Vera Michalski-Hoffmann - 193 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Release Date: 05/26/2024
The Uffizi: Simone Verde on The Hidden Galleries, New Acquisitions, and the Future of Florence’s #1 Institution - 272 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
ANTHROPOLOGY REGENERATES CULTURE. Simone Verde is a museologist and art historian who was appointed Director of the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, Italy, in December 2023, replacing Eike Schmidt who moved to Capodimonte. From 2014 to 2016 Simone Verde was head of scientific research at the Louvre in Abu Dhabi, and from 2016 to 2023 he directed the Complesso Monumentale della Pilotta in Parma, Italy, whose total restoration and refurbishment he completed. Verde studied Theoretical Philosophy in Rome and Paris, has a doctorate in Anthropology of Cultural Heritage, and a degree...
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Inside New York’s Most Beloved Museum: Axel Rüger on the New Era of The Frick - 271 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
THE REGENERATION OF THE FRICK. Axel Rüger is a German art historian, curator and museum director. Director of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam from 2006 to 2019, he previously worked as a curator of Dutch art at the National Gallery in London. He led the Royal Academy of Arts in London from 2019 through 2024, and in March 2025 assumed the directorship of The Frick Collection in New York City. “You get a sense of how the Fricks lived at the time, even though we do not really talk much about their daily life.” “For the first time, the Frick now also has a café and a dedicated space...
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Colin Bailey: The Caravaggio Masterpiece New York Rarely Gets to See - 270 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
REALISING WONDERFUL IDEAS. Colin Bailey is a British art historian and Director of the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. He is a scholar of eighteenth and nineteenth century French art, with a specific interest in the artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. For the first time ever in America, Caravaggio's Boy With A Basket Of Fruit is on show at The Morgan. “Renoir Drawings is a survey of Renoir working on paper, drawings, pastels; and then how some of those drawings relate to paintings and even sculpture. “We also are a teaching institution, so we want to put a light on Caravaggio...
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Professor Eugene Rogan: The Arabs - How the Modern Middle East Was Shaped- 269 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
HISTORIAN OF THE ARABS. Professor Eugene Rogan is Director of the Middle East Centre at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. He has a B.A. in economics from Columbia, and an M.A. and PhD in Middle Eastern history from Harvard. Among many other titles, he is author of which has been translated into 18 languages and was named one of the best books of 2009 by The Economist, The Financial Times, and The Atlantic Monthly. “The Arab peoples were never reconciled to being colonised by the British and French.” “The idea of...
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Is Design Art? Inside the Gallery Shaping the Icons of the 21st Century: Clémence and Didier Krzentowski - 268 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
VISIONARY IN DESIGN. Clémence and Didier Krzentowski founded Galerie kreo in 1999. Today Galerie kreo is located in a very beautiful building in 31 rue Dauphine in the centre of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. It is a gallery of 20th and 21st century design and they are preparing a very important exhibition that will take place at Christie's in Paris from January 14 to January 28, 2026, when they will present the masterpieces of their collection, 65 iconic pieces from the gallery. “We call ourselves a research laboratory, because the idea is not to produce just another chair or table, but to...
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Marco Delogu on Facing Antonello da Messina as a Photographer - 267 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
INTIMATE DIALOGUES WITH ANTONELLO DA MESSINA. Marco Delogu is an acclaimed Italian photographer, publisher, and cultural director whose work focuses on portraits of groups sharing common languages and experiences. He served a successful four year term as the Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in London from 2015 to 2019, noted for his innovative approach as the first photographer leading such an institute. Since 2022 Delogu is President of the , an instrumental body of the city of Rome that manages an integrated system of cultural spaces and events,...
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"Identity Is Something You Choose” — Simone Fattal on Art, Exile, and Belonging - 266 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
MANIFESTATIONS OF THE VOYAGE. Simone Fattal is a Lebanese-American artist. Born in 1942 in Damascus, she was educated in Beirut and Paris, studying philosophy at the École des Lettres and the Sorbonne, as well as archaeology at the École du Louvre. Simone Fattal and Etel Adnan (1925–2021) were life partners for 49 years, artists who shared a profound creative, political, and personal connection. Their multidisciplinary work spans painting, sculpture, poetry, and publishing. “We have to ask the women prisoners to write the poems. Which they did, and I transcribed...
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What It Means to Be Jewish Today: The Chief Rabbi of Rome - Riccardo Di Segni - 265 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
COMMITTED TO DIALOGUE. Riccardo Di Segni is the Chief Rabbi of Rome and director of the Italian Rabbinical School since 2001. He is a retired medical doctor specializing in radiology, and as Vice President of the National Committee for Bioethics (Comitanto Nazionale per la Bioetica) in Italy combines his rabbinical duties with his background in medicine. Di Segni is an author whose work focuses on religious, historical, and cultural aspects of Jewish life. “Despite everything, Judaism endures.” “It is the world that is changing, not just Israel.” “My mother always told me,...
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Gildo Zegna on Building a Family Empire That Lasts Four Generations - 264 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
THE GOLDEN FLEECE OF ZEGNA. Ermenegildo “Gildo” Zegna is Chairman and CEO of the Ermenegildo Zegna Group, founded in 1910 as a textile company by his grandfather and namesake in Trivero, Italy. Under his leadership, the Group has strengthened its position in high-end menswear and has grown into one of the leading global companies in the luxury sector. In 2011, Zegna was awarded the title of Cavaliere del Lavoro (Knight of Labour) by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. In 2021, the Ermenegildo Zegna Group was listed on the New York Stock...
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Why Culture Matters More Than Ever - Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça’s Call to Humanity - 263 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Alain Elkann Interviews
José Tolentino de Mendonça is a theologian, university professor, and one of the most original voices in modern Portuguese. Born in the island of Madeira in 1965, today he is Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, an administrative unit of the Roman Curia. He is Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Institute for Christian Archaeology and a Bishop since 2018. From 2018 to 2022 he was Librarian of the Holy Roman Church. He was made a Cardinal in October 2019. “The common thread running through my story is the importance of attention to culture, dialogue, and the power of...
info_outlineFOR THE SAKE OF THE WRITTEN WORD. Vera Michalski-Hoffmann spent her childhood in the Camargue, France, then studied at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland. Together with her husband Jan Michalski, a Polish native, she founded the publishing company Éditions Noir sur Blanc. Together they developed the Libella group, which now comprises a dozen publishing houses in Switzerland, France and Poland. Jan passed away in 2002, and Vera created the Jan Michalski Foundation for Writing and Literature to perpetuate their shared commitment to the written word, to support literary creation and encourage reading. Vera Michalski-Hoffmann has received Polish and French prizes and distinctions, an honorary doctorate from the University of Lausanne, and is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.
“We try to host as many events as possible that bring people back to the written word.”
“Unless properly controlled, the use of AI in the creative process could mean a great impoverishment of the world.”
“For the Gulag evening most of the people in attendance were older, and I would bet that more than half of young people simply don’t know what Gulag is.”