The legendary counterculture figure Jonas Mekas died on 22 January 2019. We are republishing a tribute to this magnificent underground filmmaker, whom I interviewed in 2018 and who inspired Andy Warhol, among others, during the 1960s. Ever curious about new filming...
Ever since Marcel Duchamp presented an upside-down urinal which he called “Fountain” and the artistic community decided this was an act of significance, ever since artists began distorting silhouettes to imprint upon them their personal feelings and impressions while...
Paul Cézanne father of all “Everything in nature is modelled on the sphere, the cone and the cylinder. One has to learn to paint from these simple shapes”. It’s 1904 and the artist writing these words, the Aix-born Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), has been doing a lot...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTJYVDMXfow The French language is facetious. In order to provide an emphatic and worthy name for amateur artists, for those who practise a hobby, it has found a unique description that’s even entered international usage:...
Mr and Mrs… There are certain artists like that, especially when it comes to women, who are always presented as a couple. Take Sonia Delaunay, who is systematically associated with Robert, her guru. Take Sophie Taeuber-Arp, the other half of sculptor Jean Arp… We’re...
Certain figures take their place in the art history pantheon because they’ve invented something new. These rare artists have looked at the world with unusual acuteness and have been bold enough to convey a new message through their art. Within this hall of fame...
The world of African art collecting has been rocked by an announcement made by Emmanuel Macron on 23 November. Following the submission of a report on the restitution of artworks to Africa, the president of the French Republic has decided to return 26 works requested...
In Japan, the designation of “national treasure” is the highest honour to convey the exceptional value accorded to cultural property of universal significance. In Paris, with relatively little publicity, there are currently no less than six Japanese national treasures...
On 15 November 2017 a painting was sold at Christie’s in New York for 450,312,500 dollars, the highest amount ever attained at auction, which was one of around twenty known to us by the Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci. This result gave rise to various...
The museums with the richest collections of paintings always stage the most beautiful temporary exhibitions of Old Masters art. This is, quite simply, because these collections constitute a great currency of exchange. But it’s also because they naturally attract the...
Artists have an advantage over mere mortals in that the fruit of their torments can give rise to great works of art. They are able to express their contradictions and allow them to play out on canvas, creating a sort of tension that appeals to the viewer’s emotions....
One woman has her breasts showing through her white, nearly transparent shirt as she hacks away with a sword amid great spurts of blood at a man who only moments earlier was perhaps her lover. The other’s neckline dips low to reveal a milky-white neck, her head tilted...