Short pieces - Globe and Mail

QUEBEC CITY MUSEUM HOSTS LATIN AMERICAN COLLECTION
DEANNA MACDONALD
June 9, 2007
One of Latin America's largest art collections is sharing some of its masterpieces with Quebec City this summer. The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (MNBA) is hosting From Cranach to Monet: Masterpieces of the Pérez Simón Collection.
Created in conjunction with the Mexican Fondation Juan Antonio Perez Simón, the Musée Thyssen-Bornemisza (Madrid) and the MNBA, the show features numerous works never before displayed in Canada and spans from Renaissance master Lucas Cranach to Post-Impressionist Paul Gauguin.
Also featured are works by Renoir, Van Gogh, Bruegel, Cézanne, Rubens, Goya and others. The exhibit runs until Sept. 3.
The Musée is located at Parc des Champs-de-Bataille. For more information, call 418-643-2150 or 1-866-220-2150 or visit http://www.mnba.qc.ca.

ART EXHIBIT
AN ANGLOPHILE IN AMERICA
DEANNA MACDONALD
May 19, 2007
American philanthropist Paul Mellon (1907-1999) was mad for British art. Not only did he amass a vast collection of manuscripts, drawings, sculptures and paintings, he also founded the Yale Centre for British Art (YCBA) and financed a building by renowned architect Louis Kahn to house it.
The YCBA, in New Haven, Conn., is celebrating its 30th anniversary and the centennial of its founder's birth with an exhibit to delight both anglophiles and art lovers.
Paul Mellon's Legacy: A Passion for British Art features Mellon's choicest masterpieces by Turner (a detail of his Dort, or Dordrecht, the Dort Packet-boat from Rotterdam Becalmed, 1818, is shown above), Gainsborough, Blake and more. The exhibit runs until July 29.
Yale Centre for British Art: 1080 Chapel St., New Haven, Conn.; http://ycba.yale.edu/index.asp. Admission is free. New Haven is less than a two-hour drive from New York, 5½ hours from Montreal.

VENICE IN NEW YORK
DEANNA MACDONALD
March 17, 2007
Venice and the Islamic World in NYC:
For almost 1000 years, Venice was the meeting place of Europe and the East. This illustrious merchant city traded both goods and ideas with its Islamic neighbours, places like Cairo, Damascus and Constantinople. The wondrous results of this exchange on the arts and culture of Venice is the subject of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's new exhibition, 'Venice and the Islamic World, 828 - 1797,' which features 200 works of art - from exquisite 13th-century Syrian glass to Gentile Bellini's famed portrait of Sultan Mehmet II - from more than 60 collections. From March 27th to July 8th (http://www.metmuseum.org).

SMOKE-FREE FRANCE
DEANNA MACDONALD
February 10, 2007
There is something almost natural about smoking a cigarette in a French café. However, the land of the Gaulouise has taken a monumental step and instituted an anti-tabac law whereby, as of Feb. 1, all public spaces in France must be smoke free. That means schools, hospitals, airports, train stations, offices. . .but not, as it turn out, bars, restaurants or cafés. These hollowed institutions have a respite until Jan. 1, 2008, to clean up their smoking act.

HEADS UP
30 YEARS OF POMPIDOU
DEANNA MACDONALD
February 3, 2007
Jan. 31, 1977, was a big day for Paris. The Centre Pompidou, an unorthodox, inter-disciplinary modern art museum housed in an equally radical building designed by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, opened to widespread acclaim (and some criticism). To celebrate its 30th anniversary, a new exhibition of the Pompidou's modern art collection -- mixing painting, photography, sculpture and design -- opened on Wednesday.
For more information, visit http://www.centrepompidou.fr.

READ
ART IN PRAGUE
LASZLO BUHASZ
January 27, 2007
Prague is not merely one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Its historic buildings and museums also house a wealth of art -- from medieval paintings, Old Masters and iconic 20th-century artists to the latest in contemporary works. In Prague: The Essential Guide to viewing Art in Prague, Deanna MacDonald, an art historian and Globe Travel contributor, leads the reader along seven "art trails," complete with detailed maps, with suggestions for viewing art and architecture, both indoors and out. A valuable companion for travellers to Prague.
Prague: The Essential Guide to Viewing Art in Prague, by Deanna MacDonald (Interlink, $26.95).

SHOP
PARIS SALES
DEANNA MACDONALD
January 13, 2007
Paris, capital of fashion, is in the midst of shopping madness as the annual winter sales got underway this week.
For the next six weeks, stores will stay open longer hours and the deals will get better and better -- up to 70 per cent off -- as the stock gets lower and lower.
Savvy bargain hunters bide their time for just the right moment to pounce, but the first days are when the serious buyers hit the shops, lining up to be the first into chic boutiques to snag that perfect bag or dress. So get your elbows and gold card ready. The winter sales run until Feb. 17.

VISIT
NEW YORK'S MORGAN LIBRARY
DEANNA MACDONALD
May 27, 2006
The Big Apple's hottest ticket these days is . . . a library. Renowned architect Renzo Piano has transformed the Morgan Library's jumble of turn-of-the-century buildings into a stunning contemporary museum for the Morgan's equally rave-worthy collections. To celebrate the reopening, the library is exhibiting Masterpieces from the Morgan, including drawings by Da Vinci, scores by Mozart, medieval manuscripts and gilded reliquaries.
For more information, visit http://www.morganlibrary.org.