In France. . .

o  The 2013 Cannes film Festival is scheduled for May 15-26, and this year the jury will be presided over by Steven Spielberg who attends the festival each year.  Among other things he is quoted as saying about the event is, "For over six decades, Cannes has served as a platform for extraordinary films to be discovered and introduced to the world for the first time."

o  Paris will host an exhibit entitled Les Jouets Star Wars at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, featuring action figures, dolls, costumes spaceships, video games and more, all from the collection of one person, through March 17.  Information at lesartsdecoratifs.

o  The Musée du Louvre is offering the works of Eugène Delacroix - Des fleurs en hiver through March 18.  Important floral oil and watercolor painting will be together for the first time in this exhibit.  Through March 18.  For further information visit www.louvre.fr.

o  Surrealist Salvador Dali is the focus of an exhibit at the Centre Pompidou until March 25.  They salute the Spanish artist with a major retrospective of 150 canvases along with films and audio presentations.  Details at centrepompidou.fr.

o  Paris' Insitut du Monde Arabe (a fascinating building in its own right) offers 300 works relating to Scheherazade in Les Mille et une nuits. The exhibit looks at the tale told from its origins to its becoming a classic in music, dance, fashion, film and art.  Through April 28.  For more information imarabe.org.

o  The gallery Cité Internationale de la dentelle et de la mode in Calais offer Histoire de fils through June 2, a display cutting-edge works of lace in non-traditional materials created freely by the students and graduates of Brussels' Académie des Beaux-Arts.  Truly not what we think of when we think of old-fashioned lace.  For details visit cite-dentelle.fr.

o  Visit Marseille this year ~ the city chosen as the 2013 European Capital of Culture.  Throughout the year visitors can enjoy programs in the arts, music, dance, festivals, museum exhibits, films and more.  To find out what is going on, visit mp2013.fr.

o  If you plan to be in Paris, take the 20-minute train ride to Versailles to see the collection of art and art objects that were inspired by the ancient Greeks and Romans.  Louis XIV had exquisite copies made, and this year you can see over 200 of them brought together in the same location for the first time since the French Revolution.  Until March 17.  Information at chateauversailles.fr.  But, if you miss it, do visit the Palace at Versailles anyway. 

o Each autumn, under the splendid dome of Paris' Grand Palais, FIAC (Foire Internationale d'Art Contemporain) holds one of Europe's three largest art fairs.  This year it will run from October 18 to 21 with nearly 200 galleries from some 25 countries.  Don't miss it!

o  The controversial éthylotest (alcooltest, breathalyzer), which should be kept in one's vehicle, became the law in 2012.  People not possessing one will face a fine of eleven euros, and the fines will be levied after March 1, 2013.  So, where do tourists driving in France fit into this?  Rental car companies, for the most part, will provide two éthylotests in each car, which the driver will only pay for if he or she uses it.  Travelers should ask if their car has one just in case they have to show it to a police officer if stopped.  At least that's what we've been able to determine.  The latest news is that there is a shortage of éthylotests and manufacturers are having a hard time meeting demand.  We'll keep you posted ~ but whether at home or in France, don't drive and drive!

In the US . . .

o  Manet and the Graphic Arts in France, 1860-1880 will be the featured exhibit at Stanford University's Cantor Arts Center.  Prints, drawings and photographs from the decades before and after the Paris Commune of 1971.  This show will run June 12 through November 17.  Information at museum.stanford.edu or by calling 1.650.723.4177.  The Center is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, 11 AM to 5 PM and Thursday until 8 PM.  Admission is free.

o Royal Treasures from the Louvre: Louis XIV to Marie-Antoinette is the exhibit through March 17 at San Francisco's Legion of Honor.  On exhibit are Sèvres porcelains, tapestries, and some truly luxurious objet d'art that have never been out of France before.  Details available at legionofhonor.famsf.org.

o  New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art will host an exhibit entitled The Path of Nature: French Paintings from the Wheelock Whitney Collection, 1785-1850 ~51 paintings including numerous  plein air works of the natural world and that pre-dated Impressionism by almost one hundred years.  Until April 21.  Details available at metmuseum.org.

o  Fashion and Technology is a collection of more than one hundred garments, accessories and textiles covering a 250-year period to illustrate the influence of technology on fashion.  Focus is on innovations in sewing machines, fabrics and synthetic dyes and how online shopping has influenced the production of clothing.  Through May 8 at the Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology.  Information at fitnyc.edu.

o Visiting Masterpieces:  Cézanne's The Large Bathers, on loan from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, will hang next to the Museum of Fine Art's Where Do We Come From?  What Are We?  Where Are We Going? until May 12 in Boston.  These are two monumental canvases by artists at the peak of their influence.  More information at mfa.org.

o Richmond, Virginia, hosts their 21st annual French Film Festival fro March 21 through 24 at the Byrd Theatre.  Visitors will see the latest features and short films from France, presented by their directors or cast members, followed by a questions and answer session for the audience.  Details at frenchfilmfestival.us.

This is the first book we've reviewed that is only available on Kindle - not in hard or soft cover.  Definitely not a guide book (our usual Bookshelf subject), it seemed far too interesting to pass up.  Much research was done for historical accuracy, and even more interesting is that Gauguin's Ghost Story is also a performance piece by its author and creator, Tony Stowers.

Tony Stowers is an English writer and actor living in France.  His fascination with the French Post-Impressionist artist, Paul Gauguin, led him to research the artist and his life, his friends, family and other painters of his day.  The author believes that the book contributes something to the Van Gogh-Gauguin debate.  But, there is more than simply a book here ~ Stowers has created a one-man show which he performs in France.  The book explains the creative process behind the show and how he accomplished successful live theatre in another culture on a shoestring budget.

Gauguin's Ghost Story begins when Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (1848 - 1903) was a small boy in Peru, recalling a rather disturbing event taking place outside his home ~ but it quickly moves to 2008 with the sentence, "I picked Stowers - he didn't pick me.  In January 2008 I was in Brittany, having gone there from Paris. In Paris I'd been with Vincent, traipsing The Louvre and ogling the beautiful girls but even that got boring after a while, so I'd caught a train out to Pont-Aven for the New Year. One advantage to being immortal is you don't have to pay for fares..." Thus begins the author's interpretation (and he notes that it is well-documented) of Gauguin's life, thoughts, dissatisfaction with how his image had become commercialized in the 21st century, and how came to possess the author's physical being.  As Gauguin continues to explain it, "Part of the deal I made with Tioka in 1903 on Hiva Oa was I couldn't be free forever: I had to possess a living body regularly to exist and to get around but couldn't spend more than a couple of years in them." He goes on to say he has just abandoned his 'Russian dancer' when he came upon our author in Pont-Aven.  Stowers became Gauguin's new 'host', and Gauguin analyzed the Englishman, rather critically, and he proceeded to also criticize much of the art world, particularly in France.

Reading on, one easily believes that Paul Gauguin is narrating his life's story, along with his day to day impressions of the first decade of the 21st century ~ often amusing, but always critical.  Told entirely in the first person, you know that people who firmly believe in 'channeling' the dead would adore this book.  But, even more interesting, those of us who may not believe in it might just be tempted.  And that was just chapter one!

Tony Stowers tells about himself and growing up in Chapter Two ~ his lifelong interest in France and things French, and how he eventually got there in 1981. That proved to be a short-lived visit with no money, so he spent the rest of the time plotting how to get home to England.  Once there, his life moved forward with various career plans and jobs, but he felt that France was in his blood.  So he returned to France and to Angers. After living there for a few years, he returned to England and came up with the idea of teaching basic French to English schoolchildren through a little theatre production which became quite successful.  In 2003, he embarked on Gauguin.

Throughout Gauguin's Ghost Story one sees that it allows the author to step outside himself ~ observing himself through anther's eyes: Gauguin's.  The artist is critical of Tony's life up until now, as he is critical of his fellow artists ~ and himself!  The author writes about himself, his childhood, his life in England, and his life after relocating to France permanently in 2006.  Gauguin talks about himself, his childhood, his relationships, his life in France and his life after relocation, also permanently, to Tahiti.   It's always easy to say that someone is a good writer or an accomplished author.  What is far more difficult is what Tony Stower has shown in this book: he's an excellent storyteller.  He paints a picture, creates a scene as he tells every bit and piece of his life experiences ~ the typical struggles of an artist, whether painter or poet, to make ends meet...to survive.  You're there with him.

The book covers the French experience as well, from an Englishman's perspective, on job-hunting, learning a new language as an adult, and all the little problems that arise from day to day.  Most enjoyable are the injections of humor.  An especially funny portrayal is of his trials with a 'new' rebuilt MoPed that wouldn't go up hills and whose spark plugs would fall to the ground when he came to a stop.  Or, there is the time he was given a chance to prove to a French farmer he could pick apples.  Both are hilarious. 

As the author makes adjustments to his new life in France, so he takes us through Gauguin's adjustments to his new life in Tahiti.  As Tony falls in love with living in Angers, Paul falls in love with Pont-Aven in Brittany where the two 'met' and where this all began.  The book achieves what I think it was meant to do: it gives some real insight into Paul Gauguin, far more than in a dry biography.  Tony Stowers brings Gauguin's ghost to life!

Gauguin's Ghost Story makes one want very much to see that one-man/one-ghost show in France. Good luck to him with that project, and we thank Tony for including the full script in both English and French ~ until we can see the show, that will have to do for now.