Desperately Seeking Paris
At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, membership previews were held this week for: Vigée Le Brun: Woman Artist in Revolutionary France. Hers was not a name I was familiar with, yet she was French, so I rushed right over to investigate. Installed in the Special Exhibition Gallery, #199 on the first floor off the Roman and Greek wing, the show with eighty paintings has come to New York by way of Paris.
Read MoreLong before Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, there was the Countess Jacqueline de Ribes. Lacking the advantages of social media that today’s stars enjoy, the Countess, a well-born aristocrat, had a sense of style and inventiveness that enabled her to establish herself as one of the leading fashion icons of the 20th century.
Read MoreThe opening of a site-specific exhibit by the French artist, Pierre Huyghe, on the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was a harbinger of spring. I couldn't wait to see it. This is the third installation in a series of works commissioned by the museum, allof which are meant toexplore the relationship of the rooftop to its environs -- that is, to Central Park and to the city.
Read MoreMoMA pulled out all the stops for its exhibition: “Matisse: The Cut-Outs.” And rightly so. Before reaching these shores, the exhibition had been at the Tate in London whereit drew 500,000 visitors, making it the museum’s most popular show ever. With high expectations, I step off the escalator on the sixth floor to find -- good news-- there's no line. A ticket-taker waves me in, warning me that taking photographs is strictly prohibited. This is when I learn that MoMA has a selection of on-line images available to journalists and bloggers with permission.
Read More
