SHARING WITH ME

I pass by the Arab Institute once or twice a week when on my way to the Saint Louis Island. This poster has intrigued me for some time. I made the effort to go one day - the Institute was closed and then yesterday I went to the Louvre. I think it would have been quieter at the Arab Institute. «Nefertit’s Theorem. The Itinerary of works of Art : the Creation of Icons». The exhibition questions and even challenges the methods traditionally used to present works of art. I like that as at times we wonder why such an exhibition is overcrowded with works or just difficult to follow. Here they were using Egypt as an example and works produced throughout the country’s history : from the Pharaonic down to the modern and contemporary periods. I liked that too. But somehow it didn’t work for me. There were some extraordinary sculptures from the Pharaonic period along side modern or even a Giacometti next to another ancient statue. Giacometti Portrait of a Man 150-100BC The exhibiti...

Ajouter une légende It could only be sheer madness to go to the Louvre on the 15th of August. A public holiday on a Thursday when most of Europe would take the Friday and make it a very long weekend. So, it’s not surprising that I was confronted with crowds of tourists. I certainly wasn’t planning to see the Jaconde, or the Victoire de Samothrace, or Aphrodite, I had come to see Michelangelo Pistoletto. Contemporary art in situ at the Louvre. Little did I know that I would be on a hunt for his work - rather like the Da Vinci Code in modern dress. Here was I imagining that his work would be icentralized in one  gallery and not "spattered around" the Louvre. The first thing I fell on - literally -was this....would you believe there is nothing to describe what you are looking at. Just this marvelous title «Entre Terre et Mer- L’extraordinaire Bestiare de la Mosaique Romaine à Lod». and after a long hunt on Internet, I found this. In a remarkable state of preservation, th...

Beaubourg Centre So I was off to see Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997).    There had already been the same retrospective at the Tate earlier this year but not an artist which tempts me to take trains or planes to see him. A Pop Artist of course and I tend to relate him to crying females, lines, comics and advertising. All those clichés that correspond to this era. Andy Warhol being another one. Roy Lichtenstein’s style was certainly clear, effective and memorable but  my enthusiasm was not growing as I approached the centre. I had told myself that if there were queues outside the Beaubourg, I would give him a miss. There weren’t. Fishing village 1987 This is the first major retrospective of his work in France. A selection of over 100 key works. In fact there were some here which were not shown in the same exhibitions in London or Chicago. We were not to know which ones they were. His work is LARGE - and I have got to admit it - surprising. There was even one...