The Manly Art of Portraying Prostitution “Rolla” (1878), by Henri Gervex. © Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/Patrice Schmidt Oscillations in representations of prostitution are almost as violent as the hazards of the profession itself. The exhibition “Splendour and Misery: Pictures … Read More
Picturing the Medici: Power Personified “Portrait of Cosimo I De’Medici” (1560), by Bronzino. © The Alana Collection, Newark, Delaware, USA. The year is 1530, the setting is the Florentine court: the scene is set for the return of one of … Read More
Physically Brutal,Metaphysically Rich “Empires” by Huang Yong Ping. © Adagp, Paris 2016. Photo: Didier Plowy for RMN-GP To misappropriate one of Donald Trump’s favorite words, this year’s Monumenta installation at the Grand Palais is “HUGE.” For the next few weeks, … Read More
English Love Affair with Erotic Sensuality “A Song of Springtime” (1913), by John William Waterhouse. Photo © Studio Sébert Photographes In the 18th and early 19th centuries, the English were a pretty rakish lot. Victorian prudery drove that tendency underground, … Read More
Underground Art inChampagne Country “Maintenant/Now” (1997), by Stéphane Calais in the stairway leading to the cavernous cellars. Photo: © Fred Laures In the soft chalk of the hill beneath Reims, the Roman Gauls burrowed a honeycomb of mines, extracting the … Read More
A Conflicted Continent’sTormented History ”Untitled,” from the ”Latin Fire” series (1975-78), by Ever Astudillo. Courtesy Toluca Fine Art, Paris. Whether by accident or design, the Fondation Cartier in Paris is devoting a major exhibition to five decades of contemporary Latin … Read More
Finding Harmony in Organized Chaos “Duet Room.” © MONA/Rémi Chauvin Image Courtesy MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia The Maison Rouge contemporary art space in Paris is currently offering an odd jumble of a show called … Read More
True or False?Let the Viewer Decide “Orogenesis: Derain” (2004). © Joan Fontcuberta Two intriguing exhibitions are currently showing at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris. One is a series of photographs by the filmmaker David Lynch, Favorite
Beyond the Decisive Moment,Multiple Cartier-Bressons “Martine Franck, Paris, France” (1967). © Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos, courtesy Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson Henri Cartier-Bresson, wealthy bourgeois, Surrealist, leftist, portraitist and father of photojournalism, was unequivocally one of the great photographers of the last century. … Read More
The Gilded Life of aProlific 19th-Century Artist Gustave Doré’s “Souvenir de Loch Lamond” (1875). © French & Company, New York As an artist, Gustave Doré doesn’t fit comfortably into standard categories, which may be why serious 19th-century art critics turned … Read More
