Heidi Ellison
Chaïm Soutine/Willem de Kooning: Paint Made Flesh
Painters' Painters
An illuminating exhibition at the Musée de l’Orangerie, “Chaïm Soutine/Willem de Kooning: Paint Made Flesh,” takes us on a trip from the strange, twisted figures and landscapes of Chaīm Soutine to the blowsy, almost frightening figures of women by Willem … Read More
Isolé Restaurant
Gourmet Dining in the Concrete Jungle
The restaurant Isolé, meaning “isolated,” is well-named. Walking there from the Métro on a Saturday evening in winter is a spooky experience as your map app takes you on a roundabout route past housing projects and a series of darkened … Read More
Amants
Where’s the Heat?
Act 1 of Nicole Garcia’s new film, Amants: It opens, fittingly for a movie called Lovers, with a couple in bed, her naked body pasted on top of his. She is Lisa (Stacy Martin), he is Simon (Pierre Niney). A small-time … Read More
L’Ahah
Art Angels
Artists often have troubled relationships with their dealers, but most need their gallery shows to get their work out into the public eye, where, they hope, it will find buyers. There may be another way, however, for artists to find … Read More
Zébulon Restaurant
Gourmet Eccentricity
THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED I have been to Zébulon, next to the Palais Royal, twice before. Each time it had a different chef, and both were great. Now, a new chef, Guillaume Dunos, presides over the open kitchen, so … Read More
Les Olympiades
Another Side of Paris
Les Olympiades is a place few visitors to Paris have ever seen or would probably ever want to see. A “city within a city” in the 13th arrondissement, the 1970s development consists of bland highrise apartment buildings, shops and offices, … Read More
Regards Croisés
Landscapes of the Oise
To visit the town of L’Isle Adam, set on three islands on the River Oise, is to want to live there. An hour’s train ride north of Paris, it is even blessed with the last thing you’d expect to find … Read More
Coda Restaurant
Humble Brilliance
Coda is a restaurant to fall in love with. It’s very small (seats 18) and has no decor to speak of, aside from a strange lighting fixture on the ceiling made with plumber’s pipes. All the beauty comes out of … Read More
Paris Update Press Review
This Week's Good Reads about Paris and France
Making art for Wes Anderson The artworks seen in Wes Anderson’s new film The French Dispatch are real, made to order in France by a team of artists to the demanding specifications of the director. (Artnet News) How to look … Read More
Painting Apart from the World: Monks and Scholars of the Ming and Qing Dynasties
Mountain Sanctuaries
To the uneducated eye, traditional Chinese landscape paintings may all look pretty much the same, with their tall, pointy mountains, misty skies and tiny figures, but each one is not only an individual work of art but also a compendium … Read More