Susumu Shingu: Une Utopie d’Aujourd’hui
To Catch the Wind
The view of the Château de Chambord from the near distance is spectacular, but the sight of Susumu Shingu’s white kinetic sculptures moving silently in the breeze like abstract swans swimming on the moat turns it into pure magic. Beyond … Read More
Charlotte Perriand: Inventing a New World
A Happy Meeting of Art and Design
“Charlotte Perriand: Inventing a New World” is one of the most spectacular and ambitious exhibitions held to date at the Fondation Louis Vuitton. It is also the first to make such full use of the various spaces – ranging in … Read More
Le Rêveur de la Forêt
Out of the Woods
The Musée Zadkine, one of my favorite places in Paris, is tucked away at the end of an alley near the Luxembourg Garden. The small museum, the former home and studio of sculptor Ossip Zadkine (1888-1967), is a peaceful haven … Read More
The World According to Roger Ballen
Chaos Rules!
American Photographer Roger Ballen does not have a very uplifting outlook on life. “Who’s the boss?“ he asked rhetorically at the press opening of the exhibition “The World According to Roger Ballen” at the Halle Saint Pierre. “Chaos!” he answered … Read More
Trees
Large Protagonists of the Living World
Trees are trending at the moment, with new discoveries about their ability to communicate with and help each other and even other species, and their importance to the environment the subjects of many publications. In any case, everyone loves trees, … Read More
Château de Cheverny
Château Life, 1624-2019
The early-17th-century Château de Cheverny, one of the few in the Loire Valley that has been continuously inhabited for its entire existence by the same family, has added a new attraction to the many it already has: a “Love Garden” … Read More
Ker-Xavier Roussel: Jardin Privé, Jardin Rêvé
Bucolic Settings for Sexy Stories
Ker-Xavier Roussel (1867-1944) was something of a contrarian. He was classically trained but is best known as a Nabi painter, although he only painted in that style for a time in the 1890s and even then never subscribed to the … Read More
Berthe Morisot
Not Just a Pretty Painter
Berthe Morisot (1841-95), a key French Impressionist painter, has not been the subject of a major exhibition in France since 1941. Is this because she was a woman and therefore dismissed as a minor painter? Perhaps. The current exhibition of … Read More
Time Capsule at Fluctuart
Fluctuat nec Mergitur
Fluctuart is a gallery, but not a white cube. It’s a street-art gallery, but it’s located on the River Seine, not on the street. And, interestingly, graffiti artists would have a hard time defacing (or beautifying, depending on your point … Read More
City Prince/sses
The Tempestuous Kingdom of Creation
Paris’s Palais de Tokyo recently traveled to five sprawling mega-cities – Dhaka, Lagos, Manila, Mexico City and Tehran – in search of artists who push the boundaries of contemporary art with outrageous and/or outsized works. The result is “City Prince/sses,” … Read More