Editorial: Philip Glass, Cocteau, Duchamp, and Helmut Newton

In a recent editorial, Catherine Millet reflects on the unexpected connections between Philip Glass, Jean Cocteau, Marcel Duchamp, and Helmut Newton. She notes that Glass's adaptation of Cocteau's films into operas and Dominique Païni's article on the relationship between Cocteau and Duchamp converge in this issue. Millet argues that artworks are shaped by how artists and critics reinterpret them, citing Glass's engagement with Cocteau despite the latter's controversial reputation. She criticizes those who dismissed the Cocteau exhibition at Centre Pompidou (reviewed in artpress n°295) for perpetuating a simplistic view of modernity. Millet also references Alexandre Adler's tribute to Helmut Newton on France-Culture, highlighting how Newton, a Nazi refugee, ironically and feministically subverted the aesthetics of Arno Breker in his photographs of nude women. She laments that French officials missed the opportunity to secure a donation from Newton, which instead went to Berlin.