The old-school but high-tech Mercedes-Benz AMG GT 63
Mercedes-Benz’s performance division AMG has produced a new two seater high performance coupe that is back to the best of the past
In a taxi in a European city recently, I was party to a rather poignant scenario. We were stopped at the traffic lights, and two young local guys were in the lane alongside, in a VW Golf GTI, and iconic car for any aspiring car enthusiast.
They had plainly pimped it up to make it faster, with a loud exhaust and an engine that sounded screamier than the original. They were playing around, revving the engine, ready to screech off at the lights. My taxi was electric, a comfortable bland machine whose manufacturer I can’t recall. When the lights changed green, the young men alongside us screeched forward with a chirp of tyres and zing of engine and exhaust.
The Mercedes-Benz AMG GT 63 in action, crossing mountainous terrain
My taxi driver, with a hint of amusement, simply extended his foot in his electric family car we cruised severely passed them, their little sports car desperately sounding like it was trying to keep up as the taxi wafted down the road gaining pace rapidly but with seemingly no effort, and in silence.
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This made me ponder. That coming weekend, I was due to take delivery of an AMG GT 63, a petrol powered touring car several leagues above the little Golf GTI I had seen on my business trip. But still, however fast a car is, there is always an electric car, often a very bland booking one, that is much faster, simply because of the physics of electric propulsion.
‘There is something unashamedly old school about it [but] of course it has an excellent touchscreen information and entertainment system, all the latest safety gadgets, and a hi-fi system’
So what is the point of a V8 petrol powered grand touring car like the AMG GT, which once would have had its own performance as its starring factor?
Within minutes of getting behind the seat of the AMG I had a strong inkling of the answer.
But, let’s look at the car itself. Produced entirely by Mercedes-Benz’s high performance division, AMG, there is something unashamedly old school about it.
Of course it has an excellent touchscreen information and entertainment system, all the latest safety gadgets, and a hi-fi system that makes you think you are in the Vienna Opera House.
But anyone can do that in a car these days.
A front view of the GT 63
What’s the GT has, in container-loads, is character and soul. You sit low and deep alongside your passenger, with a couple of tiny seats behind you indicating that family values perhaps are not of the highest concern for the driver and passenger.
Stab the button, and the engine comes to life a bit like waking up an Italian mastiff (or should that be a German mastiff?). No silent gliding here.
The car rumbles along the road, sounding and feeling much more like one of those overpowered muscle car coops from a 1960s movie than anything from the 2020s. The steering feels organic and real, rather than like you are playing with a game console joystick, which is sadly what a lot of cars these days feel like.
Just like every other car sold today, the steering is electric – you are not actually, controlling a mechanism that turns the wheels, you are simply sending a signal to an electrical program – but AMG have done a superb job in making you think otherwise.
‘This is not the kind of car you get into, cruise down the road and then 20 minutes later look in astonishment at the speed and realise you were going much faster than you thought. It’s a car with a feeling of speed’
It gather speed in bursts with its muscular V8 engine, and most importantly lets you know it is doing so. This is not the kind of car you get into, cruise down the road and then 20 minutes later look in astonishment at the speed and realise you were going much faster than you thought. It’s a car with a feeling of speed.
Read more: A palatial stay at the St. Regis Hotel
The same applies to the handling, which gives you all the sensations of cornering properly, including delightful feedback when turning in to a bend and, despite the car’s safety first four-wheel-drive, a real feeling that it could do one of those cop car swivels around the corner if you press the accelerate too hard at the wrong/right time. (It won’t, unless you turn all the safety systems off, for which you will need the skills of an advanced computer hacker.)
The AMG GT 63 is a contemporary sports car with the character of the great grand tourers of the past
It’s an interior full of sporting intent: nobody will get into the car alongside you and assume they are just in another set of wheels. It makes a statement, saying: This is my car I bought to drive, properly, while everyone else is wafting around in fear of speed limits and legislation.
If it feels a bit out of place in today’s roster of new cars, that’s because it has deliberately bucked a trend, perhaps more surprising coming from a manufacturer so devoted to electrification as it’s parent company Mercedes-Benz. There’s a soul in the company that invented the car, and it is manifesting itself in the AMG GT.
Does it have any drawbacks? Well, it’s a long, low car with it effectively only two seats, although you could perhaps sedate your children and stick them in the back. It does have a decent boot/trunk space, but of course it is not as convenient or easy as an electric taxi. That’s why exists, and you should buy one, although unlike ours, we would recommend a more poppy colour to make the exterior, which is slick but not exceptional, stand out more. Racing yellow or orange, perhaps. Or frog green. Do it while you can.
Soichiro Fukutake, joint owner of Benesse Art Site Naoshima with his son Hideaki Fukutake
The owners of Benesse Art Site Naoshima, Soichiro and Hideaki Fukutake, are revitalizing the Seto Inland Sea islands, Japan’s first National Park. Father and son speak with LUX Leaders & Philanthropists Editor, Samantha Welsh, about conservation, community and the regenerative role for contemporary art.
LUX: What was the catalyst for the Naoshima Island art destination?
Soichiro Fukutake: In 1986, after the sudden death of my father, Tetsuhiko Fukutake, I returned to Okayama from Tokyo and took over a project my father had conceived with the then mayor of Naoshima to build a campsite for children. This led me to visit Naoshima many times, and through interaction with the islanders and my hobby of cruising around the islands of the Seto Inland Sea, I rediscovered not only the natural beauty of the Seto Inland Sea, but also its history, culture, and people. Many of these islands retain the original landscape of the region and its communities have an intrinsic Japanese way of thinking. However, while the islands of the Seto Inland Sea were recognized as Japan’s first national park, they were burdened with the negative legacy of modernization and postwar rapid economic growth. This has caused pain in the hearts of the people who live with the nature of the islands.
I felt my sense of values change 180 degrees when I became involved with the islands of the Seto Inland Sea in this way. Excessive modernization means excessive urbanization, and this is full of stimulation and excitement but also tension. By experiencing the original landscape of the Setouchi, I realized that on a planet with limited resources, we should shift our mindset away from modern’s societies’ destruction and creation to ‘using what exists to create what is to be’.
By exhibiting contemporary art with a message critical of modern society in a place where the original landscape of Japan still remains, I thought I could transmit this idea to the world and at the same time change this damaged region. Over the past 30 years, we have been involved in a variety of endeavours, including a hotel integrated with an art museum, the creation of site-specific works, and Art House Projects.
Hideaki Fukutake, co-owner of Benesse Art Site Naoshima
LUX: How is regeneration through your multiple art museums having a socio-economic impact on the Seto Inland Sea islands?
SF: The idea of establishing an art museum on each island (Naoshima, Teshima, and Inujima) was to place an art museum on each damaged island as reference for their future development. It would serve as a place of focus, like a church that acts as a centripetal force in Western societies. I created the art museum as a place to unite the hearts of the islanders, who were otherwise scattered.
In 2010, I started the Setouchi Triennale, which attracts around 1 million visitors each time.
For the 2019 Setouchi Triennale, it is recorded that about 1.2 million people visited Setouchi. Of course, this impacted economically, but I am not doing art activities for the economic effect. As I continued these activities, I gradually felt that many young people visited Naoshima and that the elderly people of the island became more energetic as they interacted with the local community and the islanders. In addition, the islanders took the initiative to start guesthouses and cafes, and so on. We believe that the social impact is not only the economic effect, but also the revitalization of the island as art activities take root in the island life.
Naoshima New Museum of Art, © ⒸTadao Ando Architect & Associates. A new museum set in Japan’s first National Park
LUX: Why do you collect art, at a personal level?
SF: Most of our works are held through Benesse Holdings, Inc. or Fukutake Foundation. Selections are made primarily by me. The intention is to entrust artists to send a message to the world strongly cautioning against excessive modernization, therefore, many of the works in the Benesse Art Site Naoshima (BASN) collection are highly message-oriented. We believe that by exhibiting these works within buildings designed by Tadao Ando, an architect from Osaka, in the islands of the beautiful Seto Inland Sea rather than in a museum in Tokyo, we are ideally placed to amplify the messages of these artworks. This approach aims to address the excessive modernization and urbanization that have damaged these islands. Through my 37 years of activity since 1987, I have come to realize that contemporary art, more than any philosophy, literature, or other form of art, has the greatest power to energize local people and deliver messages to the world.
Hideaki Fukutake: The criteria and motivations for selecting art to be exhibited on Naoshima and in the Setouchi area are completely different from those for selecting art for personal collection. I personally do not have a significant art collection. I simply acquire art that is suitable for the spaces where they will be displayed, such as my home or office. In my personal spaces, where I spend a lot of time, it is important to me that the art is visually pleasing. However, my sensibilities evolve as I age and the circumstances of the time change, so I try to acquire and display artwork that I find beautiful at the time. I am interested in understanding and objectively observing how my perception of what is beautiful changes over time
Setouchi Triennale by Shintaro Miyawaki
LUX: Is it important for you to remain an independent foundation?
SF: Of course. As I mentioned earlier, because artists’ narratives can include criticism of the government, I believe it is better for public entities to stay outside the conversation. Private individuals and companies should not only be proactively profit-making but should also invest more in art, which underpins the cultural infrastructure of modern society. I believe that culture is what enriches the soul. With this purpose, at the Fukutake Foundation, I advocate a new concept of management called “public interest capitalism”. When a corporation establishes a foundation for cultural or community development, the foundation becomes the major shareholder of the corporation and the founding family, and the corporation and the foundation work together in cultural activities, thereby ensuring soundness for both parties. The funds will be not donated but returned to the foundation in the form of dividends on an ongoing basis. In this context, it is only corporations that create wealth. I believe that corporations are the ones who should invest more in culture and art. In this sense, it should be an independent foundation. I believe we must strive for the economy to become the servant of culture, for culture to come first and for the economy to support it.
HF: I believe our independence is extremely important. I feel a degree of separation from society is necessary in order to present unique perspectives and values to the world. The world moves quickly, and the ability to share information and values is incredibly strong, so we would like to keep the Foundation as independent as possible, as a contrast to an increasingly homogenized society. It is appropriate that the Foundation’s activities are conducted on islands surrounded by the sea, which moderates the interaction and disconnection with society. This is probably our unique strength.
Photography of the Seto Inland Sea Islands by Osamu Nakamura
LUX: How can you inspire Japanese collectors to buy art from emerging Japanese artists?
SF: I believe the government and the national authorities need to provide more support to young artists. In Japan, there was an exhibition called DOMANI that ran for 25 years until 2023, aimed to nurture young artists, but unfortunately it was cancelled. I am concerned that young artists in Japan may not receive adequate nurturing. Japan is a country where the government shows limited interest in culture, which I find very problematic. Culture plays a crucial role in shaping regional and national identities, which economic development alone cannot achieve. It is unfortunate that such thinking is largely absent in Japan today. Conversely, I believe it is crucial for companies like ours to actively support art and culture.
HF: While I don’t personally think Japanese collectors should have to support emerging Japanese artists in particular, it is clear that artists will need to develop skills beyond pure creation. These would include communication and branding. In today’s world, they have more opportunities than ever before to connect directly with collectors and society globally. It might be better to let these processes develop naturally, allowing powerful, down-to-earth, and passionate artists and collectors to emerge organically.
Atrium of Naoshima New Museum of Art Ⓒ Tadao Ando Architect & Associates
LUX: What was the vision for the international art festival?
SF: Like the activities of Benesse Art Site Naoshima, together with Fram Kitagawa who is director of the Setouchi Triennale, this festival has continued to use contemporary art as a means to raise issues about modern society. We have been working to let visitors know through the activities of the Triennale that it is in rural areas that true wealth and true happiness can exist, which cannot be measured by economic indicators.
With keywords such as “Restoration of the Sea” and “Smiles of the Elderly,” we have worked to generate interaction and learning among people, to promote cooperation between artists and collaborators from outside the island with the local people, and to convey the power of the region and create pride among the people of the island through their participation in these activities.
We would be more than happy for you to experience the Triennale and this richness.
‘We have been working to let visitors know through the activities of the Triennale that it is in rural areas that true wealth and true happiness can exist’: Smiles of the Elderly by Hideaki Hamada
LUX: Please share the concept for the Sixth Setouchi Triennale in 2025.
SF: The Setouchi Triennale will be held for the sixth time in 2025, following the inception in 2010. Despite consistently focusing on the theme of “Restoration of the Sea,” we plan to reevaluate our approach for the upcoming edition. We will also have several islands as new venues, along with areas such as Higashi-Kagawa, Sanuki City, and Utazu Town.
The foundation of the Setouchi Triennale is to celebrate the natural and geographical characteristics of the Setouchi area, while asking critical questions about modern society. As the festival has evolved into one of the world’s premier art events, our focus now more than ever is on highlighting local life essentials, the magnificent sea and landscapes, and traditional livelihoods, instilling a sense of pride in residents. We aim to demonstrate to visitors the profound sensory and physical experience that the Setouchi Triennale offers, in contrast with sensory overload of urban landscapes. We are preparing to immerse visitors in the unique world of the Setouchi region where the sight of the sky or sea can evoke deep emotions of joy or melancholy. Alongside our existing venues, we will introduce a new venue on the Kagawa Prefecture coastline. This expansion will showcase the historical significance of the Seto Inland Sea, a hub of maritime trade and cultural exchange since ancient times, and attract a diverse range of visitors to our exhibitions.
In 2025, we are dedicated to solidifying our role as a pivotal art hub in Asia, by planning artworks that reflect Japan’s connections with other Asian countries. We are opening a new museum, the Naoshima New Museum of Art in the spring of 2025. The exhibition will feature 11 artists from Asian regions. We hope that this will be an opportunity to showcase the wonders of the Seto Inland Sea to the world through art even more than before. Additionally, we envisage hosting exhibitions featuring works by prominent Japanese artists concurrently at eight museums across three neighbouring prefectures. This coincides with the timing of the Osaka Expo, promising to attract numerous art and nature enthusiasts to the islands.
LUX: What will be Setouchi Triennale’s legacy?
SF: The Setouchi Triennale stands as a unique art festival in the world, uniting multiple regions across a wide area. It’s an unprecedented initiative where art takes on the role of revitalizing depopulated and damaged islands, rather than just serving as a focal point. I hope to showcase to people worldwide the transformative power that art holds.
The Naoshima New Museum of Art
Marian Goodman Gallery’s new Tribeca headquarters, where their inaugural exhibition Your Patience is Appreciated will take place from October 26th to December 14th
After 40 years on 57th Street, the historic New York institution Marian Goodman Gallery has announced their move to a headquarters in new art-centre Tribeca, a space of almost double the size. Cleo Scott speaks with Partners Philipp Kaiser and Rose Lord about the importance of the artist, the changing tides of the New York art world, and continuing founder Marian Goodman’s legacy as one of the most respected on the global contemporary art stage
LUX: How have your individual backgrounds influenced your approach to curating and running the Marian Goodman Gallery? What has been your overall vision for the Gallery?
Rose Lord: I’ve worked at the Gallery for 22 years, which is incredible. I’ve spent a lot of time with Marian over the years, and learned so much from her. Her way of looking at the world and dealing with artists and collectors has been very formative. I think that the five Partners of the Gallery, the directors, and the people working in all three galleries in New York, Los Angeles, and Paris share the same vision. We’re trying to create a forum to show exemplary artists, but also create a kind of platform for discussion with the artists and share their ideas that can impact the world, impact society.
Philipp Kaiser: Yes, absolutely. That’s the reason why I wouldn’t have considered another gallery to join. I was in the museum world before my time at the Gallery and worked in institutions in three different countries. Marian has respect towards the institutional mission, and never wanted to compete with it. I feel the Gallery itself is an institution.
Marian Goodman with her five partners, from left to right: Rose Lord, Leslie Nolan, Philipp Kaiser, Marian Goodman, Junette Teng, and Emily-Jane Kirwan
LUX: You are two of the five Partners of the Gallery, established by Marian Goodman to ensure continuity. How does the launch of the Tribeca flagship provide continuity for the Gallery’s legacy?
PK: We set up this structure of five Partners to establish a structure for stability and the next chapter for the Gallery. Marian brought together such a special group of artists, and we want to move the Gallery into the future.
RL: When Marian opened the Gallery on 57th Street it was one of the centres of the art world, but these centres have shifted over the last 43 years. You could say to Chelsea, but then also to Tribeca. It was big decision for us to move from midtown, but it was informed by wanting to be part of a community again, wanting to be surrounded by other artist-centric galleries. I think one of the things that we learned from Marian is to keep a gallery relevant, you must keep moving with the times. And we’re doing that: we’re moving to Tribeca, we opened a gallery in LA last year, we’ve been taking on new artists. A gallery cannot remain static. It must be a living organism that plugs into the discussions that are going on around it.
Installation for Marian Goodman’s inaugural show Your Patience is Appreciated in the new Tribeca space, featuring work from Julie Mehretu, Gabriel Orozco, and Nairy Baghramian
LUX: Are there any elements of this development that will break from the tradition of Marian Goodman?
PK: Absolutely not. The Tribeca space is a commitment to have our headquarters in New York. There’s always the temptation to grow and have more galleries, but Marian has never done that. She always was thoughtful about growth and maintaining the rigor of the Gallery, and we have been continuing this vision.
LUX: Marian Goodman currently represents 47 artists. A strength of the Gallery is that it is very selective with the artists that you choose to represent. With the expansion of your headquarters in New York, are you also hoping to expand your representation, and if so, how will you balance this expansion with your selective roster?
RL: The first thing to say is we want to keep with the tradition, but we want to find a way to build on that tradition and into the future. We have already added quite a lot of artists over the last two years, such as Daniel Boyd, Delcy Morelos, Andrea Fraser, and Tavares Strachan. We try to be very careful and not just add artists left and right. We want to be in dialogue with them.
Unghia e foglie di alloro by Giuseppe Penone, a work made of glass and laurel leaves that will feature in the Gallery’s inaugural exhibition
PK: Exactly, but these days it’s a bit of a different situation. You have to be faster, because many of the big galleries are much more speculative than they were 10 years ago. But I believe there is a real integrity in our artists, who really dive into conceptualism and social concerns. This runs through the program, and that’s also why the different generations within our program highly respect each other.
RL: That’s been the challenge of the opening show to weave together this kind of history, this narrative, and different generations, the different types of work.
LUX: Your inaugural exhibition ‘Your Patience Is Appreciated: An Inaugural Show’ features some 75 works across media. How did you select the artists and works featured at the Tribeca launch? Are there any broad themes or messages you hope to convey through the selection of these works?
PK: Well, we wanted to include all of the artists that we represent. Everybody at the Gallery was involved in the creation of the exhibition, which brings together both historical and new pieces. For me, curatorially, it was kind of a challenging puzzle to create a narrative over three different floors. How do you summarise a group of distinct artists? How do you put them under one roof? How do you create a meaningful exhibition about what you’ve been doing for the last 47 years, that also looks to the future?
Pierre Huyghe’s timekeeper piece, titled Timekeeper Drill Core (MGG 57th St), carries a piece of the 57th street Gallery to the Tribeca headquarters
RL: We have these two ‘Timekeeper’ pieces that Pierre Huyghe made for our Gallery. It’s kind of like the rings of a tree; he scours through the different layers of paint in the Gallery walls from our former 57th street location. The Gallery at 57th Street was frequently painted black and white, and some artists asked for specifically coloured walls for their exhibitions. So the work by Pierre is literally a visual history of the 57th Street Gallery – you see these different colours and layers of the Gallery’s history.
PK: What I’ve tried to establish is a cross-generational conversation between the artists. There’s kind of a Duchampian thread that runs through the building, themes, and artists. You see, for example, Pierre’s rings on the ground floor, and then on the second floor, there’s a wall drawing by Giuseppe Penone. There’s a piece of paper with his fingerprints, and then he made all these lines around the fingerprints bigger and bigger and bigger until it’s like, over three-meter diameter. So, Pierre’s and Giuseppe’s pieces are in conversation; they form the same type of pattern and become reflections on identity and time. And I think that’s why we chose the title Your Patience is Appreciated. It addresses expectations of change, and reflects the duration of what we’re doing, and that we’re in this for the long run.
Installation of the third floor of the exhibition, featuring wallpaper and work by Annette Messager, Richard Deacon, and Tony Cragg
LUX: What are your aspirations for the Gallery beyond this launch? Are there future projects or collaborations in the pipeline?
PK: The first show in the new year will be a two-person show. The new Tribeca space has these two gallery floors that enable us to have interesting conversations between different artists. It will be a conversation between An-My Lê, who came as a refugee from Vietnam to the United States, and Boris Mikhailov, a Ukrainian photographer who hasn’t really been properly shown in the US. We feel this is going to be a show that resonates following the election, and the time we’re living in.
We’re also excited to announce an exhibition of Tavares Strachan’s work in March 2025, and following that, a show of Pierre Huyghe’s work in May 2025. Pierre hasn’t had a gallery show for a very, very long time, and some of these works will be premiered in the US. We’ve been wanting to program a show with Pierre in the Gallery for a long time, but he’s just had too many museum shows and big projects. And now, finally, May 2025.
The hotel, in harmony with its forested location
Tucked above the village of Sils, the Waldhaus hotel offers a blend of natural beauty and 20th-century design. A LUX editor reflects on their retreat, where the surrounding forest and timeless atmosphere offers a sanctuary for artists and wanderers alike
Waldhaus literally means “forest house” in German and, if you walk out of the grand doors of the Waldhaus hotel perched on a rock above the tiny village of Sils, turn left along the path leading through an ancient larch and pine forest and disappear along the mountain slope, you could walk for days without ever emerging from the canopy of the forest above and the humus of the ground below. It is a near-infinite ecosystem of fungi and plants that work in one with the trees, insects and animals to keep this great Alpine forest alive.
A framed view from the Rock Room
You could, in theory, walk for thousands of kilometres circumnavigating the Alps and never emerge from the forest. But that would be a shame, as the Waldhaus, which opened in 1908, is itself just so delicious.
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Unlike some grand Swiss hotels, this is a creative and authentic tribute to 20th-century design, its interior architecture genuinely and lovingly created by generations of owners.
A game of tennis, Waldhaus Sils-Style
It is made to be at one with the forest and many of its picture windows look not over and out of the woods, but inside them, framing them like a Jasper Goodall photograph. The Waldhaus is where writers and artists, including some of the most celebrated in the German-speaking world, have come for generations to relax and be inspired.
It is a hotel as imagined by a poet, the service just formal enough but never oppressive, the food never showy but perfectly made from local ingredients, including a nightly bouillon – always made with a different stock – that is a demonstration of how clear soup is a tonic for the soul.
A space where 20th-century design meets timeless creativity
The hotel, which has 140 rooms and suites, is neither a summer nor a winter resort: it is a place to disappear to and be inspired, whatever the season, and if you wish to vanish up the beautiful hidden valleys of the Engadine above on a summertime walk, or spend the day in winter sports in some of the celebrated mountainsides of adjacent St Moritz, you can.
Read more: A palatial stay at St Regis Hotel, Venice
This is a place for artists – visual, musical, literary – first and foremost. It would never be so gauche as to proclaim that it is so; it just is.
The Marchese Lamberto di Frescobaldi with LUX Editor-in-Chief Darius Sanai
Italy’s greatest wine, and now a cult collectible, Masseto is the wine every wealthy collector wants to add to their cellar. But is it as good as its stellar reputation? At a rare tasting hosted by the Marchese di Frescobaldi in London, Darius Sanai sought the answer
Wine is often cited alongside art and classic cars as a collectible, but there are some fundamental differences between the worlds great wines and its great artworks and motors.
The most notable is its ephemerality.
You can collect and enjoy a Fontana artwork for decades; likewise, you can jump into your Ferrari F50 and tear around the back roads of Tuscany any time you like.
But to enjoy a wine, you must also destroy it, or at least consume it. A tasting of great and rare wines is a more special occasion even than visiting an art collection or driving the rarest classic in the world: these are the first and last time these particular bottles will ever be tasted.
A harvest of the Masseto vineyard
That came to mind as I arrived for a pretty special tasting across 10 vintages of Masseto, which has, in just 25 years – an instant in fine wine terms – established itself as Italy’s greatest, or at least certainly most celebrated, red wine.
The price of Masseto has increased exponentially over the last few years, as wealthy collectors and consumers around the world fight for it, while production remains as limited as it ever was.
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The Marchese Lamberto di Frescobaldi, scion of the ancient Florentine family, who hosted the tasting, even told us that family members were restricted to buying – not being given – three bottles a year each. And what, someone asked, if they had children, would they also get three bottles each? “No, “he replied, “your children are your problem“.
The Marchese is a lucid and entertaining host, his dry humour manifesting itself at unexpected moments so; for example, on tasting one of the rarest wines, he commented that he was going to spit it, as professionals do, into the spitoon provided, but then decided to “spit backwards”.
The futuristic construction of the entrance to the Masseto winery
Masseto comes from a very interesting vineyard location, a little plateau very close to the coast in Tuscany, so near that you can see and feel the sea from some of the vineyards. To the other side are the endless forests of the Massa Marittima, beyond which is Tuscany’s more arid interior and other famous wine areas such as Montalcino. Although the climate has become warmer in recent years, sea breezes and summer rains allow Masseto to have that unique combination of richness and freshness, combined with all its other elements.
But what makes a truly great wine, and does it really deserve to join the pantheon of global legends, such as Château Latour and Domaine de la Romanée Conti?
The Masseto plot is unique; a hill of almost 7 hectares with blue clay soil, with some layers of clay rock-hard and forming solid boulders.
Assessment from critics is one element, and so is the ability to age. We won’t know about the latter definitively for a few decades at least – the first vintages appeared in the late 1980s– but we tasted vintages back to the 1990s , on this elegant occasion, the first for several years given by the house. And the wines were, overwhelmingly, magnificent, and also showed a remarkable variety between vintages and ability to develop character and complexity over the years.
Masseto is a delicious wine – something that cannot always be said of the worlds great wines, some of which are rather austere – but it is also a magnificently sophisticated one, combining qualities rarely found together in a bottle – if ever. It has a character and profile all of its own. For those reason it certainly ranks among the very greatest.
A Masseto vintage from 2005, one of the many featured in this evening of tastings
Tasting notes by Darius Sanai
Masseto 2021
Like sitting on the highest spire of the Duomo in Milan and looking at Monte Rosa and the Alps, deep in snow, in the distance
Masseto 2016
This wine is being on a Riva, on a still June day on Lake Garda, and hearing the bells of the little church at Bardolino ringing out across the water: it has warmth, freshness and soul
Masseto 2015
Have you ever arrived at La Scala in Milan, in your tuxedo or couture gown, in a Blu Chiaro Metalizzato Ferrari 575 (manual gearbox version), swept up the red carpet and sat in a box to hear Placido Domingo perform Tosca? The Masseto 2015 is that whole experience, in a bottle; but don’t experience it for another five years
Masseto 2013
The delicacy of a Murano glass combined with the richness of palette of its hand-painted colouring
Masseto 2009
Lunch on a July day on the terrace at the Splendido in Portofino. It’s a rich wine, from a hot year, but somehow still has life and complexity, no heaviness
A view of the Masseto cellar, which stores the range of vintages tasted by Darius Sanai
Masseto 2006
Isabella Rossellini in Blue Velvet. Mysterious, difficult, then seductive and transfixing
Masseto 2005
“Tradition is the soft landing of our fears” – Lamberto Frescobaldi. This quote intrigued me so much that I forgot to make any notes about this vintage. Lamberto was speaking about how wine estates need to adapt and change.
Read more: Cristal evening with Louis Roederer’s Frédéric Rouzaud
Masseto 1999
At 25 years old, this wine is Walter Santeso, playing Paparazzo, in La Dolce Vita. A classic, that’s all
Masseto 1996
If a great wine is one that keeps evolving with age, this is a true great. On blind tasting I would have had it down as a Cheval Blanc, such is its power and delicatesse, and ability to keep evolving, and its perfume
Masseto 1995
Sophie Loren in Two Women, with a kind of unbridled joy of sophistication
‘Geller’, 2024, on display at Bernard Frize’s upcoming exhibition at the LA branch of Marian Goodman Gallery.
Bernard Frize is an artist who lets the materials decide for him. A French painter who has been developing his uniquely industrial practice over the past 45 years, leading gallery Marian Goodman announced their representation of him in 2024. Ahead of his inaugural solo exhibition at Marian Goodman’s Los Angeles space, Cleo Scott asks him about process, materiality, and the role of the artist
LUX: Your works are centred around the process of creation. Can you take me through your process of creation of ‘Tama’, which will be on display in your upcoming exhibition at Marian Goodman in LA?
Bernard Frize: I’ve always liked the fact that my paintings are multicoloured, in other words that I don’t choose the colours and mix them. These paintings are very simple: large brushstrokes crossing the canvas vertically; there is an overload of paint on both edges because there is no beginning or end – could I say that the edges are in their raw state? In fact, I paint in both directions and I stop the brushstrokes before the end of the canvas. The latency, the veil which covers what has not yet explanation, but shows its potential, this is what I wish to call in these paintings.
Bernard Frize photographed before his work
LUX: Your works ‘Tama’, ‘Kario’, and ‘Voni’ appear to have been made using the same process of creation. What is the relationship between your works, focusing on process and materiality?
BF: I’m always fascinated by the dissolution of the image into its materiality or by the creation of images from their raw components.
It reminds me of the birth of Aphrodite on the shore of Paphos and I like to imagine how to describe a picture, her body emerging from the waves, which could also be interpreted as a plunge into the sea. There is always this temporal ambiguity in the image, between diving and emerging, doing and undoing; each gesture stopped at a moment in its course could have been something different if we had thought of other options. The paint is wet and then dries.
I went to Paphos a long time ago and stared at the beautiful sea; now, the place of Aphrodite’s birth has become a waterpark.
When doing a painting, either there is no goal, no objective, or there are means and processes for doing something. There is no idea without its material inscription. I like processes to embody ways of thinking. There is always a sequence of operations necessary for the organisation of a painting; I like this organisation and its possibility to be the motif of a painting, because after all, the subject of a painting is what makes it exist, not only what it represents, but also how it is represented. The word itself, representation tells us that it is presented two times.
Bernard Frize’s ‘Voni’, which will be on display at his upcoming exhibition at the LA branch at Marian Goodman Gallery.
LUX: You have said ‘the method has disappeared under the conditions of its realisation’ in your work. Does this create a tension between your experience of creation and the viewer’s experience of its realisation?
BF: I will always feel and understand my painting in a different way than a viewer. A painting is not showing a recipe. Its description will, I hope, never exhaust what is in it. Why can we stay long minutes in front a painting in a museum, come back, and find again pleasure to see it? Isn’t it incredible that a canvas could provoke feelings and thoughts? Do we ever think about the painter? We mostly think about ourselves, how we receive the painting and decipher how the elements we look at are stimulating thoughts and feelings.
I always had some warmth enveloping me and a feeling of completeness from my visit in a museum. I am not receptive to all the paintings but looking at those which move me – and this is often changing – give me a feeling of wealth, of exhaustion. I hope my work can do the same; a work of art does not talk, does not say anything and will never be replaced by sentences. We read explanations on plates in the museums, do they satisfy our feelings?
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They give, at most, a context for the painting, and most people read them but do not look at the paintings more than the time it takes to read. The viewer and I have different goals; my work is to be as clear as possible to offer satisfying and intellectual pleasure which lasts and could be renewed.
Frize’s acrylic and resin painting ‘Irfan’, 2024, as part of Frize’s inaugural solo show.
LUX: How does the space of the Marian Goodman gallery in LA interact with your works?
BF: I have no idea! I only know the beautiful cardboard model that the French branch of Marian Goodman Gallery offered me. I printed the reproduction of my paintings and hang them into the model. I know that when I will see the real space, I will have another experience and I will hang the paintings.
LUX: Why have you chosen to be represented by Marian Goodman?
BF: I had the chance to meet Philip Kaiser a long time ago when he was working in the Kunsthalle Basel and always appreciated his curatorial vision. I was thrilled when he proposed me to join the gallery; I suppose everyone in the art world pays respect for the achievement of Marian Goodman’s gallery and for the exhibitions of the artists it is working with. There was, for me, no doubt that being represented by the gallery would be a great opportunity.
In ‘Yudzon’, the transparency of the layers reveal ‘the creation of images from their raw components’.
LUX: Are there any values – aesthetic or philosophical – that you share with the gallery?
BF: A gallery is a business; painting is a business too. I’ve spent many years, if not the majority of my adult life, without earning much from painting. I believe one continues to do what one likes not for the money but because one is driven. At one point, I had the chance to work with galleries who helped me to live from my work and found ways to distribute my work. There are many good artists at Marian Goodman Gallery who seem difficult to sell. I suppose it is a balance between the artists who sell well and those who don’t very much. The quality of their work is not a question. The aesthetic or philosophical qualities of these artists are not meeting market value, but aesthetic or intellectual ones. Meanwhile, the gallery respect them and decided to support them. Most galleries today would not do this, or would not afford it.
Read more: LUX curates for Richard Mille
I suppose running a gallery is an intellectual journey with companions you admire and you want to give them time to develop. In reverse, many galleries would not exist without the support of artists.
In my understanding, Marian Gallery is “old-fashioned” like one would say there is tradition in quality; there is a deep belief that good art is not always meeting the request of the market and it is important to give time to the time when the art is the main preoccupation.
Bernard Frize will be exhibiting his work at Marian Goodman, Los Angeles, from November 16th.
View of Santa Maria della Salute from a Terrace Grand Canal Suite
At the centre of Venice, looking over the canal and Santa Maria della Salute, there could not be a better place to stay on the final leg of your Grand Tour. A LUX editor recounts the ancient art, gondolas, and Bellinis of his recent stay at the Venetian-style palace of St Regis Hotel
As we settled down in the boat with a glass of Prosecco each, the outlying islands and churches of Venice started to waft past us. Then the landmarks start coming into view. For the last few minutes of the airport transfer, the boat slid through the little canals in the centre of the city and then emerged to drift past St Mark’s Square and the Doges’ Palace. Soon afterwards, we moored in front of a grand building and disembarked next to a terrace on the Grand Canal dotted with glamorous couples sipping Bellinis.
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Welcome to the St Regis Venice. Perhaps less known than some of its neighbours, it has the most spectacular arrival imaginable. And it goes on from there. Down the marble corridor we walked, through art-filled rooms that make the hotel a contemporary-art museum in itself – we particularly liked the whimsical works by Austrian sculptor Erwin Wurm. This is a place you could linger in without feeling the need to see any of the other artistic treasures around the city (although that would be a shame).
The Monet Suite, with its Grand Canal view
Our suite looked out over the Grand Canal and across to the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute opposite, at the point at which the neighbouring island falls away into the lagoon. We could watch gondolas float along as well as the boats carrying out the daily business of Venice – tourism and sightseeing and deliveries. To the right, the Grand Canal curved away.
Read more: The intimate grandeur of the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat
Even more immersive than our suite (which also featured a cocktail bar full of ingredients prepared in-house for us to pair with the supplied organic Prosecco) was the hotel’s breakfast terrace. Here you sit outside, centimetres from the water, having selected from a buffet adorned with fruits and very precisely cooked local specialities, and try to resist a first Bellini of the day, as the Venice world passes by on the water.
A seat at the luxury St Regis Bar
St Regis may be known for its palatial luxury hotels elsewhere in the world, but this is a Venetian-style palace, a bijou incorporation of ancient buildings fused with stunning contemporary art and design in the best location in Venice. We would not stay anywhere else.
The Belle Époque exterior of the Hermitage, Monte Carlo
From the Monaco F1, to small dogs and a tycoon-worthy breakfast, Darius Sanai recounts his stay at the ultra-luxury Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo, Monaco.
From our balcony at the Hermitage, we had one of the most satisfyingly iconic views in the world. The sweep of Monte-Carlo’s harbour, with the Norman Foster-designed Yacht Club to the left, yachts moored in peace in the middle, the royal palace to the right and, above it all, the mountainsides of the Alpes-Maritimes. You could trace the route of the Monaco F1 race with your finger, from right to left and back again in a loop.
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The Hermitage is perched on a rock, as most of Monaco’s institutions are, just across from Casino Square. You walk in through a sweep of ladies with extremely small designer dogs eating even smaller cakes, down a marble corridor and, interestingly, down a grand staircase (or lift) to your room, which is when you realise the Belle Époque-era hotel was carved into a rock face.
The Café de Paris restaurant bar
Another marble corridor leads to the spa and pool at the Thermes Marins, where we dodged the same ladies, now sans-chiens, doing their daily laps in the big, oval, indoor saltwater pool. The terrace outside is sufficiently sheltered to allow sunbathing year all round in this sunniest corner of the French Riviera (technically, of course, Monaco is its own country, but in practice it’s a node in the wealth hub of the Riviera). Very relaxing.
Read more: The intimate grandeur of the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat
Even more relaxing was chilling on the rooftop terrace during a breakfast rich enough for any tycoon. Here you can pick from Chinese, Arabic or European specialities – and order from an eye-watering array of health dishes, essential for your longevity, which is a key topic for any Monaco resident – no point in having all that wealth if you don’t live in good health long enough to enjoy it. A lazy day could consist of moving from enjoying the morning sun at the breakfast terrace, to a swim, to enjoying the evening sun on your massive balcony along with some champagne from room service.
The view of the sea from the Hermitage terrace
Then you could head across the road, dodging the procession of Ferraris and Lamborghinis, for a light supper at Taera, in the neighbouring Hôtel de Paris. This is a funky, artful pop-up serving light and bright dishes like our delicious marinated seafood with coconut milk, coriander and cucumber. After Taera, we headed back to the Hermitage for a drink in the piano bar, a marvellous contrast of old-world formality – all dark colours, soft lighting and a chap having a drink with his niece on the banquette opposite. The Hermitage is this combination of old and new, the best of Monte-Carlo, and an experience and a vacation in itself.
The view of the Villa Clair Soleil makes you feel like a guest at a private villa, rather than a Four Seasons Grand Hotel
Is it a private villa or Grand Hotel? An editor at LUX tells us why the Four Seasons Grand Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat should be the first stop on your Grand Tour itinerary
The Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, one of the world’s most celebrated hotels, is not really grand at all. Not in the sense of being huge and generic. Although it’s deceptive. Viewed from your yacht, this white cruise ship-shaped edifice at the tip of the headland containing the most exclusive real estate in Europe, if not the world, seems to have “grand” written all over it.
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But when you arrive, you are let through a guarded gate and up a drive more akin to that of a private villa. The feeling continues if, as we did, you decide on a game of tennis after checking in. Here you might expect an array of tennis courts of various surfaces, and a tennis school, perhaps. Instead, you get one exquisite tennis court in the gardens, surrounded by flowerbeds and trees, with a backdrop of the hotel and that Mediterranean sky. Very private house. And we saw almost nobody else using it; once there was a solitary local teenage girl finishing a lesson with the hotel’s resident tennis coach, who looked like he had been there for decades.
The breathtaking sea view from the Pool Suite
The hotel’s legendary swimming coach, Pierre Gruneberg, meanwhile, really was at the hotel for decades before passing away last year aged 92. Among the guests he counted as his pupils were Charlie Chaplin, Somerset Maugham, Aristotle Onassis, Tina Turner, Brigitte Bardot, David Niven, Elizabeth Taylor, Bono – and LUX’s Editor-in-Chief. The pool is at the tip of the peninsula, beyond the main gardens, where the rocks drop to the sea. It is accompanied by the Club Dauphin restaurant, where we sipped on some sparkling Provence rosé (delicious in a dry, low-dosage way), while watching putative celebrities and honeymooners dunk themselves in the celebrated pool.
Read more: The best of the old and new: Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo
The palace nature of the hotel is evident in the lobby, with its Art Deco marble floors and walls. So perhaps it is a palace, but it always feels like a private one, for just you and your friends. That extends to the bedrooms: our suite looked over the lawns and flowerbeds to the sea. It felt as if a butler would knock on the door and tell us the house party was beginning at any moment. Although there were no house parties while we were there, this is a hotel with one of the most famous terraces in the world, overlooking the lawns and overhung by jasmine and bougainvillea.
The Terrasse Palace Sea View Suite at the Four Seasons Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat
With a jazz band playing in the gardens, dinner at the Michelin-starred Le Cap was magical, the cuisine as vibrant and elegant as the place: razor clams and cockles au naturel with fresh seaweed, citrus fruits and fennel bavaroise was a dish for the ages. A delicious hotel and an experience unrepeatable anywhere else in the world.
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