https://youtu.be/umK1ESHSBeI Snapshots with a soul Photographing a top model is all well and good, but having the ability to infuse these beauty snapshots on glossy paper with a soul is nothing short of miraculous. Those who can do this...
Francis Bacon and Peter Beard: an unlikely friendship that takes the form of an exhibition in London
https://youtu.be/ELj2brIz4OA An Irishman and an American dandy Take an American dandy who liked women, wild animals and photography. Then take another dandy, an Irishman who loved men and made paintings depicting torment and suffering with...
Thomas Ruff: “China is fulfilling all of George Orwell’s predictions”
https://youtu.be/ylCsjeUQVo8 Conceptual artist The first thing you might say about the legendary German artist Thomas Ruff (born in 1958) is that he is a photographer. And instantly, with that initial phrase, you would be wrong. With...
Art market: Lessons from previous crises, from an unpaid for Van Gogh to the resurgence of young artists…
Crises comes and go Crises in the art market come and go, and no two are quite alike, but they can help us to understand how market values may be called into question. The crisis sweeping the world today and affecting the economy and the art...
Sigmar Polke. 300 of his original photos have been discovered by his son
Free spirit The free-spirited and prolific Sigmar Polke (1941-2010), a great painter, was the subject of a retrospective at Moma in New York and at the Tate in London in 2014. Palazzo Grassi His work was also exhibited in 2016 at the Pinault Foundation’s Palazzo...
Tribute to Peter Lindbergh, a giant of fashion photography: a filmed interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBa2p4_YCxA The great German photographer who lived in Paris, Peter Lindbergh, died on 3 September. I met him last January. At the Giacometti Institute he was exhibiting his dark images dedicated to the Swiss sculptor, inspired...
Dora Maar: An exhibition that missed the mark at the Centre Pompidou will soon be on show at the Tate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZYJmPfmdNY The weeping woman As far as art history is concerned, Dora Maar (1907-1997) will always be the “weeping woman” as named by her portrait, painted so many times by Picasso as a kind of fury with tears streaming down her...
Les Rencontre de la Photographie: in the south of France, a fascinating tour of the world of images from 210 artists
50 years anniversary For exactly 50 years, the Rencontres de la Photographie have been held every summer under the hot sun in Arles. In the entire town Initially conceived as a small exhibition staged amongst friends, over time the show has radically evolved,...
Hiroshi Sugimoto at Versailles: in his sublime glass tea house the star photographer speaks of zen and ghosts
“Lacquerware is light and soft to the touch and gives off hardly a sound. I know few greater pleasures than holding a lacquer soup bowl in my hands, feeling upon my palms the weight of the liquid and its mild warmth. The sensation is something like that of holding a...
In Arles: the best photographs of America set within a context of criticism of Trump. America great again…
You won’t escape Van Gogh in Arles. While he has indeed been buried since 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise, he has never been so present in the Camargue city where he stayed for little over a year. Never mind the sunflowers growing in the surrounding fields, as though designed...
David Goldblatt: A tribute to the great South African photographer who has just passed away
The South African photographer David Goldblatt, born in 1930, died on 25 June. I met this exceptional man at his home in Johannesburgh. He was both humble and humanistic, and had long been involved in the fight against apartheid and racism in his country. Then I...
August Sander: The Nazis come face to face with their victims. The dramatic history of mankind meets the great history of art.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K43H-AvZXtc It’s a huge shock. It’s a major exhibition driven by a universal message. It’s a piece of the history of modern art. In Paris there’s a place that is little known for its exhibitions, the Shoah Memorial located...