Ulrich Leben

This monograph dedicated to the most spectacular example of Parisian First Empire interior architecture retraces the history of the building and the lives of its residents. The H tel de Beauharnais, constructed in 1713, gained renown during the Consulate period. In 1803, Josephine Bonaparte acquired the property for her son, Eug ne de Beauharnais, and had the building renovated and decorated at great expense. At the fall of the Napoleonic Empire, it was sold to the King of Prussia and became an embassy during the nineteenth century. With its unique Consulate and Empire decor, the palace is an invaluable specimen of Parisian interior architecture. The result of more than ten years of research and restoration work, this book recounts three centuries of European political history through the lives of the H tel's successive owners.

This catalogue presents over 800 artworks from the collection of Germany's most internationally renowned art dealer, Michael Werner, part of which belong to his donation to the Musee dart moderne de la Ville de Paris. This is a collection that stands out for its commitment to trends defying accepted art canons and, especially, to the work of the painter-sculptor ranging freely and impartially through the fields of painting, sculpture and drawing. Rather than focusing on avant-garde movements, the exhibition takes an idiosyncratic look at the art of the 20th century and offers a novel reading of the modern and the contemporary. Thirty-nine artists are represented in twenty chapters, where they are juxtaposed with quotations by contemporary critics. Texts by Pierre Rosenberg, Eric Darragon and Fabrice Hergott focus on the collector, while essays by Pamela Kort, Wolfgang Kersten and Ulrich Leben explore the historical context of the collection. The appendix lists the works in the collection, all the Michael Werner Gallery shows from 1963, and a bibliography of its numerous publications.