The Fondation Louis Vuitton reopened its doors to the public on September 23 with a special show featuring the work of American photographer Cindy Sherman. Sherman’s thematic self-portraits are a reflection on the portrayal of women in modern society. This is the first solo show dedicated to the artist since her 2006 exhibition at the … Continue reading “Cindy Sherman Self-Portraits: Hiding in Plain Sight”
It feels strange, but museums are planning exhibitions for the autumn, and it’s possible to plan class visits at least in theory! A couple of Parisian exhibitions with Anglophone cultural connections that could interest you are English aesthete and illustrator of Oscar Wilde’s works, Aubrey Beardsley, at the Musée d’Orsay and American surrealist photographer Man … Continue reading “Save the Dates: Exhibitions for the Autumn”
The June 22 edition of The New Yorker has been released, and the illustrated cover is devoted to the history of violence inflicted on black people in the United States. Entitled ‘Say Their Names’, the powerful illustration features George Floyd, the US citizen recently killed by a police officer in Minneapolis. It shows his body … Continue reading “The latest New Yorker cover pays tribute to black lives lost”
As we have said many times, teachers are finding amazing creative ways to keep providing their pupils with motivating, and feasible, work to do during lockdown. This sequence found on the Académie de Grenoble’s English site can be done entirely in distance learning. It mixes culture and language in a class for 6e about daily … Continue reading “Daily Routine with Rockwell”
Evocative American painter Edward Hopper was to be the subject of an exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler in Basel, Switzerland this spring. But since visitors can’t go to the museum, the museum can come to them online. Hopper’s paintings are wonderful jumping off points for creative writing, or, as film director Wim Wenders explains, for … Continue reading “Edward Hopper: Telling Stories”
An artist in Yorkshire, England, has been painting murals to pay tribute to National Health Service workers and other helping and supporting them during the Covid-19 pandemic. Rachel List was asked by a Pontefract pub to paint a mural in support of the NHS. It was so successful, she’s been asked by others to make … Continue reading “Saying Thanks”
This short video by Banksy is a great addition to Shine Bright 2de SnapFile 8 Will you get Banksy-ed?. Like the prank studied in the file, when a Banksy work that had just been sold at auction disappeared into a shredder at the bottom of the frame, it questions the art market and what is … Continue reading “Banksy in Venice”
In an exhibition in Bordeaux, a British artist pulls African characters from the background of European paintings and puts them centre stage. Lubaina Himid was born in Zanzibar, Tanzania but brought up in England. She was a leading figure of the Black British Art Movement in the 1980s and won the prestigious Turner Prize in … Continue reading “Bringing African Faces to the Foreground”
The Tate Britain exhibition on William Blake explores this talented 19th century artist whose poems and paintings are strikingly modern and pregnant with meaning. Differentiated activities from A2+ to B2 will allow you to add Blake to a sequence on the Gothic or the Romantic movements, for example Shine Bright 1ère Advanced File 1 “Freaky dreams”. … Continue reading “William Blake: Visionary”
It’s always lovely to see students’ work. Here are some collages created at the end of a sequence from Shine Bright 1e: SnapFile 10 Punk is not dead. In this sequence, in Axe 3 Art et pouvoir, students considered whether the spirit of punk can still shake society. They were asked to create and comment … Continue reading “Your Students Have Talent: Punk is not Dead”
