No exhibition of any pretension is complete without lasting proof of its existence, preferably in print on coated paper.
Grand Palais
El Greco, Modernist Hero
Set the works of El Greco alongside those of Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, or Pablo Picasso, and you can see why they admired and copied him.
The Artistic Explosion in Turn-of-the-Century Soviet Russia
The art of Soviet Russia may not strike the viewer as free or autonomous, but the artistic developments that flourished in this period influenced many important movements of 20th century art.
The Czech Painter Often Credited with Inventing Pure Abstract Art
Looking at František Kupka we see an intense channeling of occult vibrations and shimmering realities that asks viewers if they too have experienced their life this way.
Gauguin’s Decorative and Graphic Art, Beyond His Paintings of Paradise
Paul Gauguin’s decorative works, sculpture, wood carvings, and graphic artworks highlight his stimulating color harmonies and rich compositions, even as some of the subject matter sits uncomfortably with today’s standards.
The Mexican Modernists Who Found Success in Decadence
An exhibition at Paris’s Grand Palais tracks art made in Mexico during the first half of the 20th century, focusing on the influence of the European avant-garde and Mexicans’ celebratory attitude toward death.
The Pleasures and Risks of Ahistorical Curating
PARIS — In Carambolages, currently at the Grand Palais, we are plunged into the big, fuzzy, ahistorical world of anti-categories typical of the networked global economic order.
The Louvre and Musée d’Orsay Shut Down as Seine River Floods [UPDATED]
Record rainfall in Paris has caused intense and dangerous flooding of the Seine River to the extent that the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay are closing temporarily to safeguard their collections.
A Monumental Critique of Empire, from Napoleonic to Corporate Times
PARIS — Scattered throughout the cavernous nave of the Grand Palais are mountains of shipping containers.
Utopian Mirror Ball Sculptures at Paris Climate Conference Are Full of Hot Air
PARIS — The balls of Aerocene hang high above Solutions COP21, floating over ecocidal disaster-mongers as they sleepwalk visitors towards a total surveillance state.
Revisiting Postwar American Art in Paris
PARIS — During springtime in Paris, one frequently meets beaming American newlyweds on their honeymoon.
Beyond Voodoo: Defying Expectations of Haitian Art
PARIS — Winter has been kind to art lovers in Paris.