Entertainment
Death of the French painter Pierre Soulages at the age of 102
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Steph Deschamps / October 27, 2022
The master of black joins the darkness. Pierre Soulages died at the age of 102, announced Alfred Pacquement, his longtime friend and president of the Soulages museum, inaugurated in May 2014, in Rodez. A place dear to the artist’s heart, since it was in this town in Aveyron that the painter was born on December 24, 1919.
More than a hundred years later, the artist has undoubtedly marked the history of art, leaving behind him a rich and complex work, carried by his work on black. A “color” from which he brings out the light, which becomes from the end of the 1970s his obsession, tipping over nearly ten years later, in 1979, in what he will call “outrenoir ».
I like the authority of black, its gravity, its obviousness, its radicality (…) Black has unsuspected possibilities,” explained in December 2019 the artist, one of the few to have had the honors of the Louvre in his lifetime. “It is a very active color. You put black next to a dark color and it lights up,” he confided in an interview with AFP.
An artist greeted by the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, for whom “Pierre Soulages had known how to reinvent the black, by making it gush with light”, seeing in his works “vivid metaphors where each of us draws hope ».
Pierre Soulages, who had discovered his vocation as a child during a school visit to the Abbey of Sainte-Foy de Conques, went to Paris in 1937 to train there. Admitted to the Beaux Arts, he did not find himself in the training of this institution, skipped the courses and decided to return to his native South to train in Montpellier.
It was not until 1947 that the young painter moved back to Paris with his wife Colette, who had married in 1942, with false papers to escape the STO (Service du travail obligatoire), which forced young Frenchmen to work for Germany. He was then noticed by Francis Picabia and Fernand Léger who encouraged him. At the time, he painted in ochre and black, but also in red and brown.
In the 1950s, his paintings were shown in the most prestigious museums in the world, such as the Guggenheim in New York and the Tate Gallery in London. He met the main representatives of the New York School, including Mark Rothko, who became his friend.
In France, it was the Georges Pompidou Center that devoted his first personal exhibition to him in 1967. Nearly 50 years later, in May 2014, the Soulages museum, entirely dedicated to his work, opened its doors in Rodez, his hometown, in the presence of the artist then aged 94.
Author of thousands of paintings, he was one of the most highly rated living French artists. In November 2021, one of his works, painted in red and black, was estimated at 20.2 million dollars at an auction. A record for the artist, who was still painting at the age of 99.
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Eva Descamps / February 28, 2024
You’ve seen him in “Star Trek”, “NCIS”, “Grey’s Anatomy” for the series, “Captain Marvel”, “The Recruit”, “Home of the Giants” for the movies… Canadian actor Kenneth Mitchell passed away at the age of 49 this February 24, 2024.
“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the dec! s of Kenneth Alexander Mitchell, a beloved father, husband, brother, uncle, son and friend,” read a post on his Instagram account announcing the sad news.
In August 2018, Kenneth Mitchell was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He had been in a wheelchair since October 2019. By August 2021, he had lost the use of his voice due to the disease.
Entertainment
Alexei Navalny’s body handed over to his mother, says Russian opposition leader’s team
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Sylvie Claire / February 28, 2024
Alexei Navalny’s body, which his relatives had been demanding for over a week, has been handed over to his mother, the Russian opposition leader’s spokeswoman said on Saturday.
In recent days, Alexeï Navalny’s team has regularly complained about not having access to the body of the deceased Russian opponent. His relatives had complained that investigators would spend at least 14 days carrying out an “expertise” on his remains before handing them over.
Navalny’s relatives accuse the Kremlin of killing him and trying to cover up his tracks. According to Navalny’s mother, Russia is trying to decompose the body so that it can no longer be examined. Last week, Alexei Navalny’s mother and lawyers were not allowed to enter the morgue.
Eight days after his death, Navalny’s body was returned to his mother. The Russian opponent’s spokeswoman, Kira Iarmich, said on X (ex-Twitter) that she did not yet know whether “the authorities will prevent (the funeral) from taking place as the family wishes and as Alexei deserves ».
Alexei Navalny was the most prominent opposition figure in Russia, where he gained widespread popularity, particularly among the younger generation, thanks to his in-depth investigations into corruption under Vladimir Putin’s regime
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Eva Deschamps / February 16, 2024
Watching a Sylvester Stallone film in VF will never be the same again. Alain Dorval, the French actor who dubbed the American, died on Monday night, his family announced.
Alain Dorval had been battling cancer for several years, which finally claimed his life earlier this week at the Gustave Roussy hospital outside Paris.
He was best known as the French voice of Sylvester Stallone, but also distinguished himself as Tiger in the Fievel saga, and as Pat Hibulaire in the Disney universe.
Fans of the Rocky saga have been in mourning for several months. In October, actor Burt Young, who played Paulie, passed away. In early February, Carl Weathers, who played Apollo Creed, passed away.
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