The Art Newspaper reviews the case of Pierre Le Guennec, a retired electrician accused of stealing and hiding a vast collection of works by his former employer Pablo Picasso before attempting to sell them in 2010. Mr. Le Guennec has been ordered to appear in French court in February of next year on charges of receiving stolen goods. (more…)
After five years of renovations, delays and even the replacement of former head Anne Baldassari, the Pablo Picasso Museum in Paris’s Marais District has reopened to strong reviews and even stronger attendance. “There is a lot of fluidity,” says new director Laurent Le Bon. “One can move around much more easily than before, one has a freedom which goes well with the spirit and the works of Picasso.” (more…)
Outside the Grand Palais for FIAC, all photos via Art Observed
As the doors to one fair close, another set has opened on the opposite side of the English channel. Paris’s FIAC is now in full swing after opening its VIP preview yesterday at the Grand Palais, packing in guests to view the fair’s deep selection of works from Europe and abroad. (more…)
Sotheby’s Impressionist sale in New York this November is anticipating record numbers for a 1881 Claude Monet painting, already estimated to achieve $35 million on the auction block. “It truly is the ultimate trophy painting: dappled sunshine, lovely garden and a pretty woman in a white dress, it’s got everything you would want in a Monet,” says Sotheby’s Impressionist expert Peter Hook. (more…)
Continuing what could arguably be the most controversial series of Christmas-themed public artworks, Paul McCarthy this past week installed Tree, an enormous inflatable sculpture on Place Vendome in Paris that bears a striking resemblance to both a Christmas tree or a sex toy. The work has already garnered considerable controversy, with one man slapping McCarthy as he viewed the work. “Does this kind of thing happen often in France?” McCarthy reportedly asked shortly after being attacked.
Since being installed, the sculpture has been repeatedly attacked by vandals, and has ultimately been removed from Place Vendome.
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The Louvre is reportedly loaning over 300 works to its new museum in Abu Dhabi, The Guardian reports, including works by Monet, Leonardo da Vinci, Van Gogh and Matisse. “This will be the first time many of these works will travel to Abu Dhabi or even the Middle East, and are a rare opportunity to see important art from French museums,” said Sultan bin Tahnoon al-Nahyan, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority. (more…)
Jules de Balincourt, Underneath the Trees They Listened…and Heard Silence (2014), Courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris/Salzburg
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac‘s Marais gallery in Paris is currently presenting fifteen new paintings by Jules de Balincourt, his third solo exhibition for the gallery. Titled “Blue Hours,” the exhibition continues Balincourt’s exploration of broad expanses of bright colors that dominate many of his pieces, and bring the viewer into vivid worlds just beyond the bounds of reality. (more…)
The New York Times profiles the work of Bernard Arnault in building the Museum for the Fondation Luis Vuitton’s expansive art collection, a massive structure in Paris’s Bois de Boulogne. “We don’t speak of numbers when we speak of a dream,” he says when asked about the final cost of the building. “Let’s just say it is a very expensive sculpture.” (more…)
Three of France’s most popular musuems, The Louvre, The Musee d’Orsay and The Palace of Versailles, will soon be open to visitors every day, the French government announced. The move “will allow better access for the public and better access to the works,” according to the French Culture Ministry. (more…)
Parisian Taxidermy specialist Peyrolle has announced a collaboration with Damien Hirst. Titled Signification (Hope, Immortality and Death in Paris, Now and Then), the “Cabinet of Curiosities” includes stuffed birds and insects, alongside a selection of cleaning products. “From the Surrealists to now, artists have come to Deyrolle not only to be inspired, but also to have a relationship with le vivant — the living — and the collapse of the living,” says Deyrolle’s owner Prince Louis Albert de Broglie. (more…)
Richard Deacon, Alphabet S (2014), via Thaddaeus Ropac
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac is currently presenting Alphabet, Sculptures and Dessins, an exhibition of artist Richard Deacon’s new body of work, combining sculpture with a series of works on paper. As an artist who defines himself as a fabricator rather than a sculptor, Deacon has always had an appetite for pushing the limits of production, constantly moving to new territories in material use throughout his career. Here, Deacon seems interested in extending beyond the physical, sculptural object itself, experimenting with exterior forms and approaches. (more…)
Jean-Luc Martinez, director of The Louvre, is in The Art Newspaper this week, discussing his ambitious plans to renovate and “revolutionize” the centuries old museum. Martinez’s plans involve rehanging, relighting and relabeling most of the works in the museum galleries, and is the beginning of what the director sees as a “complete makeover” of the museum. (more…)
Lee Ufan, Relatum – The Arch of Versailles (2014), all images Courtesy the artist ; kamel mennour, Paris and Pace, New York © Tadzio
Lee Ufan‘s work takes its strength from its silence. Utilizing simple materials placed into careful interactions with the space around them, the Korean artist has pioneered his particular brand of minimalism over the past half century. Tight, angular lines converge with natural materials in carefully measured configurations, often utilizing the passage of shadow and light through the work to create a nuanced dialogue with its surroundings.
Lee Ufan, Relatum – The Shadow of the Stars (2014) (more…)
Hiroshi Sugimoto, Aujourd’hui, le monde est mort [Lost Human Genetic Archive], Photo: André Morin via Domus
In “Aujourd’hui, le monde est mort [Lost Human Genetic Archive]” on display at Palais de Tokyo, Hiroshi Sugimoto peers through time and presents a world balanced between life and death. Known for his photographic collections Diorama (1976), in which he photographed animal displays in natural history museums, Theaters (1978), long-exposure photographs of old-style American theaters while movies play on the screens, and Seascapes (1980), long-exposure black-and-white photographs of the meeting of sea and sky, Sugimoto explores the passage of time, making it tangible through the era of his subjects and the long exposure times used. (more…)
The Centre Pompidou may be expanding yet again, with plans to open a temporary satellite in the northern town of Maubeuge, close to the Belgian border. The extension has yet to be confirmed by the Centre Pompidou, but the Art Newspaper reports that Maubeuge mayor Arnaud Decagny has pledged €500,000 for the project annually. (more…)
In the midst of a recent “boom” in art funds, The Art Newspaper looks back at André Level’s La Peau de l’Ours, a fund founded in 1904 that purchased works like Picasso’s Les Bateleurs and successfully sold them at markedly higher prices. The fund was inspired by the 1903 Salon D’Automne, which greatly inspired Level. “I had seen there the canvases that seemed to me, without the slightest doubt, the authentic art of our time and the near future,” he wrote. “I believed in it; I had faith.” (more…)
Artist Jean-Michel Othoniel is currently working on the grounds of Versaille, creating a trio of fountain sculptures for the palace that will be the first permanent art pieces installed on its grounds in over 300 years. “As an artist, and a French artist in particular, there is something very special about making a mark on the land that Le Nôtre and Louis XIV designed,” Othoniel says. (more…)
With the busy summer season in full swing, popular European museums are examining new methods of crowd control in an effort to curb the ever-growing hustle and bustle that could cause damage to both visitors and the art itself. Some museums such as the Louvre and the Prado in Madrid have pursued softer methods like timed tickets and extended hours. Others such as the Vatican Museums and the Uffizi in Florence have taken a harder line. Within the next year the delicate frescoes of the Sistine Chapel will be protected by a crowd-limiting climate control system while the Uffizi has already established a cap of 980 visitors at a time. (more…)
FIAC has announced a new event set to take place during the larger fair this October, titled (OFF)ICIELLE, and focused around promoting young galleries and artists on the international circuit. The event will present 50 galleries from around the world in Paris, opening for a private viewing on October 21st. (more…)
Alexander Calder, Occident (1975) all images courtesy Gagosian Gallery
On view at Gagosian Gallery in London is the second segment of a two-part exhibition of American sculptor and painter Alexander Calder’s gouache paintings. The first part was held in New York at Gagosian’s Madison Avenue location through June 14th, and on June 10th the second part opened in London, slated to continue through July 26th, 2014.
The Winged Victory of Samothrace is back on view at The Louvre, following an extensive 8-month cleaning and restoration project. Experts noted that some lost parts of the statue had been replaced with plaster, but also restored these pieces, maintaining evidence of the statue’s history. (more…)
JR, Au Pantheon! via Andrea Nguyen for Art Observed
The 31-year-old French photographer and artist JR has completed an impressive installation for his global INSIDE OUT project, which allows participants to express themselves through photographing their own portraits and allowing JR to paste them in a new artistic statement. The French artist started the project after he was awarded the TED prize in 2011, which gave him $1 million to make a world-inspiring idea to come to life. Since then, INSIDE OUT has traveled across the country: California, New York, and Minnesota; and the globe: Italy, Brazil, Palestine, etc. Now in Paris, JR has covered the floor, cupola, and dome of the Pantheon in Paris with 2,500 of his signature black and white portrait posters. (more…)
Dealer Yvon Lambert will close his Paris gallery at the end of the year, the Gallery announced this week in a press release. The dealer has made the decision to focus on editioned works, bibliophilia and other printed works, and will open a new venue dedicated specifically to these disciplines. (more…)
