Paris’s Musée des Lettres et Manuscrits (MLM), an institution devoted to ancient manuscripts and historic letters, was raided by French authorities on Tuesday for its apparent role in a fraudulent investment scheme masterminded by the museum’s founder, financier Gérard Lhéritier.
Paris
Paris Festival Censors Photo of Mother-Daughter Embrace
A photograph of a mother and her young daughter embracing has been removed from a gallery exhibition in Paris after seven anonymous letters prompted the gallerist and the director of the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP) to censor the work.
Affordable Housing Plan Threatens Parisian Street Art Haven
The tiny, two-block-long Rue Dénoyez in Paris’s 20th arrondissement has been one of the French capital’s foremost street art venues for years, but two subsidized housing projects could spell the end for this plein air gallery.
How To Talk About Paul McCarthy
What, I ask you, should one expect if one asks artist Paul McCarthy to create a Christmas tree for the place of honor at a renowned, must-attend art fair? Well, it’s Paul McCarthy, so there are only two possible outcomes: a turd or a butt plug.
The Eiffel Tower Gets a Facelift
“I ought to be jealous,” engineer Gustave Eiffel said, after his 1,070-foot iron lattice tower was erected in late-19th-century Paris. “She is more famous than I am.”
Midcentury Expressionist Drama, Novelized
PARIS — I recently met in my studio the writer Jake Lamar, a New York ex-pat living in Paris, and spoke to him about his new novel, Postérité (The original English title is “Posthumous”), that will be published today in French by Rivages.
The Mystery of the Orient Express Resurfaces at a Paris Museum
PARIS — In forming an exhibition on the Orient Express, the railroad line most steeped in myth, it was wise to bring in the body of the train itself.
From Funeral Factory to Parisian Art Hope
PARIS — One of the newest cultural centers in Paris took over a cavernous funeral factory in 2008. Now established, it’s still striving to bring contemporary practice into the city’s art dialogue.
Finding Inspiration in the End of the World
PARIS — Maybe someday a meteor will hit our fair planet, the solar system will enter an electromagnetic field, or the art market for Andy Warhols will collapse and trigger a domino line of economic downfall. However it goes, the world as we know it will someday end, and for Hiroshi Sugimoto there is nothing right now that is more inspiring.
A World History in Skin, Needles, and Ink
PARIS — As the world map that leads the new tattooing exhibition at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris plots out, the art of skin alteration has roots in every continent, from the Iroquois in North America to the Samoans in the South Pacific.
Cosmic Ceramics and Hunting Trophies Collide in Paris
PARIS — The Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature in Paris is continuing its exhibitions among its hunting trophies and old world décor with Lin Utzon’s Cosmic Dance.
Striving for Utopia on a Grand Scale in the Kabakovs’ Strange City
PARIS — Beneath the bombastic Beaux-Arts dome of the Grand Palais in Paris, artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov have installed an explorable city of white arches and curious pavilions dedicated to attempts and failures to reach a mystical plane.