Heidi Ellison
Le Secret de la Chambre Noire
Creaky Vehicle for Ghost from the Past
Le Secret de la Chambre Noire (Daguerreo-type; misspelled as Daguerrotype), the first movie by Japanese horror film director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no relation to the great Akira Kurosawa) to be made outside of his country, in France, is basically an old-fashioned … Read More
L’Office
All in a Working Day
I keep going back to the Office because this little restaurant in the ninth arrondissement changes chefs occasionally, not by plan like Fulgurances, but in the way of an ordinary restaurant not owned by its chef. The Office is owned … Read More
Masterpieces of the Leiden Collection & Drawing the Everyday
New Look at the Old Masters
Lovers of Dutch Golden Age art – and who isn’t? – are being spoiled in Paris this season. The Louvre is hosting the blockbuster Vermeer exhibition, of course, but it is also featuring two smaller related shows that should not … Read More
Iconomania
New-Age Icons
Only one week left to see “Iconomania” (through March 31) at the Maif Social Club, a new cultural space opened by the Maif insurance company in the Marais. This fascinating exhibition showcases young artists using new technologies to explore the … Read More
Etsi
Sunny Days on the Butte Montmartre
Hidden away in the far reaches of the 18th arrondissement is a new restaurant, Etsi, that Parisians from all over are already seeking out. When we went there for lunch on the first truly springlike day of the season, the … Read More
A Journey to Norway
Fervent Abstraction Inspired by Nature
To see the exhibition “A Journey to Norway,” all you have to do is take a trip south, to the lovely French city of Tours, just over an hour from Paris by TGV. There have always been plenty of good … Read More
Drawing Hotel
Drawing on Artistic Talent
“Art” hotels abound these days, with rooms decorated by artists, rooms named after artists, etc., but the new Drawing Hotel in Paris’s first arrondissement takes the idea a step further. Drawing – long neglected as the poor cousin of painting, … Read More
Fulgurances, Chef 4
Rotating Chefs Keep the Fire Burning
I have already written about Fulgurances, a restaurant that changes chefs regularly, not because they storm out in a fit of pique as chefs are sometimes wont to do, but because its mission is to act as a springboard for … Read More
Karel Appel: L’Art Est une Fête!
Expressive Vehemence for A Barbaric Era
The title of the exhibition “Karel Appel: L’Art Est une Fête!” (“Art as Celebration!”) at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris might lead one to expect a show of art expressing great joy. Far from it. I … Read More
Iratze
A Bright New Basque Star
THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CALLED KORUS AND HAS THE SAME OWNERS BUT A NEW CHEF. A group of five of us gathered spontaneously at a gallery opening the other night and later managed to get a last-minute reservation at a … Read More