SHARING WITH ME

Why bring together Ferdinand Hodler, ( 1853-1918) Claude Monet (1840-1926) and Edvard Munch (1863-1944) in an exhibition? This is the question that I have been asking myself since the exhibition opened in September at the Marmotton Museum. I would find out as I had decided to go during the « silly season » when I hoped all those who would probably go, were drinking and being merry…I was right, there were few people in the museum. So why should they be brought together? Because they are all essential European modernist painters, between Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Symbolism. In many ways, Monet introduced that period to Europe but I certainly would not have thought to group him with Hodler and Munch. Their works take us through the 20th century – up to 1918 for Hodler, 1926 for Monet and 1944 for Munch – and they have had a determining influence on the history of art. Taking my time, but not being able to photograph the paintings (that always makes me wild), I went th...

I was feeling dissatisfied. It’s probably the time of the year but even if there were a lot of exhibitions that I wanted to see, I felt as if I was turning around in  circles. Nothing really new coming in. After the exhibition on Schoenberg, I contemplated going to Strasbourg to see a retrospective of Kandinsky…but why? Of course I would see paintings that I don’t know, but I have been following Kandinsky for years now - would I learn anything new? Then a friend who is as keen on modern art as I am suggested Walasse Ting at the Cernuschi museum. A few weeks later I saw pictures of his work in one of my subscription magazines and decided to go.  Well - but I had better go and see to satisfy my curiosity... The poster for the exhibition A little about him: His real name was Ding Xiongquan, and he was born in 1928. Later he  chose the pseudonym Walasse Ting and the nickname, "The Flower Thief". In my book, he is an unclassifiable artist, who was active in Paris, ...