https://www.scmp.com/rss/503324/feed Jeff Koehler is the award-winning author of ten books about art and food. His most recent work is Matisse in Morocco. It was The Art Newspaper’s June Book Club pick and in the Wall Street Journal’s “Best Reviews of August”. He divides his time between Barcelona and Menorca. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com In April 1912, French painter Henri Matisse returned to his home and studio in Issy-les-Moulineaux, outside Paris, after a productive winter painting in Tangier. Already 42 and yet to achieve lasting critical acceptance or financial security since exploding onto the forefront of the avant-garde movement in 1905, Matisse had gone to Morocco to find a way ahead in the face of cubism, then dominating Paris’ art scene. In the glow of the Moroccan spring, the soon-to-be legend produced some of his... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3227690/did-china-rather-morocco-inspire-famous-goldfish-paintings-french-artist-henri-matisse?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3227690/did-china-rather-morocco-inspire-famous-goldfish-paintings-french-artist-henri-matisse?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 15 Jul 2023 10:15:18 +0000 Signed with a casual “Yang x”, the message on the invitation to the runway show was just as simple: “Welcome to the New Chapter.” The Shanghai-based brand Shang Xia had registered for the first time on the official Paris fashion show calendar, and was presenting its spring/summer 2022 collection on the morning of October 4, 2021. It would be the inaugural collection for the label by its young, Chinese-born designer, Yang Li, whose appointment had been officially announced less than two weeks... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/fashion/article/3175943/global-names-luxury-fashion-arent-chinese-two?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/fashion/article/3175943/global-names-luxury-fashion-arent-chinese-two?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 May 2022 00:15:12 +0000 The serious and dapper clerk approached the checkerboard wooden cubicles that line the walls, creaking the floorboards while reaching for a trio of large black tea tins. Removing the lid of one, he gave it a slight shake and, with the tin tipped forward, snapped open a lacy black handheld fan and began to frantically wave the aromas in my direction. This sort of display is par for the course at the original shop of the Mariage Frères gourmet tea company, nestled on a quiet side street in Paris’... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3157514/best-chinese-japanese-indian-and-english-teas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3157514/best-chinese-japanese-indian-and-english-teas?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Nov 2021 05:15:09 +0000 Coral-red paper lanterns lit the way aboard the four-masted Peking, berthed in New York’s harbour. Festooned with banners, hand-painted parasols, thousands of white cattleya orchids and a 450kg bronze Buddha, the ship had been redecorated for that September evening in 1978 to celebrate the American launch of the Yves Saint Laurent perfume Opium. The launch in Paris the previous autumn was more low-key, but sales far exceeded expectations. Stores sold out immediately, endured long waits to... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3098113/inspired-china-yves-saint-laurent-launched?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3098113/inspired-china-yves-saint-laurent-launched?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Aug 2020 21:15:05 +0000 El Invernadero sits at the top of Calle Ponzano, a trendy street synonymous with tapas and cocktails in Madrid’s central Chamberí neighbourhood. Its block, though, is quiet and nondescript. From the outside, chef Rodrigo de la Calle’s Michelin-starred restaurant is rather inconspicuous; inside, understatement – not minimalism – reigns. The dining room is intimate and stylish, with leafy plants and glazed, apple-green wall tiles offsetting speckled white walls and bare, dark wood tables. The... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3045299/future-food-lies-plants-says-spanish-chef?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3045299/future-food-lies-plants-says-spanish-chef?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Jan 2020 10:00:11 +0000