Category: Arts

‘The Gourmands’ Way’ review: Six Americans in Paris who changed the way we eat


For Americans growing up in the post-World War II affluence of peace and plenty, convenience cooking, supermarket produce and processed foods formed the basis of [ . . . ]

“The kitchen is a sensual place, and few household activities are more gratifying to the home cook than satisfying the gastronomic whims of a lover or spouse.”

Source: ‘The Gourmands’ Way’ review: Six Americans in Paris who changed the way we eat | Newsday

Naked attraction: art and tragic tales in Modigliani’s Paris

As Tate Modern prepares a new exhibition of his work, including 12 of his famous nudes, Louise Roddon explores the artist’s haunts around Montmartre and Montparnasse

Poor Amedeo Modigliani, what a tough life he led. I’m thinking this as I climb the steps to his last studio in Montparnasse. It’s a classic artist’s garret with peeling paint and poor lighting, and climbing the countless floors on a narrow stone tread, leaves me winded. It wouldn’t have been easy for a man with advanced tuberculosis. With Tate Modern about to stage its Modigliani exhibition, I’ve come to number 8 Rue de la Grande-Chaumière, his final home before he died tragically young in 1920. At 35, he wasn’t just a victim of TB, but was suffering the toll of a lifetime’s enthusiasm for alcohol and drugs [ . . . ]

More: Naked attraction: art and tragic tales in Modigliani’s Paris

Chagall’s Romantic Love Story Leads Sotheby’s Impressionist Sale

 

There was an unmistakable disconnect at Sotheby’s auction Tuesday evening that reinforced the results at Christie’s the night before: despite a low-energy salesroom and few bidders on each lot, some people spent a lot of money on art.

Marc Chagall was the man of the night, with his “Les Amoureux” — depicting the artist in a loving embrace with his first wife, Bella Rosenfeld — which sold for $28.4 million with fees, a high for the artist, over a top estimate of $18 million. It went to a client bidding on the telephone represented by Irina Stepanova, head of Sotheby’s Moscow office [ . . . ] More at NYTimes

Vive Les Gourmands! How Six American Expats In Paris Changed How We Eat : The Salt : NPR

Julia Child
Julia Child

Mid-twentieth century Paris evokes images of Left Bank intellectuals earnestly discussing existentialism over demitasses of coffee. But the city was also home to a celebrated food scene that drew gastronomes from around the world. The Gourmands’ Way: Six Americans in Paris and the Birth of a New Gastronomy chronicles the Parisian adventures of beloved TV chef Julia Child, New Yorker writer A. J. Liebling, wine merchant and impresario Alexis Lichine, artist and cookbook writer Richard Olney, novelist M.F.K. Fisher, and companion and muse of Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas.This ragtag band of passionate epicureans dove headlong into French culinary culture, reveling in its sumptuous delicacies. They then brought back many of the recipes and ideas about cooking and eating to the U.S. Roast partridge, calf’s brains gratin, foie gras rissolettes (small patties), epic multi-course banquets washed down with sundry wines, spirits and liqueurs —The Gourmand’s Way bristles with the lavish fare of mid-twentieth century Paris [ . . . ] More: Vive Les Gourmands! How Six American Expats In Paris Changed How We Eat : The Salt : NPR