Any other business

In May, I went to the Louvre Lens to see an exhibition called Par-delà les Mille et Une Nuits. Histoires des orientalismes . I was interested in the subject-matter, but in the event was disappointed by the show, which is why I didn't make a whole post about it. As with  the V&A's Epic Iran , perhaps, the organisers had bitten off more than could easily be chewed in a single event. Par-delà les Mille et Une Nuits of course displayed numerous exciting artefacts, including some truly magnificent Kashan carpets from the 16th century. But as it could only skim the surface of each iteration of orientalism (or orientalisms, plural, as the curators would have it), came over rather as Orientalism for Dummies , supposing such a book should ever be published, or, at any rate, to seem less unkind, orientalism for beginners. Numerous school parties were indeed there. I was drawn to Lens (two hours north of Paris by car) in particular by a new painting, commissioned by the Louvre for th...

Three years ago, I posted about a trip to Madrid to hear Händel's Solomon  with Ann Hallenberg and Miah Persson , taking in the big local art fair, ARCO, and a big exhibition of Leonora Carrington's work, while I was there. I actually imagined, without looking for more accurate information, that the Paris exhibition, at the Musée du Luxembourg , would be the one I saw in Madrid, now travelling to France. It wasn't. This was a much smaller show. But, though I don't have an ounce of magic or spirituality or alchemy in me, I love Leonora Carrington's work - she's probably the only artist labelled 'surrealist' I like so much. So any Laura Carrington event is an important one to me, and along I went, on a hot and sunny spring day. I've nothing more to say about it, other than that, though small, it otherwise didn't disappoint. Here, I'm just posting a few of my photos, including one of a piece by Remedios Varo, and another of one by Max Ernst, wi...

Having posted some photos, with brief comments, from Art Basel Paris and Paris Internationale , I simply forgot I'd meant to add a third article about Paris's 2025 October events, this time covering any other art that had struck me since I came back from Greece. In other words, this particular post, now that I've remembered to write it, isn't limited exclusively to the fairs; it's intended to tie up loose ends. The reason I came back to Paris when I did, mid-October, was not only to catch the art fairs, but first of all, to go to a concert in Brussels, written up on my other, opera blog . We had some time to kill before the event, time enough to visit the John Baldessari exhibition at the Bozar, i.e. the very building the concert was due to take place in. It's uncanny how, when in the presence of really good art, you just know it. I liked it a lot. Back in Paris, the first fair I went to was actually neither Art Basel nor Paris Internationale, but Asia Now. Thi...