De Niro forgives French diss
AGC Gossip
MOST times, intense actor Robert De Niro isn't going to give anyone who disses
him a second chance. But the big star just let his love for his late father
overcome his aversion to the French authorities.
You'll recall that last year, a publicity-hungry Parisian judge grilled De Niro
about a French prostitution ring. The judge was grandstanding - the star, who
had been there filming ''Ronin,'' had nothing to do with any hookers, wasn't
charged with anything and never should have been implicated.
He left in a rage, vowing to return his various French decorations and never
again set foot in the country. But he relented the other day, to attend the
successful retrospective of the paintings of Robert Sr., who died in 1993.
The show, at the Gerald Piltzer Gallery on the Rue Matignon (they call it the
Madison Avenue of Paris), was a triumph, with the colorful
abstract-expressionist canvases selling fast at around $80,000 each. Reps from
De Niro Sr.'s Manhattan gallery, Salander O'Reilly, called it a roaring
success.
Thousands attended the opening, and De Niro was mobbed by fans and paparazzi,
but gritted his teeth and went through with it for the sake of his father. (It
was notable that no French political figures made an appearance, giving rise to
speculation that De Niro had had them banned. Or maybe they were just
embarrassed at the shabby treatment they allowed to be meted out to the man who
is idolized by so many French cineasts.)
The exhibition itself was a belated recognition by the French of the senior De
Niro's talent. When the painter moved from New York to Paris in the '60s, he
was going against the tide. Marcell Duchamp was working the Manhattan scene and
Salvador Dali was ensconced at the St. Regis.
Curator Baird Jones says De Niro Sr.'s move was widely seen as career suicide,
and indeed he went years there without making any impression on the Parisian
art scene. So it was nice that the son could swallow his pride and be in
attendance when his father was finally paid the homage due him.
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