The menu and decor are on the quirky side at this young-mom-and-pop bistro. Pros: Friendly service, friendly wine list, pleasant surroundings Cons: Rather noisy A mom-and-pop restaurant these days is likely to be run by a couple in their late … Read More
James Ensor’s “Etonnement du Masque Wouse” (1889). © ADAGP, Paris 2009 Visiting the James Ensor show at the Musée d’Orsay just after seeing the new exhibition on Fellini across the river at the Jeu de Paume, I couldn’t help noticing … Read More
The colorful story of La Nouvelle Revue Française is illustrated in an exhibition in an abbey near Caen. “There are three powers in France: the Banque de France, the Communist Party and the NRF. Start with the NRF,” said Otto … Read More
A painter whose work consists of abstract canvasses primarily covered in black makes an easy target for modern art skeptics of the “my-six-year-old-could-do-it” school, but that attitude would be very wrong in the case of Pierre Soulages, the subject of … Read More
Tadashi Kawamata’s wooden bridge and Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster’s film installation, works presented in Bordeaux during the Evento festival. Every French city seems to be promoting itself these days by holding a big contemporary art festival. Lille had its Lille 3000 in … Read More
The food at Ratatouille and Tellus (above) carries on the great tradition of French bourgeois cuisine. Editor’s note (May 2013): Tellus is no longer in business, but Ratatouille is still going strong. It’s very rare that I leave anything on … Read More
“Automne” (c. 1668), after Charles Le Brun. © Lawrence Perquis, Mobilier National The historian Ernest Lavisse, whose manuals on the history of France influenced generations of teachers, dismissed Louis as a philistine with no feeling for the arts, except as … Read More
Sarah Sze’s “Untitled (Portable Planetarium)” at the Biennale de Lyon.Photo: Blaise Adilon It would be difficult for any Biennale d’Art Contemporain de Lyon to live up to the wow power of the first one I attended, in 2000. The enormous … Read More
The lunchtime crowd waits outside Razowski’s for what is supposed to be Paris’s best burger. Pros: Pleasant, apologetic waitress Cons: Dreadful music; distressed furniture; bad wine; slow/nonexistent service, etc. What is it about the French and ethnic food? Why can’t … Read More
“Les Vignes à Cagnes” (1908). © Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, USA Having OD’d on paintings by Renoir during a visit to the Barnes Collection in Philadelphia at the beginning of the year, I had trouble working up any … Read More
