LA CULTURE ❘ ART & MUSEUMS LA CULTURE


In the full swing of the holiday season, our culture correspondent Sylvia Edwards Davis gathers a festive garland of sparkling jewels and lesser-known gems to discover


5 RETROSPECTIVE THE NAÏVE GRAND MASTERS Camille Bombois’s


Fillette à la poupée, 1925, currently on display at Paris's Musée Maillol


The Maillol Museum welcomes more than 100 works from the world of the so-called “naïve artists”. Also called “modern primitives” by the art collector and critic Wilhelm Uhde (1874-1947), one of their fervent defenders, these mavericks renewed painting away from the avant-garde and academicism. Brought together for the first time in Paris, their works shed light on an


inter-war period in the history of art that is often overlooked. Based around Henri Rousseau and Séraphine Louis, ‘Les grands maîtres naïfs’ also showcases other artists such as André Bauchant, Camille Bombois, Ferdinand Desnos, Jean Ève, René Rimbert, Dominique Peyronnet and Louis Vivin. The exhibition goes beyond the biographical accounts that have for a long time been the only source of information about the naïfs. A selection of revolutionary paintings from major public institutions (Musée d’Orsay, Musée de l’Orangerie, Musée Picasso, Centre Pompidou, Lille Métropole, Kunsthaus Zürich, Kunsthalle Hamburg) and private collections explores each artist’s inventiveness without overlooking the links they maintained with pictorial tradition and contemporary art.


By crossing historical, analytical and sensitive approaches to the works and their presentation to the world, the Maillol Museum hones in on the subversive dimension of naïve art, celebrating the primitive, modern or anti-modern artists who went against the grain.  Until January 19 www.museemaillol.com


FLOWERS FOR PARIS


Jeff Koons created Bouquet of Tulips for the people of France as a symbol of friendship after the terrorist attacks of 2015 and 2016. Following controversy and a period of wrangling about its placement, the sculpture has found its home in the garden behind the Petit Palais, alongside the avenue des Champs-Élysées.


22 ❘ FRANCE TODAY Dec/Jan 2020


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MUST-SEE EXHIBITIONS


Don't miss out on the season's star expos!


Figurative Mondrian The figurative work of Piet Mondrian remained in the shadows until a collector focused on this aspect of his oeuvre. More than 60 works are shown in collaboration with the Kunstmuseum of The Hague. Until January 26 www.marmottan.fr


Girodet against Géricault The first exhibition at Montargis’s Musée Girodet since its reopening recreates the 1819 Salon, when Girodet’s Pygmalion and Galatea was shown against The Raft of the Medusa by Géricault. Until January 12 www.musee-girodet.fr


The New World of Charlotte Perriand On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of her death, this exhibition pays tribute to a pioneering architect, exploring the links between art, architecture and design in her work. Until February 24 www.fondationlouisvuitton.fr


Modern Maharajah The Museum of Decorative Arts honours the Maharajah of Indore, a visionary figure who gave free rein to his taste for artistic and decorative avant-garde by creating, in India, a unique modern universe. Until January 12 www.madparis.fr


Boltanski One of the major creative figures of our time, Christian Boltanski has put together this retrospective himself, designed to act as a “vast stroll through the heart of [his] work” and marking 35 years since his first exhibition at the Pompidou Centre. Until March 16 www.centrepompidou.fr


IMAGES © JEAN-LOUIS LOSI / ADAGP PARIS 2019, NOIRMONART, KUNSTMUSEUM DEN HAAG


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