The Louvre Less Traveled
Published September 28, 2011From Elaine’s Lumière column for T Magazine’s The Moment.
Many visitors of the Louvre don’t know that the right hand of Winged Victory sits to the left of the massive sculpture. It’s these looked over pieces of art that are the subject of “Louvre: Secret et Insolite.
I long ago stopped counting how many times I’ve seen the Mona Lisa. The most visited work of art at the Louvre is, alas, at the top of the must-see list of every houseguest on a first visit to Paris.
Mona is surprisingly small (30 by 21 inches), dark and hard to see behind the barriers and bulletproof glass. After a while, she gets — dare I say it — boring. So do the Winged Victory of Samothrace (No. 2 in popularity) and Vénus de Milo (No. 3).
So over the years, I’ve come up with my own Louvre must-see list from the museum’s permanent collection of 35,000 paintings, sculptures, furnishings and objects. And I am always on the lookout for more hidden treasures, an exercise made easier with the publication two weeks ago of “Louvre: Secret et Insolite” (Louvre: Secret and Unusual) by Louvre Editions/Parigramme. People who don’t speak French need not shy away: the 119 works of art are illustrated with color photos.
Leg Work
Published September 9, 2011From Elaine’s Lumière column for T Magazine’s The Moment.
Ullstein/Everett Collection.
Actress Brigitte Bardot shows off her legs in film director Roger Vadim’s “…And God Created Woman.”
September, the month when France makes its post-vacation “rentrée” and social, cultural and political life resumes, is also the month when women dress up again, exchanging loose summer garb and tropéziennes for form-fitting skirts and high heels.
So now is a good time to contemplate the female leg.
Continue reading “Leg Work” »
Recent Comments