Well, my time in Paris is drawing to a close. I managed to see almost all of the shows that I had wanted to check out this month. The last one on my list was Tokyo-Paris. Masterpieces from the Bridgestone Museum of Art, Ishibashi Foundation Collection. This exhibit with such a long name is in the little musée de l’Orangerie in the Tuileries garden, near the Louvre, until August 21, 2017.
I hadn’t realized that the founder of the Bridgestone tire company was a Japanese man, Shojiro Ishibashi, whose last name literally means “bridge” and “stone” when translated into English. He used his fortune to purchase art, eventually amassing a collection of 2,600 works.
At first, he collected Japanese artists who painted in the Impressionist style, then French Impressionists, then other European contemporary artists. He built a museum in the heart of Tokyo in order to share his collection with others. While the museum in being renovated, part of the collection is bringing delight to visitors to the musée de l’Orangerie. I was particularly impressed by some lovely Caillebottes, Monets, and Renoirs that I had never seen before. It’s worth checking out if you will be in town.
Today I had the pleasure of seeing the sublime (soo-bleem) Dior exhibit at the musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. The retrospective marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of one of the most influential couture houses of the 20th century and it will continue until January 7, 2018. It opened on July 5 and two weeks later, the lines to get in are still crazy long. If you are going to check it out, it would be well worth your while to buy a billet coupe file on-line that allows you express access for the same fee as buying your ticket at the door. That probably saved me at least a one hour wait to get in. There were so many people inside that I wished that I had been able to come just as the exhibit opened to avoid some of the crush.
The exhibit spreads across both halves of the museum and it covers two floors, so once you do get in, you will have plenty to enjoy. It starts with photos and documents chronicling the couturier’s childhood, then moves to the avant-garde art gallery that he ran with a partner that did not achieve lasting commercial success, before moving to his explosion into the world of couture.
The “chromatic” rooms displayed dresses, hats, purses and other accessories in a wave of color, starting with white and then moving through all of the colors of the Dior rainbow before terminating with the color that he felt was the most elegant of all – black. I was most fascinated with the miniature dresses made by the Dior seamstresses from the original designs.
Another room featured Versailles inspired dresses, designed by John Galliano, one of the successors of Christian Dior, who died after only ten years at the helm of his couture house.
Then there was a room whose ceiling was entirely covered with paper leaves and flowers that cascaded all around flower-inspired dresses, celebrating Dior’s great affinity for flowers.
In the second half of the exhibit, there were soaring displays of gowns stacked ever higher all the way to the vaulted ceiling. This was the best fashion exhibit I have seen since the 2010 Yves Saint Laurent exhibit at the Petit Palais. I do hope you’ll be able to visit it for yourself.
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There’s a lot of overlap in the exhibits on in Paris this summer. I recently wrote about the photo exhibit about gardens at the Jardin du Luxembourg. The Grand Palais, just off the Champs Élysées, has an exhibit simply entitled Jardins (shjar-dahn) featuring art works inspired by gardens. Six centuries of gardens, spanning the Renaissance to modern times, including works by Fragonard, Monet, Cézanne, Klimt, Picasso, and Matisse. Just as a real garden appeals to all senses, this exhibit will have many different types of works, in addition to paintings, including sculptures, photography, and displays of sounds and scents. This exhibit is on now and will continue until July 24, 2017.
When I think of France, I often think, not of monuments, but of gardens. After all, I live about thirty seconds from the Jardin du Luxembourg in the summer. Some days are so busy that’s as far as I get to go. Each year, there is an exhibit of world-class photos on the fence that surrounds the garden. On now, through July 24, 2017, you can admire the free, open-air exhibit entitled “Jardins extraordinaires” (shjar-dahn ex-tra-or-deen-air) that showcases gardens that have received the designation of being a “Remarkable Garden” by the Ministry of Culture and Communication. Some are contemporary photographs by Jean-Baptiste Leroux while others are historical pictures just of the Jardin du Luxembourg. It’ll make a beautiful walk in the park even lovelier.
What would Paris be without an exhibit dedicated to fashion? This one is quite unusual; the fashion museum, the Palais Galliera, is presenting Balenciaga: L’Oeuvre au noir at the 
Balenciaga was inspired by the black robes of religious orders. In speaking of Balenciaga, Christian Dior said, “Le vêtement était sa religion” (luh vet-mehn et-ay sah ray-li-jhe-ohn), which means “Clothing was his religion.” I’ve seen a Balenciaga exhibit before and I can only imagine how beautiful the clothes will look in this spare and beautiful setting with its beautiful light, almost like a cathedral. The exhibit is on until July 16, 2017.
A visit to the musée Jacquemart-André is always on my must-do list when I visit Paris. This year, my visit must be prior to July 10 to catch De Zurbarán à Rothko, an exhibit culled from the personal and corporate collection of Alicia Koplowitz.
Koplowitz is the head of Spanish investment firm Grupo Omega Capital. She bought what she liked, starting with a piece of Sèvres porcelain, purchased at an auction in Paris many years ago. Her biography on the website refers to how the art acquisitions “ont jalonné” the great stages of her personal and professional life. Jalonner means “to punctuate” or “to define.” Get a promotion, buy a masterpiece. Not a bad way to celebrate.
The collection crosses centuries, continents and genres — much the way the Jacquemart-André permanent collection does. The 52 works prominently feature the portraits of women that Koplowitz prefers. The only questions that I need to resolve are, will I have brunch or lunch at the beautiful café and will I dine before or after I see the exhibit?
