Beth Arnold

Paris Art Market Buzz: Chinoiserie With Literary Provenance

June 30 2010

By columnist Paul Paradis, Art Historian, Specialist Consultant in French Furniture and Decorative Arts

The week-end before last, I panicked, realizing that the following week would be heavy in important auctions at all of the major houses plus Drouot.  As I would be absent from the next day for a trip to Burgundy, that Saturday would be my only chance to see the presale viewings.  Not really having planned to be so ambitious that day, I found myself running from the exhibition of an important sale of Old Master Paintings at Tajan held in one of the Drouot salerooms (featuring a newly-rediscovered Massacre of the Innocents by Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre from 1763), to Christie’s where 15 important works from the Veil-Picard collection were on display, then on to Artcurial where, to my delight they were organizing an important auction of 18^th century furniture and decorative arts. 

Previously the Paris auction calendar featured prestigious 18^th century furniture and decorative arts sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in April and June respectively, but recently the two houses seem to have coordinated these high-end events in April (See Paris Art Market Buzz May 19th).  Apparently Artcurial has opted to remain independent and hold the prestigious sale in June.  This seems to have been a wise choice.

The Auction House Artcurial, Paris

Letter From Paris: Le Jardin Potager Christened at U.S. Ambassador's Residence

Crossposted at the HuffingtonPost.com.  Comments not included here.

The sky was azure blue, and the sun had warmed Paris up to summer hot as the Lone Wolf and I made our way around the Place de la Bastille. We were headed to the Metro's Line 1 for a straight shot to the Place de la Concorde, where King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were beheaded. From there, we would continue by foot to the official residence of U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Rivkin and his wife Susan Tolson on the rue Faubourg Saint-Honore.

U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Rivkin and Ms. Susan Tolson (Photo by Beth Arnold)

We were attending a reception in honor of the inauguration of the jardin potager ornemental (the organic herb and vegetable garden) for the American Ambassador's residence that Ms. Tolson had initiated to support the work of America's First Lady Michelle Obama and her organic vegetable garden at the White House. This movement called "The People's Garden" at the USDA is not just a symbol to encourage all of us to eat healthily and well and to care for the earth; at the same time it's also a living, growing reality that has crossed the Atlantic to Europe. I also appreciate Ms. Tolson's effort to support her husband's official policies in France which include a "green" theme.

Letter From Paris: An Education

Cover of An Education

A few months ago, the Lone Wolf and I hightailed it to the cinema to see the film An Education .   In case you haven't seen it, the movie is a coming-of-age story--the autobiographical memoir of British journalist Lynn Barber who has quite a good story to tell.

We were knocked out by it.  We loved the way the film was shot.  The period of 1961 England was captured as pure charm as were the performances of the perfect cast (as far as I was concerned), including Carey Mulligan who stole the show.  Watch out world.  A new Audrey Hepburn has arrived.  Ms. Mulligan is dripping with star-power.

When the film began, Mulligan was a schoolgirl, working extremely hard so she could get into Oxford.  By the end of the picture, her school work was hardly the education that she had received.

I recently watched a very funny and visionary TED talk of Sir Ken Robinson, who believes that we're educating people out of their creativity.  Robinson referred to this crisis of human resources as our "second climate crisis" and asserted that we needed to address it with the same urgency as global warming. 

Letter From Paris: Chilling in Corsica, Part 2

Image via Wikipedia

Crossposted at the HuffPo.com.  Comments not included here.

Any coastline on the Mediterranean is beautiful, so what is it about Corsica that makes it so dreamy?

One perfect day: The Lone Wolf, Cheese Princess, and I were wandering around Calvi's magnificent citadel when we came across the one and only Christopher Columbus, a native son according to the signs.

Christopher Columbus in Calvi (Photo by Beth Arnold)

We knew Napoleon Bonaparte came from Corsica, before he put the "E" in emperor. But Christopher Columbus? T.C.P. pointed out that Corsica was actually closer to Italy's mainland than France, and that Corsica was once part of Genoa. T.C.P. has a photographic memory, so she always knows the skinny.

Letter From Paris: Charles PierreHumbert at the Institut du Monde Arabe

Crossposted at the HuffingtonPost.com.  Comments not included here.

I confess. When the Cheese Princess landed in Paris, she'd wanted to do two things: 1. Go to the Institut du Monde Arabe and 2. Visit the Catacombs (which had been closed the last time she was in town). But as is sometimes the way of travelers and visiting children, neither one of these was checked off her Paris list. Does this mean I'm a bad tour guide or mother?

Truth is I had wanted to go to the Institut du Monde Arabe the whole time I've been in Paris--and even advised others to cut a trail over there--but somehow haven't gotten there myself. Forget the fine exhibitions that have been shown there. I knew of the glory of the Institute's rooftop terrace with its fantastic view and its restaurant "Le Zyriab" by Noura. Since I'm addicted to Middle Eastern food, you'd think I would've made the effort for that alone...but no.

Terrace of the Institut du Monde Arabe (Photo by Beth Arnold)

Letter From Paris: The Lady of The Dance and Other Images

The Lone Wolf and I like to walk over to the Parc de Belleville and look out across the horizon of Paris.  Just so you know:  I'm not sure I've ever seen the sky crystal clear.  There is a haze of smog that hangs over the City of Light, more or less muddying the air that used to seem cloudless and bright when I lived in the 2nd Arrondissement.  And, yes, it's Paris, after all.  Often, the sky is cloudy and harboring rain.

On this spin around our neighborhood, I found some new kids in town--new graffiti that had sprouted since I'd wandered over this way. 

Since I have lived in the 20th Arrondissement, I've taken photo after photo of smashing graffiti that I haven't published yet--though I will.  Instead, I'll start with the latest:

The Lady of The Dance

Paris Art Market Buzz: New Record at Christie’s

By columnist Paul Paradis, Art Historian, Specialist Consultant in French Furniture and Decorative Arts

16 June 2010  

Last Monday, under pouring rain and crashing thunder, I ran to the Impressionist and Modern Art auction at Christie’s to witness a potentially historic moment: a rare work by Amadeo Modigliani  (1884-1920, photo below) would be up for the taking.  The staggering estimate of €4 to €6 million would obviously limit the pool of buyers to a happy few.  The work entitled Tête (executed 1911-1912) is one of only 27 known sculptures by the artist, and one of only ten held in private hands.  The catalog explains the illustrious provenance of the sculpture beginning with its appearance at an exposition in the Paris workshop of the Portuguese painter Amadeo de Souza Cardoso (1887-1918) in 1911, its passage in the prestigious  Paris Salon d’Automne in 1912, to its purchase by Gaston Lévy (founder of a successful chain of Monoprix grocery stores) at Drouot in 1927.  The sculpture has not been exhibited publicly since that time. 

Modigliani considered himself a sculptor above all else, working primarily in this medium from 1909-1914.  He executed his works in taille directe  (direct carving of the stone) in reaction to Rodin’s use of the technique of modeling an original in clay which is then reproduced through casting in bronze using a mold, or carved in stone using a system of a points with a compass.   Tête illustrates the blending of several influences on Modigliani from ancient Egyptian sculpture to Michelangelo, and African masks which were seminal to the Cubist movement.

Entrance to the Presale Exhibition, Christie’s Paris

Letter From Paris: It's Safe to Come Home Now

Crossposted at the HuffingtonPost.com.  Comments not included here.

By guest columnist Carla Chanel, an American actress and writer who recently returned to Ventura, California, after living in Paris for the last four years.

I asked friend Carla Chanel to report on what it has been like for her to return home to the USA after her expat life in Paris.  Here's what she said:

My friend's email written a day after the Presidential election was short and to the point. "It's safe to come home now." 

A touch of bleeding heart liberal humor but nevertheless fitting.

As expatriates living in France for several years, we had seen Barack Obama become a sign of change not just for our nation but for the international community as well. The shops along the tourist-driven streets of Paris were filled with Obama tee-shirts. His face was on the cover of every magazine.  His name was part of every café conversation.

Letter From Paris: Chilling in Corsica, Part 1

Image of Corsica via Wikipedia

Crossposted at HuffPo.com.  Comments not included here.

Before The Cheese Princess arrived in Paris, I wanted to plan a little trip away from the city for us. But where? I always have a list a page long of the destinations that I want to visit, the places where I want to spend a minute of time, or a month or three if I could.  There are some countries like Africa where I would like to go back and settle in to write about the beauty of the land and of the grandeur of the animals on the savanna--the elephants, giraffes, and lions--the lives of the people, their needs and their joys, and the primal energy that exists there.

We thought of Belle Isle in Brittany that sang to our hearts when we were chasing Matisse around France and Morocco. We considered driving deep into the volcanoes of the Auvergne to look for the Salers cows and the Cantal cheese that we love.

London, Berlin, or Madrid? I have been dying to experience Sardinia for at least five years, and somehow I never do. I mentioned this to T.C.P., and she was very excited, but then she remarked that she'd also love to go to Corsica.

The Lone Wolf and I were in Corscia seven years ago (also chasing Matisse), in and around Ajaccio, although we also drove into the heart of the island to the capital of Corte. We loved the whole trip! We were entranced with the sea (I swear the Mediterranean is warmer there), the incredible fragrance of the maquis, and the intense taste of the meat, cheese, and wines that are flavored by it. We didn't want to leave the sunny island and imagined ourselves coming back to stay for several months and writing there.

Letter From Paris: After The Cheese Princess Left

Crossposted at HuffingtonPost.com.  Comments not included here.

I put daughter Blair--The Cheese Princess--into a taxi this morning, and it drove away.  BooHoo, her mother said.  

The Cheese Princess in Corsica with a bottle of delicious wine  (Photo by Beth Arnold)

I have spent the day consoling myself the usual way, which is by watching movies.  I turned the TV on to see what was playing.  What luck!  Isadora with Vanessa Redgrave who looked younger than she's ever been in her life as she flitted across the U.S., France, and Russia, before her neck was broken by her floating and luxuriously long silk scarf in Nice.  The South of France was good to her till then.

She is one of my neighbors now in Pere Lachaise.