It’s a vast continent containing an array of political and religious realities, unique histories and countless languages. That's Africa, a jigsaw of identities. Art critics, however, still have a tendency to use the catchall term ‘African art’. As if there was such...
Diego Giacometti (1902-1985), the brother and close collaborator of the illustrious sculptor Alberto Giacometti, has a seat in the pantheon of 20th century decorative arts. Hubert de Givenchy (born 1926), whose creations were made famous by the actor Audrey Hepburn...
The court decision came like a thunderbolt. Guy Wildenstein, the heir to the world’s largest dynasty of art dealers, was accused in France of a massive tax fraud (‘The most sophisticated and longest tax fraud of the Fifth Republic’ (1))  but on 12 January, before the...
Gold is the only thing that piques his interest. Firstly, he tasted professional success by investing in the precious metal (1). Subsequently, gold allowed him to immerse himself in what’s commonly known as the Golden Age. The New York businessman Thomas Kaplan (born...
‘Everything I’ve done in the cinema lately has been for the sake of painting. Cinema was magnificent in the '70s. There are fewer masterpieces these days.’ In 2008 the celebrated film maker and producer Claude Berri (1934-2009) whose credits include producing Roman...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxZ4qd07O1Y The Anglo-Indian writer Salman Rushdie, in Midnight’s Children,the book which launched his career,  tells the fascinating story of a young Indian doctor who is summoned each week to the bedside of a young woman who he...
This story was written after  a trip to Saint Petersburg and Moscow The history of modern art, in its great sweep, has been punctuated by miraculous tales of wealthy patrons who were more than just far-sighted, they were enormously generous towards artists who, thanks...
Twice a year, the city of Berlin organises events in the domain of contemporary art. In spring it’s the  successful Gallery Weekend when local galleries open their doors, a format recently replicated by Paris. Then, in autumn it is the turn of Berlin Art Week – from...
In this cynical and individualistic world we live in, acts of generosity always cause surprise. The gift in question is worth 6 million euros according to insurers. It came into existence last year when the Potanin Foundation, belonging to Russian oligarch Vladimir...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4INLxy-ztgI Once upon a time, a country the size of a continent was slowly throwing off the shackles of authoritarianism. Citizens were beginning to travel abroad, accumulate possessions, launch new enterprises, and come...
What exactly do we mean when we talk about an art dealer’s collection? Is it the artworks they haven’t sold or is it their prized possessions? Christie’s has announced that this October in London it will be auctioning Leslie Waddington’ s collection. The revered...
This is the story of a man who in 1969 opened a store selling jeans and ended up with a ready-to-wear empire spanning 3,100 outlets across the globe. It’s also the story of the simple son of a cabinet-maker from San Francisco who accumulated a collection of...