Résonances: Eugénie Alméras–Jean-Jacques Henner
Beauty in the Banal
Those who haven’t yet visited the Musée Jean-Jacques Henner, renovated in 2016, now have a good excuse to do so: an exhibition of works by artist-in-residence Eugénie Alméras. Henner (1829-1905) was a successful academic painter whose memory was kept alive … Read More
Théâtre du Pouvoir
Art in the Service of Power
Say what you will about megalomaniac dictators and authoritarian states, but without them much of the great art we revere would not exist. An exhibition at the Louvre, “Théâtre du Pouvoir” (“Power Plays”) amply demonstrates with works from French collections … Read More
Gilles Caron: May 1968
The Dramas of a Symbolic Revolution
It’s May 2018, 50 years after the “events” of May 1968, and commemorative exhibitions are popping up all over Paris. The Hôtel de Ville alone has two exhibitions: outside on the fence is “Quand 68 Prend la Parole,” a show featuring reproductions … Read More
Azzedine Alaïa: Je Suis un Couturier
Tribute to an Atypical Designer
“Je Suis Couturier,” an exhibition paying tribute to the beloved fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa, who died at the age of 82 last November, is on show in the designer’s former home and studio in Paris’s Marais through June 10. Alaïa, … Read More
La Collection Bic
Creating with the Ubiquitous Bic
“La Collection Bic,” an exhibition at Paris’s Centquatre cultural center, shows us a new facet of the humble Bic pen, which, along with its relatives the Bic lighter and razor, have been a familiar part of our lives for decades. … Read More
Guernica
Picasso's Cri de Cœur
To celebrate the 80th anniversary of the painting of Picasso’s “Guernica,” Paris’s Picasso Museum has put together an absorbing exhibition that dissects the symbolism of the monumental work and explores in detail its genesis and influence. “Guernica” was the Spanish-born … Read More
Kupka: Pioneer of Abstraction
One Artist's Road to Abstraction
The exhibition “Kupka: Pioneer of Abstraction” at the Grand Palais takes us on a fascinating journey through one artist’s evolution from figurative painting to the radical modernity of pure abstraction. For me, the exhibition was even more exciting since I … Read More
Gérard Garouste
A Worm in the Fruit
Visiting the three exhibitions of the work of Gérard Garouste currently on show in Paris is like taking a tour of the artist’s unconscious as expressed through philosophical, literary, mythological and religious themes. Collectively called “Zeugma,” the shows are being … Read More
Tintoretto: Birth of a Genius
The Early Career of a Venetian Master
The exhibition “Tintoretto: Birth of a Genius” at the Musée du Luxembourg concentrates on the early career of the exuberant Venetian Mannerist painter Jacopo Tintoretto (né Robusti), who painted fast, fluently and furiously. Tintoretto (c. 1518-94) was ambitious and hardworking, … Read More
Foujita: Painting in the Roaring Twenties
Seeking the Source in Paris
Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita (1886-1968), whose work is on show at the Musée Maillol in “Foujita: Painting in the Roaring Twenties,” seems to have led a charmed life. The son of a Japanese general, he was attracted at an early age to … Read More