Paris Update Art Notes
CLOSING SOON
“Transat” (1926-29) by Eileen Gray. © Centre Pompidou. Photo: Jean-Claude Planchet © DR
Only three weeks left to see two fine exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou: “Eileen Gray” and “Soto.” Eileen Gray (1878-1976) was a leading architect and furniture designer who is often left out of the pantheon of 20th-century greats. This attractively presented show with plenty of context (furniture presented in front of huge photos of the actual rooms they were once part of, for example) corrects that injustice by presenting her early work in enamel, her transformation into a Modernist designer on a level with the likes of Corbusier, and plans and photos of the marvelous hillside houses she designed in the south of France.
Soto’s “Spirale” (1955). © Adagp, Paris 2013
This small show of the work of Jesús Rafael Soto (1923-2005), whose monumental yellow sculpture used to hang from the ceiling of the Centre Pompidou’s cavernous entry hall, presents 20 recently donated pieces by this kinetic artist. These delicate works fascinate viewers and draw them in with their subtle movement and handsome colors.
The Julio Le Parc exhibition. Photo © Didier Plowy
Lovers of kinetic art will also want to go to the Palais de Tokyo to see the electric works in light, color and movement by Julio Le Parc.
These three shows all end on May 20.
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