Andy Warhol diaries “I did her portrait but it never really looked good, and the reason I wanted to do it again was because she has all these great paintings like Rauschenbergs and Picassos and I didn’t want to have mine looking bad there.” On...
Paris+: The augmented reality of Paris’s contemporary art scene
Emily in Paris+ There’s a Paris+ by Art Basel effect just like there’s an Emily in Paris effect. In the entertainment world, the sentimental and irreverent TV show has brought about a renewal of mass tourism to the French capital and we might...
Fondation Louis Vuitton: 110 artworks by Rothko for a major Parisian show
https://youtu.be/VOJw81WMAXA?si=mzr71W89HX-9gLBf Just paint No razzle dazzle or rigmarole, no frills or filters. Just paint. Nothing but paint. Colours and nothing but colours that interplay with a wild power. It was the artist who decided that...
Frieze Art Fair: the art ecosystem in London is still making sparks fly
At auction in Hongkong Despite what Sotheby’s is shouting from the rooftops, the Hong Kong sale from 5 October 2023 of a small part of the collection from the Long Museum in Shanghai – China’s most famous private museum – which acted as a test...
Lito: 21st-century lithographs are cloning the surface of paintings
A copy in relief At the recent inauguration of the breathtaking exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay dedicated to the last months of Vincent Van Gogh while he was living in Auvers sur Oise, a small space was reserved for not just one of the famous...
The orgiastic resurrection of Sardanapale at the Louvre
https://youtu.be/FDUOWldmgQU?si=Lwc7SW9QhY7oQPUA Feeling of ecstasy Among the lush and extraordinary offerings from exhibitions this October in Paris, there is one place that could easily be overlooked yet which, through the sight of a single...
Josefowitz: the man who created a market for some major figures of Post Impressionism
https://youtu.be/0yobqHVEOKE?si=yH5hdC0msvJRzg7j The Jeff Bezos of his time “He was a bit like the Jeff Bezos of his time. Samuel Josefowitz created a mail order company that sold records and then books. He went on to sell his business in order...
The largest private museum in Shanghai is selling off works by Modigliani, Zao Wou Ki, Harold Ancart… “It represents a tiny part of our collections”
https://youtu.be/iqzhNu_sHNA?si=UAoYTe1bUHZxBks3 Soft power In China, the story of private museums is only just beginning. Art collections on display to the public, spearheading a new kind of soft power, are encouraged by the government. These...
Pablo/Gertrude, Picasso/Stein: the invention of cubism in shapes and words
https://youtu.be/6nAnfg8Vqmg?si=R9gfzCgicK5dfzRo Friendship and art history In 1905, a story of friendship lay at the origin of one of the key episodes in modern art. The eccentric and visionary collector Gertrude Stein lived in Paris, at 27...
Nicolas de Staël: for his sublime landscapes
https://youtu.be/W0FSOKi7xPk?si=rnDD5Nrcc6aRXtEq Born in Russia As chance would have it, among the Parisian museums there are two flagship exhibitions this season dedicated to two 20th-century painters, both born in Russia and both émigrés, who...
Seoul: the new driving force for the art market in Asia
Soft power Power struggles in Asia have never been as significant as they are today in matters of soft power. More specifically, in the current art market the question is to know what city will be next in line to shine the brightest. Two...
Leonor Fini: the great rediscovery of the exuberant surrealist artist
https://youtu.be/QLPXvwrO9G0?si=g1RFq-Xr1MC8WKDV Free and creative She was free, unique, exuberant, original, creative and prolific. The Italian painter Leonor Fini (1907-1996) who moved to Paris in 1930 and would spend the rest of her life...