Paris Arts Club

  Royal lefem statue from Cameroon  19th C Wood  The Louvre has recently reopened the Gallery of Five Continents. Restructured by architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, the gallery was first opened with President Chirac's approval in 2000. It now includes European artifacts, alongside those of the other four continents. The aim is to give a fresh perspective on what was once called 'primitive art' and to create a dialogue between the 5 continents. The head of the Louvre, Laurence des Cars, and the head of Musée Quai Branly, Emmanuel Kasarhérou, have spent four years planning it. The statue above is a symbol of the ruler's power, brought out at funerals or ceremonies of succession. A further emblem of power is the imposing Moai head from Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile), one of the ancestral figures which were thought to protect the island's inhabitants: Moai sculpture from North of Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile) 11th to 15th C  Volcanic rock The display is laid out by the...

  Modigliani: Nu au collier de corail (Nude with coral necklace) 1917 Oberlin, Allen Memorial Art Museum In 1917 Berthe Weill's art gallery was at the epicentre of a scandal.  The police were called in and she was told to remove "that garbage" from the window! The problem was 4 paintings of nudes, complete with pubic hair, by Modigliani, which were judged to be an outrage to public morality. Berthe Weill's was the only gallery to give Modigliani his own exhibition during his lifetime. Her instinct and curiosity led her to promote young painters, many of whom are now considered as the  great artists of their day.  André Derain: Pont de Charing Cross (Charing Cross Bridge) ca 1904  Paris, Musée d'Orsay   Derain's brightly coloured fauvist work above is an example of the kind of outrageous  (for the time) works Berthe Weill displayed in her gallery.  Fauvists and Cubists benefitted from her art dealings. With great courage and without prejudice ...