Maison Caillebotte
A Day Chez les Caillebottes
August approaches, and anyone who hasn’t left Paris may be looking for a way to get out of town to greener pastures, even if just for a day. While there are many options, there’s one place that has it all: … Read More
Héroïnes Romantiques
Dramatizing Life and Death
In our world of conflict, plague, dictatorships and the rise of the far right, it is hard to escape the feeling that things are regressing rather than progressing. However, one discernible area of positive advancement can be found in the … Read More
François Boisrond: A Retrospective
Sponging Up Life
After seeing the François Boisrond retrospective at the Musée Paul Valéry in Sète, one has the impression that this French painter, little-known outside (or even in) his country, is like a sponge, soaking up everything he sees and urgently transposing … Read More
Polyphone: Polyphonies Visuelles et Sonores
Seeing Sound, Hearing Art
Once you get past the vendors of contraband cigarettes surrounding the exit from the Métro station Saint Denis-Porte de Paris and the string of fast food shops on Rue Gabriel Péri, the scene changes dramatically when you suddenly spy a large … Read More
Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori
Never Too Late to Out Talent
“There was no stopping her from painting,” says Amanda Gabori, daughter of painting powerhouse Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori (Sally Gabori for short), currently the subject of a solo exhibition at Paris’s Fondation Cartier. Normally, there would be nothing surprising about an … Read More
Toucher le Feu
Playing with Fire
The exhibition “Toucher le Feu” (“Touch Fire”) at the Musée Guimet rights an age-old wrong: historically, Japanese women were banned from making ceramics. They were not allowed to use a potter’s wheel or “touch the fire” of the kilns. As … Read More
Simon Hantaï & Fugues in Color
Painting Takes Off
Painting takes flight from the traditional flat canvas on a stretcher in the two current exhibitions at Fondation Louis Vuitton. Upstairs, the works of the five artists featured in “Fugues in Color“ interact with the high-ceilinged, light-filled, oddly shaped galleries, … Read More
Destiny: The Art of Destiny Deacon
Perverting Racist Symbols
When the renowned Australian photographer Destiny Deacon was a little girl, other children were always calling her a “black little c**t.” When she grew up and started taking photographs, she decided to take the “C” out of the word “Black,” … Read More
Devenir (un Autre) Animal
The Animal Within
One of my favorite places in the Paris region is the Domaine de Chamarande. It’s easy to reach by train from Paris (41 minutes, with frequent departures), and it’s only a five-minute walk from the station when you get there. … Read More
Marcel Proust, du Côté de la Mère
Identity Politics in Proust's Great Novel
In Marcel Proust’s great novel, In Search of Lost Time, the main character, Marcel, modeled closely on the author himself, is not Jewish. Proust himself, however, was Jewish through his mother’s side of the family. I have always wondered why … Read More