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The Human Form Is Back in Art in Paris

November 30, 2012 Posted by admin

The human form is back in art in Paris. It is the leading trend this fall for galleristas — from nude Marilyn Monroe to nude tribal Africans — the body beautiful is in center stage in all the top gallery windows.


Following years of anything is art, everything is art and years of pop-copies of the great Moderns Artists of the ’50s — Rothko, De Kooning, Pollack and Kline — the art world has suddenly reverted to realism in its most basic form: ourselves.

Every winter, Paris shops fill their windows with eye catching thrills — from fois gras displays to cheese trays gone wild. Bakers and chocolatiers compete with grandiose windows calling out to their clients, “Come eat me.”

Galleristas also compete for attention, and this winter it’s the nude gone wild or human sculpture lying on the floor. “Come in,” they cry out, “Come love me.” Nothing is more eye-catching than the human condition is all its pathos and glory.

The left bank, near my dress shop on the Rue Bonaparte, became a world destination for African-Oceanic Primitive work since the late ’80s, and this art form has expanded to right bank and the museums on the grand boulevards. I will never forget when an African tribal mask from Mali (Dogon) was sold in a Paris auction house for one million dollars. The entire Rue Visconti (a street of only African art) went crazy and got drunk for days.

My son Richard was filming in Africa and brought home masks. The problem is they can also carry bad spells and worse, serious evil curses.

Vicky Tiel began designing clothes 40 years ago in Paris and still owns a boutique there. See Vicky and her NEW Collection on HSN and online. Her couture is available at Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus, and her perfumes are carried in Perfumania. Her memoir, “It’s All About the Dress: What I Learned in 40 Years About Men, Women, Sex, and Fashion” was published by St. Martin’s Press in August 2011.