I thought I had mistaken the address on the restaurant-lined Rue de l’Abbé Grégoire (home to the excellent Cézembre) when I saw the beat-up facade of a café whose salad days were obviously long gone. But no, I was in the right place: a new restaurant called Quinsou.
Is Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” (1930) the American “Mona Lisa”? This iconic painting is certainly just as recognizable to people around the world, although it may not have the latter’s gravitas. “American Gothic,” with its dour farm couple and their … Read More
The title of the exhibition “Rembrandt Intime” at the Musée Jacquemart-André is slightly misleading; although the show does include a number of the artist’s self-portraits (he made around 80) and paintings featuring family members, it goes well beyond the intimate … Read More
When I saw that a book devoted to one of my favorite streets in Paris, the Rue des Martyrs, had recently been published, I leapt at the chance to read it. To be honest, the apartment that has been my … Read More
I happened to go to Les Arlots with two Paris Update readers, Jenny and Jonathan, on Armistice Day, when the restaurant was in full celebration of the end of World War I, complete with facsimiles of menus from the war years and toy soldiers on the tables.
In 1988, Noëlle Tissier, an artist turned feisty culture warrior, set up the Villa Saint Clair in the Mediterranean fishing port of Sète as an incubator for budding talents. Among the younger fellow-artists she nurtured, many went on to win … Read More
I heard it over and over again whenever I mentioned the Bernard Buffet (1928-99) retrospective at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris to a friend or acquaintance: “I don’t like him. I’m not going.” From what little … Read More
They’ve done it again. The youthful owners of the excellent bistros Le Pantruche and Caillebotte have spawned another success. La Belle Maison fully lives up to its name, offering fine food at reasonable prices with friendly service in a pleasant (although sometimes noisy) setting.
Like many people, I imagine, I didn’t know that there was much more to the artist Ben Vautier (born 1935 and better known as just “Ben”) than those clever handwritten sayings in white on black seen on walls in Paris … Read More
As I write this, there is an elephant in the room. And a donkey. And an ass. Like so many people, by mid-October I had grown weary of all the scandal-mongering, vicious accusations, desperate rationalizing, empty promises, name-calling and lies. … Read More
