Henri Loyrette

A dual presentation of history paintings at two august French venuesPopes, politicians, actors and historical figures populate the canvases of Chinese painter Yan Pei-Ming (born 1960), in an ongoing dialogue with art and cultural history. This volume documents his recent exhibition at the Grande Chapelle Avignon and the Lambert Collection.

Between a Temple of Art and a Big EventAs places to enjoy art, as well as institutions that have become historic, museums can also be examined through the question of who exactly heads up these temples of art. What kinds of personalities have guided the fates of these large, traditional institutions? How have they done so, and what has motivated them? What galvanizes international curators or museum employees, and how have they risen to the challenge of opening their organizations to increasingly large numbers of visitors? Donatien Grau has conducted impressive conversations with influential museum operators. We have him to thank for these personal, art historical, cultural-political, and timely insights into museum operations, the histories of various institutions, and their leaders’ very personal attitudes toward art. This volume reads like a detective story about the mediation efforts of museums and the personal motives behind them. Interviews with MICHEL LACLOTTE, Director of the Louvre, Paris, 1987–1995; SIR ALAN BOWNESS, Director of the Tate, London, 1980–1988; SIR TIMOTHY CLIFFORD, Director of the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1984–2006; PHILIPPE DE MONTEBELLO, Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1977–2009; IRINA ANTONOVA, Director of the Pushkin Museum, Moscow, 1961–2013; PETER-KLAUS SCHUSTER, General Director of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1998–2008; SIR MARK JONES, Director of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London 2001–2011; TOM KRENS, Director of the Guggenheim Museum, New York, Venice, and Bilbao, 1988–2008; WILFRIED SEIPEL, General Director of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 1998–2008; HENRI LOYRETTE, Director of the Musée d’Orsay, Paris (1994–2001), and the Louvre, Paris (2001–2013). DONATIEN GRAU is a newspaper art critic, a museum curator, and a university teacher. His lively and clever voice has a firm place in the field of art.

Throughout his entire career, from his debut in the 1860s up to his final works post1900, the Opera formed the focal point of Degas’s output. It was his own ‘front room’. He explored the theatre’s various spaces – auditorium and stage, boxes, foyers and dance studios – and followed those who frequented them: dancers, singers, orchestral musicians, audience members and black-attired patrons lurking in the wings. This closed world presented a microcosm of infinite possibilities, allowing all manner of experimentations: multiple points of view, contrasts of lighting, the study of motion and the precision of movement. This book is the first to consider the Opera as a whole, examining not only Degas’ passionate relationship with the House and his musical tastes, but also the limitless resources of this marvellous ‘toolbox’. The work of a truly great artist offers us a unique portrait of the Paris Opera in the 19th century.

'I would like to famous and unknown', said Edgar Degas. His sublime paintings of ballet dancers, striking views of horseraces and intimate scenes of women bathing made him famous. Yet he remains unknown, for those celebrated pictures have obscured both the rest of his work and his private life. The full story of Degas' sixty-year career – as a passionate supporter of the avant-garde, a champion of Impressionism, an insatiable experimenter – can be found in this lavishly-illustrated pocket-sized book.