Letters from Paris

From 1957 to 1964, Annette Michelson wrote over seventy-five columns and reviews from Paris for the International Herald Tribune, Arts Magazine, and Art International. As Yve-Alain Bois demonstrates, Michelson's subject matter as an art critic during this time was varied, but her tone remained consistent and inimitable, characterized by erudition, irony, and attention to formal detail. Bois quotes from her self-confident appraisals of contemporary painting, traces her burgeoning interest in film, and highlights her particular interest in sculpture, from Daumier's modeled busts to Matisse's small bronze nudes to Tinguely's kinetic machines.