Category: Culture

Modigliani masterpiece on display at Ulster Museum

World famous painting goes on display after being loaned by the Courtauld Institute in London.

Female Nude, 1916′ by the Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani is on loan from the Courtauld Gallery, London.

When the painting was initially shown in Paris a century ago it created a scandal.

An exhibition containing it and a number of other Modigliani nudes was closed by the French police.

However, the reception for the masterpiece on its first day of public display in Belfast was much warmer.

“Of all the various nudes that he did, this is one of the most important,” one early viewer told BBC News NI.[ . . . ]

“There’s an immediacy and physicality” says senior curator Anne Stewart

Read Full Story at Source: Modigliani masterpiece on display at Ulster Museum – BBC News

Sorrow and Questions in a French Village After Anthony Bourdain’s Suicide

KAYSERSBERG, France — The suicide of Anthony Bourdain, the celebrity chef and television host, left the residents of Kaysersberg, a small village in the Alsace region of France, known for its wine, local food and architecture, puzzled about why he chose this place to end his life.

Mr. Bourdain’s sudden death at Le Chambard, a five-star hotel in the village, also sent shock waves through the world’s restaurant industry.

It spurred an outpouring among fans and foodies, too, who paid tribute on social media to a man who used food as a passport to understand other cultures and who used his star power to back the #MeToo movement, in which his girlfriend, Asia Argento, an Italian actress, was a central figure.

The French officials investigating the suicide said on Saturday that he had been found hanging in his hotel bathroom at 9:10 a.m. on Friday.

“The case is closed,” said Christian de Rocquigny, the local prosecutor in charge of the investigation. “There is no indication of any involvement by a third person, and we’re ready to give the body to his family.”

In interviews with hotel and restaurant employees and with local officials, a portrait of Mr. Bourdain’s last day in the medieval village, close to the German border, emerged.

Mr. Bourdain had been in Kaysersberg to shoot an episode for his CNN show “Parts Unknown.” The village has two Michelin-star restaurants and is in an area famous for its vineyards and its culinary richness.

But on Thursday night, he skipped dinner and did not show up for breakfast the next morning.

Maxime Voinson, 24, a waiter at the Winstub, a restaurant at Le Chambard, said Mr. Bourdain had dined there almost every night with his friend Eric Ripert, the chef of Le Bernardin, a three-star New York restaurant.

“They both stayed in separate rooms, and usually had breakfast and dined together at the Winstub,” Mr. Voinson said.

But on Thursday night, when Mr. Bourdain didn’t show up for dinner, he said: “Mr. Ripert thought it was strange. We thought it was strange. Mr. Bourdain knew the chef, Monsieur Nasti; he knew the kitchen. Maybe he went out and ate somewhere else, we said, but we didn’t think much of it.”

The five-star hotel Le Chambard in Kaysersberg, France, where Mr. Bourdain had been staying.CreditVincent Kessler/Reuters

But on Friday morning at breakfast, Mr. Bourdain again didn’t show up. “His friend was waiting at breakfast, and waiting and waiting,” Mr. Voinson said.

Mr. Ripert tried to reach Mr. Bourdain on his cellphone, according to hotel staff. A receptionist then went to Mr. Bourdain’s room, where he was found hanging in the bathroom.

“This leads us to suspect that not much preparation and premeditation went into the act, and leads us more in the direction of an impulsive act,” said Mr. de Rocquigny.

Source: New York Times

Philippe Cousteau, Grandson Of Famed Explorer Jacques On The Hunt For Buried Treasure

Inspired by the legacy of his grandfather Jacques Cousteau, Philippe Cousteau and his wife Ashlan return for season 2 of their popular Travel Channel series Caribbean Pirate Treasure.  It follows the fun-loving and adorable couple as they journey through the Caribbean, diving into haunted mysteries while exploring pirate history, all while searching for lost treasure [ . . . ]

Read more at FORBES: Philippe Cousteau, Grandson Of Famed Explorer Jacques On The Hunt For Buried Treasure

The Rebellious French Village Making Wine Banned by the E.U

ON A SLOW SUNDAY NIGHT at Virginia’s La Table Provencale restaurant, sommelier Christian Borel unveils a prized bottle of Cuvée des Vignes d’Antan. In a hushed, conspiratorial tone, he calls it a “borderline mythical, quasi black-market wine.” It’s made from outlawed jacquez and herbemont grapes, he explains, and is produced by a coop of rebellious vignerons in the Ardéche region of southern France.

Filled with dark garnet-red liquid, the bottle is sealed with shrink wrap. Its label is stamped with vintage information and a line-drawing of a sultry wine goddess. All in all, it looks indistinguishable from something you’d buy at the supermarket.“This cuvée hails from the tiny, remote village of Beaumont, where it’s been perfected by five generations of local winemakers,” whispers Borel. For the past 84 years, the French government and, most recently, the European Union, has sought to eradicate Beaumont’s grapevines due to their American “blood.” Although the vines are French-American hybrids, they are more than 140 years old. Beaumont’s Association Mémoire de la Vigne makes just 7,000 bottles a year.

Swirled in a glass, the wine offers a floral, fruity aroma of blackberries and what Borel describes as “hues of violet and peony.” Letting it breathe, hints of “vanilla, mild spice, and licorice” emerge. A sip brings thick, pleasantly rounded flavors “backed by firm structure, a finish of supple, smoothed-out tannins …” and a taste that is uncannily “like its bouquet.”

In a word, it’s good

“This wine should be celebrated as others are,” says Hervé Garnier, the 66-year-old Association Mémoire de la Vigne president and founder. Garnier loves Beaumont, which is Continue reading “The Rebellious French Village Making Wine Banned by the E.U” →