Heidi Ellison
Arman
Arman: “Chopin’s Waterloo” (1962). © ADAGP Paris 2010. Photo: Adam Rzepka. Collection Centre Pompidou, Dist. RMN I went to the Arman retrospective at the Centre Pompidou with every expectation of not enjoying it. Wasn’t Arman one of those publicity-hound artists … Read More
Henry Moore: The Studio
“Working Model for Sheep Piece” (1971) © Henry Moore Foundation Henry Moore’s highly popular and seemingly ubiquitous sculptures have never really appealed to me, but I couldn’t put my finger … Favorite
Cranach et Son Temps
“The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine” (1508-09) by Lucas Cranach the Elder. © Ráday Library of the Hungarian Reformed Church, Budapest A mystery surrounds the authorship of the paintings of Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553). Like today’s fashion and object designers … Read More
Miquel Barceló: Terra-Mare, Avignon
“Untitled” (2009), one of Miquel Barceló’s paintings on termite-eaten paper. © Miquel Barceló/ADAGP Miquel Barceló, like Pablo Picasso, is a natural-born artist, working with enormous ease, superhuman energy and great versatility. Just as Picasso could … Favorite
André Kertész
“Underwater Swimmer, Esztergom” (1917) by André Kertész. Gelatin silver print. Bibliothèque Nationale de France. If there had been no André Kertész (1894-1985), would there have been a Brassaï, a Henri Cartier-Bresson, a Robert Doisneau, a Willy Ronis? Kertész the precursor … Read More
Les Recherches d’un Chien
“Animal” (1986) by Fischli & Weiss. A friend told me the other day that he didn’t like contemporary art. But what is contemporary art? It is simply art being made today or made in the recent past, so in theory … Read More
Counterpoint: Russian Contemporary Art
“Business Man Toy Factory” (2008) byAES+F, from the Louvre’s “Counterpoint” exhibition, © AES+F © Adagp, Paris 2009 The other day I spent six hours dashing around every wing of the Louvre for a work assignment. I don’t recommend such an … Read More
Larry Clark & Jean-Michel Basquiat
Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat: “6.99” (1985). Collection Bischofberger, Switzerland © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat © ADAGP, Paris 2010 Larry Clark’s sensational photographs of teenagers having sex and shooting drugs seem to have more to do with his personal … Read More
Mondrian/De Stijl
Nothing is left of Mondrian’s orderly Paris studio (at 26, rue de Depart), a work of art in itself, which has been recreated as it was in 1926 for the current show at the Centre Pompidou. © Adagp, Paris 2010 … Read More
L’Antiquité Rêvée, Gérôme & Anticomania
“Psyche Abandoned” (1795) by Jacques-Louis David. © Private Collection Art styles come and go with the ever-seesawing cycles of fashion just as surely as hemlines and shoulder widths change every few years. One style that is always sure to make … Read More