FRANÇOIS-EUGÈNE ROUSSEAU, MONT FUJI, VASE, PARIS, CIRCA 1884. PHOTO: JEAN THOLANCE. IMAGE COURTESY OF MUSÉE DES ARTS DÉCORATIFS. 

Quette wants to reveal the sheer depth of Japanese influence on French art, "not only in ornamental patterns but also ergonomics, design and the sobriety of shapes and uses," she says. Highlights from the almost 1,500 works that make up the show include French glassmaker François-Eugène Rousseau's delicate "Mount Fuji" vase, made in the late 19th century, and a striking dress by contemporary Japanese fashion label Issey Miyake, which features a bold motif by legendary graphic designer Ikko Tanaka.

GENLIS ET RUDHARD, VASE, PARIS, CIRCA 1863. PHOTO: JEAN THOLANCE. IMAGE COURTESY OF MUSÉE DES ARTS DÉCORATIFS. 

Japon-Japonismes: 1867–2018 celebrates 150 years of diplomatic relations between Japan and France and, says curator Béatrice Quette, "emphasises the history of artistic and cultural exchanges between the two countries for a century and a half."

^{Ando Hiroshigé, The temple Kinryuzan at Asakusa, series of «100 Famous Views of Edo», Print, Japan, 1856.} 

Japan-Japonismes. Inspired Objects, 1867-2018 highlights this exceptional collection of ancient Japanese art, one of the most important in France, compared with Western Japanese creations. The exhibition, enriched by loans from institutions, creators and special collections especially from Japan, says how much this mutual fascination has had expressions for more than a century and a half, and which gives, even today, all its vigor to the imagination of the artists.

^{(Photo: Jean Tholance. Image courtesy of Musée des Arts Décoratifs.)}

Venus Over Manhattan announce their Art Basel Miami Beach exhibition of Maryan's "Personnage" paintings from his time in Paris in the 1950s:

Venus Over Manhattan is pleased to announce its inaugural presentation at Art Basel Miami Beach, with a solo presentation of important paintings by Maryan. The exhibition will be on view from December 5th through 9th, 2018, at booth S5 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Venus’ presentation at ABMB will be a focused survey of Maryan’s “Personnage” paintings from 1967-1972. They include large-scale works on canvas and an important suite of works on paper. Maryan began exploring the “Personnage” series while living in Paris in the 1950s. Characterized by a centrally located figure dominating the composition, the works quickly established Maryan’s reputation for using abstract techniques to render boisterously figurative subject matter. The paintings made in Maryan’s Paris years feature somber characters cast against subdued color palettes. It wasn’t until Maryan’s relocation from Paris to New York in 1963, that the “Personnage” works transition from dark to color and action filled: a clear reflection of the artist’s renewed outlook.

Born in the central Mexican city of Guanajuato in 1886, Diego Riverawent on to become one of the great Modernists of 20th-century art, as well as, arguably, the most important painter in his nation’s history.

Best-known for his murals on public buildings in Mexico and the United States, Rivera also made a number of easel paintings, watercolours and drawings. ‘Above all, he was a magnificent storyteller,’ says Virgilio Garza, Head of Latin American Art at Christie’s. ‘Rivera could tell tales on both an epic scale and a small, intimate one’.

In May 2018, his painting The Rivals  realised $9,762,500 in The Collection of David and Peggy Rockefeller sale, setting a world-record price at auction for not just Rivera but any Latin American artist.

Rivera’s early career and Cubism

A child prodigy, he started drawing at three. By the age of 10, Rivera was enrolled full-time at the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts, in Mexico City. In 1907, he moved to Europe, settling first in Spain and then Paris. His work from this period reveals the influence of a wealth of European masters: from El Greco to Cézanne.

A friend and rival of Picasso’s, Rivera made his name as part of the Cubist movement. One of his main works in this style was 1915’s Zapatista Landscape, which today forms part of the collection of the Museo Nacional de Arte in Mexico City.

When did Rivera start painting murals?

Rivera returned to his homeland in the early 1920s, shortly after the Mexican Revolution concluded. The artist was one of the revolution’s greatest champions, helping to spread the message of a new Mexico by painting vast, state-sponsored murals — on buildings such as the National Palace and the Secretariat of Public Education in Mexico City. Here he connected the country’s revolutionary present to a heroic, ancient past.

‘Gone was the doubt which had tormented me in Europe,’ said Rivera, later in life. ‘I now painted as naturally as I breathed, spoke, or perspired’.