A Paris Hotel Mixing Minimalism and Opulence

STay Here

This New Getaway Combines Japanese and French Design

Several years ago, the hotelier Nicolas Saltiel stood in front of an office building on the northern edge of the Japanese quarter in Paris. The early 20th-century Haussmann-style block sat on a corner, so he could tell from the sidewalk that the light would be good. It was in the Second Arrondissement and, from the top floors, he guessed, you might be able to see the dome of Sacré-Cœur in Montmartre. (You can.) “I knew if I could manage to buy it, this place would make a perfect, intimate hotel,” Saltiel says.

Saltiel’s company, Adresses Hotels, owns five other small hotels in Paris, each of them with a distinct look and atmosphere. For Hotel Hana and its 26 bedrooms, the architect and designer Laura Gonzalez chose to highlight the hotel’s proximity to Little Tokyo, which includes the Japanese shops and restaurants on Rue Sainte-Anne, a five-minute walk away. “The source of inspiration is Japonisme, an artistic movement that emerged during the Belle Époque period,” says Gonzalez. Japanese building techniques and materials, like paneled partitions, straw walls and lacquered furniture, appear alongside French adornments like velvet headboards and rugs made by Pierre Frey. At the bar, you can order an egg sando and wash it down with a glass of Burgundy. Rooms from about $425, hotelhana-paris.com.

See This

An Artist’s Many Views of the Male Body

“The Male Nude,” an exhibition of the artist Paul Cadmus’s paintings and drawings, opens this week at Manhattan’s DC Moore Gallery. It’s the artist’s first major solo show in over 20 years. Though he gained acclaim beginning in the 1930s with works like “The Fleet’s In!” (which also stirred controversy for its particularly callipygian depiction of American sailors engaging in debauchery), he painted just 135 canvases over the nearly eight-decade span of his career, sometimes only completing one a year. “We don’t paint for stock,” Cadmus used to say, according to the gallerist Bridget Moore, who worked with him for 15 years. His paintings contain symbolic and satirical details: In 1951’s “Manikins,” two (presumably male) wooden figurines are shown locked in an embrace atop a stack of books; close inspection reveals the topmost volume is a copy of André Gide’s anonymously published “Corydon,” in which the French author argued that homosexuality is a natural condition. In his paintings, Cadmus never repeated subject matter or included the same character twice. He was more prolific with his drawings, which are imbued with a sense of reverence for the human form. This show highlights his serially numbered nudes, most of which are drawn in crayon on hand-toned paper. Works from the 1930s to 1990s are included, offering viewers plenty of angles from which to appreciate Cadmus’s undulating bodies. “The Male Nude” is on view at DC Moore Gallery, New York, from Feb. 8 to March 16, dcmooregallery.com.

Covet This

Bright Rugs Inspired by a Scandinavian Sculptor

When the London-based design studio Campbell-Rey first collaborated with the textile company Nordic Knots in 2021, the result was a collection of color-drenched rugs that paid playful homage to Gustavian design elements, referencing the Swedish style popular in the late 1700s. Charlotte Rey, a co-founder of Campbell-Rey, wondered at the time if their creations were too exuberant for those accustomed to the Stockholm-based brand’s typically minimalist aesthetic. But the response was enthusiastic enough that, three years later, the two are joining forces again.