Last week in France, the far-right Marine Le Pen was found guilty of embezzling European Union funds with a judgement that included a four-year sentence with two years suspended, to be served under house arrest and barred from running for political office for five years taking her out of the presidential race for 2027, awaiting appeal.
Equally extraordinary, though more predictable, was seeing within hours of the judgement the skewer – to use the French expression – of leaders with shared far-right leanings from various countries posturing for her defense: Viktor Orbán, Jair Bolsonaro, Geert Wilders, George Simion, Dmitry Peskov (for Putin), Salvini, Trump & Musk… Who said they weren’t capable of empathy? The only thing missing was Berlusconi’s tweet from the grave: Hold on tight, Marine.
Meanwhile in the U.S., once again Irony is the lingering house guest: Twice-impeached in his first term, elected as a freak of nature for a second with dozens of felony convictions – essentially upending the world’s economy single-handedly in his first 100 days – is already entertaining an unconstitutional third term. A supposed one-off where no one got the joke, the emperor has commissioned his third line of clothing, and everyone is applauding.
All this with the backdrop of a mass deportation fiasco, forged of false equivalencies. Lady Liberty, or the Mother of Exiles, now deemed a DEI hire, her song reversed and made dictum: Send back the tired, the poor and huddled masses yearning to breathe free, give us your staried pomp, felonies and all. So little left to resemble fairness or dignity.
Today is April 8. A year ago today a total eclipse occurred with its Path of Totality sweeping through North America. It’s as if we were still basking in its shadow.
Breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain. (T.S. Eliot). Today is April 8. On this day was born Danish artist and writer Hans Scherfig (1905), Belgian composer and singer Jacques Brel (1929), and English fashion designer Vivienne Westwood (2002). On this day died Pablo Picasso (1973), artist Sol LeWitt (2007), and Romanian born American artist Hedda Sterne (2011).
Welcome to the 159th edition of Prescriptions. Here is our guide to current events in the arts.
Akram Menari, Algeria, Shortlist, Open Competition, Travel, 2025
Sony World Photography Awards 2025
World Photography Organisation is a leading global platform dedicated to the development of photographic culture. Its programming provides valuable opportunities for artists working in photography. Winners & Shortlist Announced; Exhibition through May 5, 2025, Somerset House, London.
Manuela Lorente
Circulation(s) 2025
The richness of this edition finds exploration of intimate territories as places of resistance in the face of systemic violence. We make a point of welcoming different testimonies and perspectives. Through May 31, 2025 / Circulation(s) at Centquatre-Paris.
Corinne Day, The Virgin Suicides, Sofia Coppola (ed.), Mack
The Virgin Suicides
Corinne Day’s representation of female beauty met its match in Sofia Coppola, whose debut with the film The Virgin Suicides marked the first of her unaffected, empathetic depictions of womanhood. The Virgin Suicides, Corinne Day / Sofia Coppola (ed.), Designed by Anamaria Morris for Joseph Logan Design. Published by Mack, April 2025.
Jadwiga Sawicka, Było nie było, 2010–2014
Pursuing the Whole: The Katarzyna Kobro Award
This exhibition at Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi presents the winners of the Katarzyna Kobro Award, a major distinction that the arts community has given the most outstanding artists for twenty years. On view through Aug 3, 2025.
Bahar Noorizadeh, Free to Choose (2023). Installation view Photo Rob Battersby
FACT Liverpool: Kulendran Thomas & Noorizadeh
FACT Liverpool presents two compelling exhibitions by artists Christopher Kulendran Thomas and Bahar Noorizadeh, inviting visitors to explore the intersection of media, technology and global politics. On view through May 11, 2025 / FACT Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
Irving Penn, Small Cuttings of Bananas, New York, 2008
From the Roster
Hamiltons Gallery is delighted to present this expansive and evolving exhibition featuring significant works from many of the artists it has had the privilege of exhibiting over its long history. Presenting artists such as Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Helmut Newton and Sir Don McCullin, Daidō Moriyama, Andy Warhol and many others. On view through April 26, 2025.
Numéro art / 14: Isabelle Huppert
Numéro art / 14: Isabelle Huppert
This season, the iconic Isabelle Huppert has agreed to accompany Numéro art to the Louvre to revisit its greatest masterpieces. Also featured in this 14th edition of Numéro art, interview with Martha Jungwirth, the immense abstract painter whose highly expressive canvases are currently being celebrated at the Palazzo Cini in Venice and the Guggenheim Bilbao… not forgetting studio visits by art legend Takesada Matsutani and French art darling Julian Charrière.
