
Museum Miscellany
Picasso may be lording it over the Paris art world right now with “Picasso et les Maîtres,” a mega-exhibition at the Grand Palais and two smaller ones at the Louvre and Musée d’Orsay, but there are plenty of other rewarding … Read More
Ron Arad: No Discipline
A Laughing Matter: Escapist Art “Well Tempered Chair” (1986), made from four sheets of stainless steel. © Vitra Design Museum An explosion of sheer exuberance greets visitors to the Centre Pompidou’s new show of designer Ron Arad’s work: exuberant swooping … Read More