Plus: US secretary of state Antony Blinken visits Saudi Arabia, Brazil says goodbye to a bossa nova legend and why the French military working with science-fiction writers.
FRANCE 24 (June 6, 2023) – It’s one of the most iconic motor races in the world. The “24 hours of Le Mans” race marks a centenary this year. Seven auto manufacturers will be fighting for overall victory with 16 teams represented.
The unique race tests its participants’ reliability and endurance and encourages innovation. The 13,626km track attracts hundreds of thousands of fans from around the world every year. The endurance classic is both a physical and mental challenge for the drivers; the car that covers the greatest distance in 24 hours wins.
Monocle on Saturday, June 3, 2023: Updates on the weekend’s culture news and current affairs with Emma Nelson.
British classical-music radio and television broadcaster Petroc Trelawny reviews the papers, French journalist Agnès Poirier discusses France’s debt and Monocle’s Monica Lillis speaks with author Beth Lewis about cults.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art –Join Susan Alyson Stein, Engelhard Curator of Nineteenth-Century European Painting, to virtually explore Van Gogh’s Cypresses, the first exhibition to focus on the trees—among the most famous in the history of art—immortalized in signature images by Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890).
Such iconic pictures as Wheat Field with Cypresses and The Starry Night take their place as the centerpiece in a presentation that affords an unprecedented perspective on a motif virtually synonymous with the Dutch artist’s fiercely original power of expression. Some 40 works illuminate the extent of his fascination with the region’s distinctive flamelike evergreens as they successively sparked, fueled, and stoked his imagination over the course of two years in the South of France: from his initial sightings of the “tall and dark” trees in Arles to realizing their full, evocative potential (“as I see them”) at the asylum in Saint-Rémy.
Juxtaposing landmark paintings with precious drawings and illustrated letters—many rarely, if ever, lent or exhibited together—this tightly conceived thematic exhibition offers an extraordinary opportunity to appreciate anew some of Van Gogh’s most celebrated works in a context that reveals the backstory of their invention for the first time.
The Age Newspaper (May 28, 2023) – A walking guide to Paris. Under Mayor Anne Hidalgo, the city is becoming a paradise for pedestrians, with cars increasingly shut out of the city centre. Of course, Paris has always been a city made for strolling, from the long quais lining the River Seine to the elegant Haussmann boulevards. Here are three of our favourite walks through Paris’s most memorable neighbourhoods.
The 2nd arrondissement: avenues and arcades
Enjoy the eye-catching architecture and one of Paris’s best food streets.
The 5th arrondissement: medieval streets and mint tea
Paris’s oldest district dates back to Roman times and has plenty of treasures tucked into its narrow winding streets.
The 8th arrondissement: barefaced chic
To see Paris as she appears in the movies – rows of grand townhouses decorated with wrought-iron balconies, impeccably dressed dowagers walking their poodles – this is the destination of your dreams.
France-Amérique Magazine – June 2023– The issue explores the art world on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean! First, read how American sculptor Alexander Calder produced a mobile to support Free France during World War II – this is our cover story.
LYNN GUMPERT – “Paris Has Always Attracted American Artists”
By Guy Sorman
A book co-edited by Lynn Gumpert, director of the Grey Art Gallery at NYU, is shaking up preconceptions about the contribution of American artists in France following World War II. We asked her about this little-known period, when Paris was still as much a hub of artistic creativity as New York City.
Also in this issue, discover the little-known contribution of American artists in 1950s France; read our interview with Delphine de Canecaude of Chargeurs Museum Studio, the French company that has outfitted many of America’s largest museums; and enjoy our profiles of Clark Art Institute director Olivier Meslay and French-American graffiti legend John “JonOne” Perello.
DELPHINE DE CANECAUDE
By Guénola Pellen
“Every Museum Is an Incredible Adventure”
The dynamic fortysomething was hired to run Chargeurs Museum Studio in February. As the world leader in cultural engineering and production, the French company has designed the National Museum of the U.S. Army, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the new wing of the American Museum of Natural History, which recently opened in New York City.
FRANCE 24 (May 25, 2023) – In a small village deep in central France, the same family has run the “La Promenade” restaurant for four generations. The story began in 1960, when Lucienne created a small bistro. Then Jacky, the son, took over and won the first Michelin star in 1989.
Today, the grandson Fabrice watches over this mecca of French gastronomy, and now his son Clément is studying for his chef’s diploma. “La Promenade” is a moving family story, whose finest pages are perhaps yet to be written.
FRANCE 24 (May 24, 2023) – Located in France’s Normandy region, the Mont-Saint-Michel is one of the most iconic and photographed places in the country. Every year, the site attracts some 2.5 million visitors.
Built 1,000 years ago, the tidal island and its abbey, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, have stood the test of time and survived through the centuries. Our France 2 colleagues report on some of its secrets, with FRANCE 24’s Guillaume Gougeon.
ART VISION TV (May 23, 2023) – Ile de la Cité, once known as Lutetia, is the oldest settlement in Paris, and boasts more than its fair share of Paris sights: the Pont Neuf, the Pont de l’Archevêché and Notre Dame cathedral, to name only three.
Its location bang in the middle of Paris, with Châtelet to the north and Saint-Germain-des-Prés to the south, makes it the central crossroads of the city, which grew outwards from here. When you’ve finished visiting all the sights, take one last admiring look at the magnificent facade of Notre Dame, then stroll along the banks of the Seine and stop to watch improvised concerts by wandering musicians, for whom this area is a prime performance venue.
Ile de la Cité is also the perfect place for a riverside picnic. At night, the bridges are beautifully lit, and there is a feeling of midsummer magic.
The Art Institute of Chicago (May 18, 2023) – Discover how the changing geography at the fringes of Paris in the 1880s influenced the work of five artists: Vincent van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, Emile Bernard, and Charles Angrand.