Experiencing Exhibitions

Fine, well thought out exhibitions in and around the city offer a journey into faraway places, myriad mediums and educational experiences. The highly unique and intriguing works in fabrics by the American artist Shelia Hicks offer a new take on colour and space while a show presenting hundreds of pieces of art jewels signed by, among others, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, reveals the jewel as a work of art. Exotic journeys await in an exhibition of paintings of faraway places as conceived by European artists while another show reveals the mutual influences Dutch and French painters had upon one another in centuries past. History is on the agenda, too, with a show devoted to black dolls offering a glimpse into African American culture in the 19th century and early 20th century while an exhibition devoted to the activists Beate and Serge Klarsfeld focuses on the couple’s fight for the memory of the victims of the Shoah. And never far from Paris are the masters with a show devoted to the great Renaissance artist Tintoretto and another revolving around Rembrandt.

- Patricia Valicenti

There is the whimsical comb and watch brooch by Salvador Dali, an endearing pendant of a gold head of a faun from Pablo Picasso and an iconic Nana brooch designed by Niki de Saint Phalle. These are among the highlights of the art jewels on display at the MAD, the museum devoted to the decorative arts in an exhibition entitled From Calder to Koons, Jewellery by Artists, the Ideal Collection of Diane Venet. The show brings together over 230 pieces by 150 artists from all over the world like Jeff Koons, Alexander Calder, Frank Stella, André Derain and so many more emanating from the collection of Diane Venet complemented by exceptional loans from galleries and private collections. The jewellery pieces, which emerge as miniature works of art, are juxtaposed with larger works in the museum’s collections to evoke scale as the very small is joined with the very large. The show opens on March 7th and is running through to July 8th.

Meanwhile, the Centre Pompidou is presenting a solo show devoted to the American artist Shelia Hicks who has lived in Paris since the mid-1960s. The exhibition, entitled Sheila Hicks. Life Lines, is an invitation to discover art works made out of cotton, wool, linen and silk, mediums that offer a new take on colour and space. The textiles are malleable by nature and so give life to works that are consequently unbound and adapt and transform themselves to each new environment that they are displayed in. Among her most iconic pieces are her soft sculptures, piled up pieces of wool and linen that can be re-interpreted at every new showing. Some 100 pieces are displayed in a fluid and non-chronological circuit underscoring the dialogue between the artworks with colour and space. Alongside the sculptures, some of them monumental, dozens of Minimes, small A4sized woven pieces or compositions are being exhibited. The show, which overlooks Paris, is running through to April 30th.