object
-
object© Studio Harcourt
Paris retakes the photo
Every autumn, Paris holds a string of events intended to honor the art of the photograph. The largest are grand and official, such as Paris Photo at the Grand Palais, the Salon de la Photo at the Porte de Versailles and the Photoquai 2011 by the Musée de Quai Branly. The latter, free to all and open 24/7, is hosting work by 46 talents from 29 countries.
Alongside such sprawling shows are others in museums, galleries and fou...
-
object© A. Hughes
L'air du temps perdu
The luxury goods of France have always been seductive. But, to this day, nothing can outdazzle her 18th century porcelain. This “white gold” remains an art form of its own, a showcase for flawless decorative skills and technical virtuosity.
A tour of any UK collection – whether at the V&A, Hereford House or Waddesdon Manor – can still startle the eye with proof of just how lavish life once was.
From it...
-
object© S. Sampson
Paris invaded - again
Are his works art brut or just sophisticated street games? Whichever, the mutant mosaics placed all over Paris by artist Invader ( a.k.a. Space invader ) are ultra-familiar.
Witty deformations of characters from the 1978 video game, all boast big eyes, funky crab-like feet and benign demeanor. Part of an ‘invasion’ begun in 1998, these site-specific pieces now cover the city. To Parisians, they are as much a land...
-
object© Eley Kishimoto
Wearing the Wayback Machine
The archive of husband-and-wife design team Eley Kishimoto is, to put it mildly, extensive. For two decades, Mark Eley (from Brignend, Wales) and Wakako Kishimoto (from Sapporo, Japan) have launched an ocean of pattern from their south London headquarters. Whether designing women’s fashion, wallpaper or crockery, these days their name is synonymous with masterful surface design.
Paris, London and Tokyo are home to thei...
-
object© Silvy
Warhol of the Victorian Age
The objects called carte-de-visites created the biggest collectible craze of Victorian Europe. These tiny cards (named after the visiting cards they resembled) were photographs pasted onto stiff cardboard. It was a French photographer, Louis Dodéro, who first enhanced visiting cards with portraits. It was another, André Adolph Eugéne Disdéri, who created the technique that their manufacture feasible.
Exposing small image...