The Merovingian Age

February 1, 2017 | By Heidi Ellison | Archive, Exhibitions

Gleams of Light From the ‘Dark Ages’ The “Dark Ages” weren’t as dark as all that, judging by the all gleaming gold in the exhibition “The Merovingian Age” at the Musée de Cluny. It must be the gold, always a … Read More

L’Esprit du Bauhaus

Artists and Artisans United in Modernity

January 25, 2017 | By Heidi Ellison | Archive, Exhibitions

Seeing the exhibition “The Spirit of the Bauhaus” at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs is the next best thing to going to the famous school itself, which would, of course, be impossible, since it was shut down in 1933 after Ludwig Mies van der Rohe refused to submit to Nazi conditions, which included the dismissal of one of its professors, Wassily Kandinsky, considered a “degenerate artist.”

Chatomat Revisited

Fine Dining in a Dollhouse

January 11, 2017 | By Heidi Ellison | Archive

The tiny 20th-arrondissement restaurant Chatomat is as good as it was when it opened more than five years ago. Sadly, the candlelight our reviewer commented on in 2011 was gone, but the wine was as strong as ever: the 2015 Terre d’Aigles Côtes du Rhône from Domaine Richard we ordered had a 15-percent alcohol content!