A tidy round-up of the art reviews / recommendations published to date.
Until Jan 2024
Julia Margaret Cameron, Jeu de Paume (1e)
A beautiful discovery of the life and work of one of the earliest female photographers. Cameron received her first camera in 1863… and quickly pioneered close-up portraiture, in opposition to the style of the time.
Until March 2024
Corps à corps, Centre Pompidou (2e)
A history of photography as told through the human body, with works from greats such as Helmar Lerski, Walker Evans, Gordon Park and Dorothea Lange… it’s a grand exhibition with an intimate scale.
Until April 2024
Mark Rothko, Fondation Louis Vuitton (16e)
This immense retrospective displays 115 of Rothko’s works in chronological order, the foundation’s full four floors dedicated to the journey… It’s a sublime immersion, one that more than does justice to Rothko’s creed that “A painting is not a picture of an experience. It is an experience”.
Ongoing
1st arrondissement
Hôtel de la Marine (1e)
Ohh, the grandeur… get a Versailles-esque fix without leaving the city. The recently reopened Hôtel de la Marine overlooks Place de la Concorde, offering a time capsule to the 18th century and its Baroque pleasures.
Monet’s Nympheas at Musée de l’Orangerie (1e)
When it comes to art salves, it’s hard to beat the soothing powers of his Nympheas, calmly reposing in their made-to-fit elliptical cradle.
3rd arrondissement
Musée des Arts et Métiers (3e)
Halls upon halls of inventions, spanning the earliest sundials through the trials of medieval astronomy, to the birth of the printing press and technology as we know it today.
Musée Carnavalet (3e)
One of Paris’s most beautiful museums, Musée Carnavalet is the oldest in the city, a fitting home for its storied history.
4th arrondissement
Atelier Brancusi (4e)
The reconstruction of the renowned sculptor’s studio is a work of art in its own right, showcasing the importance he placed on the relationship between sculptures and the space they occupy.
6th arrondissement
Musée Zadkine (6e)
Sculptor Ossip Zadkine lived and worked here for 40 years, alongside his wife, painter Valentine Prax. On show: his distinctive Cubist pieces, set throughout the house, external atelier and charming little garden.
8th arrondissement
Musée Nissim de Camondo (8e)
Dedicated to the decorative arts, with its full three storeys of rooms seemingly frozen in time… it’s the perfect place for a quiet respite; an opportunity to step away from the modern world for a moment.Le Petit Palais (8e)
A top contender for ‘most beautiful museum in Paris’, Le Petit Palais features a diverse range of artworks, from Ancient Greek pottery to Art Nouveau jewels, alongside pieces from Rembrandt, Cézane, Monet, Degas and Delacroix.Musée Cernuschi (8e)
Seeking respite from the pace of city life? Take a moment in front of this five-metre Buddha statue, the crown jewel of Frances’s second-largest Asian art museum. The 19th century manor sits at the gilded gates of Parc Monceau, offering over 10,000 works from China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam.
Boulogne-Billancourt (next to the 16e)
Musée départemental Albert-Kahn, Boulogne-Billancourt
A treasure trove of 70,000+ images taken across 50 countries between 1908 to 1931. The unique, positively kaleidoscope presentation provides an immersive exploration of culture and community, an imaginative passport of sorts.
Ended
Ron Mueck, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain (14e), until Nov 5
An emotive contemplation on the journey of life, with the raw, shocking intensity of birth (A Girl) and the collective anonymity of death placed adjacent.Elliott Erwitt at Musée Maillot (7e), until 24 Sept
A stunning retrospective… his work spans nearly five decades, capturing the oddities and intimacy of daily life with a grace few of his contemporaries (Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa notwithstanding) could touch.Uchronie at Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (3e), until 17 Sept
Explores alternate versions of history, using photography, sculpture, video, mosaic, jewelry and 3D printing to play with questions such as “What if life on earth had evolved differently? What if animals were gifted with poetry?”Frank Horvat, Jeu de Paume (1e), until 17 Sept
A detailed exploration of the renowned Italian photographer’s early career, when he was forging his identity equally as a photojournalist - capturing the streets of Calcutta - and a fashion photographer in demand by Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.Norman Foster at Centre Pompidou (4e), until 7 Aug
Celebrating one of the world’s foremost architects, with an immense exhibition that puts everything from his initial doodles to notes-to-self to final presentations on show… don’t delay: you’ll want a second viewing.
The nature of an art salve
(from the June 5 edition)
“What is an art salve, exactly?” was my French tutor’s question this week, as he helped me craft the perfect translation.
An art salve soothes, inspires, ignites, alleviates; it’s an experience of creativity - in most cases, as the recipient - that nourishes or heals you in some way. The art can take absolutely any form, from classical to contemporary, pottery to photography.
I never used to think of myself as “an art person” - Sydney didn’t provide so many galleries to choose from when I was growing up. When I moved to New York, the transition wasn’t even a conscious one, it was more curiosity at this whole wide world of art that was suddenly available to me. At some point, curiosity fused with self-care and it became a reflex, an antidote to big city living, and I just thought everyone else went to The Met twice a month, too.
Paris is one of the rare cities (Rome, another) that I feel to be a giant art piece in and of itself. I often wander the city the way I do a museum: phone on silent, zigzagging from one visual draw to another, totally in the moment, letting logic and any sense of order slide from me.
To use art as a salve is to drift, to dream, for the pieces to wash over you (I often call it an art bath, even), a sacrament of sorts: you are not the same, something has changed, even if you can’t consciously put name to it.