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August 3, 2024
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No. 264
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In This Week’s Issue
OPEN SECRETS

In the wake of shocking allegations of abuse against Alice Munro’s husband, critic Daphne Merkin recalls interviewing the Canadian short-story writer in 2004 and thinking that, even then, something seemed amiss in the author’s family life …

UP IN THE OLD HOTEL

When the owner of the Hotel Negresco in Nice died, leaving behind a $500 million fortune, prosecutors alleged she had been the victim of a scam by her favorite employee …

BRAT-URDAY NIGHT FEVER

Is there anyone who hasn’t learned the viral dance to Charli XCX’s song “Apple,” which has helped make “Brat Summer” more than just a fleeting trend? ​​Even we’ve gone “brat green” for an issue …

GOING FOR GOLD

Despite a few minor setbacks—if you ask us, the Seine will never be clean enough, and the Phryge mascot is slightly creepy—the Paris Olympics are off to a rollicking and resoundingly successful start …

CHRONICLES OF THE ALT-WRITE

Hillbilly Elegy made J. D. Vance a best-selling author, a political dynamo, and now, Donald Trump’s sidekick. But did he write it on his own?, asks Sam Kashner …

SADDLE SORE

After British dressage champion Charlotte Dujardin was filmed mercilessly whipping her horse, Olympic equestrian events—which have a long history of controversy—could be in peril …

BANE DE SOLEIL

Would you rather spend the summer on Ibiza or Capri? Choose wisely, because according to AIR MAIL’s guide to the Mediterranean islands, your vacation destination says a lot about you …

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

Fraudster Inigo Philbrick’s former friend spills the beans … Francis Mallmann cooks a Hamptons feast for the ages … the admirable toughness of Pat Nixon … corporate America gets a dash of Surrealism … Ali Truwit’s journey from shark-attack survivor to Paralympian … Cast your vote in this week’s Attention-Whore Index Poll!

But First …
Issue No. 264

The View from Here France’s political order may be cracking up, but its Olympic Games—majestic, ridiculous, welcoming—are the envy of the world

By Ashley Baker
Read On
Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook
Côte d’Azur Confidential

L’Affaire Negresco In her final years, Hotel Negresco owner Jeanne Augier was surrounded by all sorts of interlopers. What’s to become of her $500 million fortune—and one of the crown jewels of the French Riviera?

By John von Sothen
Read On
A Secret History

Devil’s Bargain A 2004 visit with the future Nobel laureate Alice Munro left me with a slightly uneasy feeling. Now I know why

By Daphne Merkin
Read On
The Fog of War

Risky Business Israel proved its military can assassinate anyone, anywhere. But will those killings keep the peace or spark a larger war?

By Yossi Melman and Dan Raviv
Read On
Air Supply

Staycation

Why suffer the indignity of travel at peak season? Skip the lines, the delays, the hordes of hapless tourists on holiday. AIR SUPPLY argues for the peaceful comforts of home—Turkish robes, rosé, red-light masks—with our guide to staycationing like a sage
Shop
Photo: Deborah Turbeville/Condé Nast/Getty Images (woman in robe)
Guest Edit

Bettina Korek’s Favorite Things The chief executive of London’s Serpentine Galleries shares her must-haves for artful living, including Vyrao fragrances, Takada Tawashi brushes, William Gibson’s Mona Lisa Overdrive, and more

Shop
Small Talk
“He misses his terrified people.”
“He misses his terrified people.”
Modern Times

Dance of the “Brat Summer” The viral Apple dance—set to a Charli XCX song—is so simple and breezy even the Amish are doing it

By Alaina Demopoulos
Read On
Landing Gear

The Word Doctor A program to bring your old Word documents back to life! Finally, a smartphone you can repair yourself! A grip to help you take professional iPhone pictures! And more …

By Jonathan Margolis
Read On
Small Talk

Hillbilly Eulogy What happens if Trump regrets choosing J. D. Vance as his running mate? And then blames it on Biden?

By John Ficarra
Photo illustration by Chop Choppish Shop
Read On
Book Excerpt

The Artful Dodger In his early 20s, Orlando Whitfield befriended Inigo Philbrick, an ambitious young art dealer. Over the next 15 years, his pal defrauded clients to the tune of $86 million

By Orlando Whitfield
Read On
T.G.I.S.

The Attention-Whore Index The Murdoch-family feuds, Donald Trump’s nephew spills all, and Elon Musk disowns his daughter

Read On
Le Scandale!

An Unfair Crack of the Whip The world of Olympic equestrianism was rocked by the recent leaked video of one of its brightest stars severely whipping a horse. Can the sport ever recover?

By Pippa Cuckson
Read On
Best
DINE Mesa The luxe-ification of Portugal’s seaside Comporta region continues at a red-hot pace. Little restaurants you fell in love with… LOOK Schtick Figures Kurt Vonnegut once compared the American cartoonist and illustrator Drew Friedman to the Spanish painter Francisco Goya. He’s also… VISIT “Re-Framed” Marc Hom has always loved sculpture gardens—a fascination that only grew when the Danish fashion photographer moved to… WEAR Liberowe Talia Loubaton, the designer of London-based ready-to-wear collection Liberowe, moved to the U.K. from her native Paris… SWEAT Dunhill Some of us watch cricket mostly for the outfits. Now, instead of scouring the Cricket Direct Web site in search of the perfect slim… WATCH Job Max Wolf Friedlich’s title for his new play, Job, refers to work at a major tech company, not unendurable Biblical suffering… DINE Mesa The luxe-ification of Portugal’s seaside Comporta region continues at a red-hot pace. Little restaurants you fell in love with… LOOK Schtick Figures Kurt Vonnegut once compared the American cartoonist and illustrator Drew Friedman to the Spanish painter Francisco Goya. He’s also… VISIT “Re-Framed” Marc Hom has always loved sculpture gardens—a fascination that only grew when the Danish fashion photographer moved to… WEAR Liberowe Talia Loubaton, the designer of London-based ready-to-wear collection Liberowe, moved to the U.K. from her native Paris… SWEAT Dunhill Some of us watch cricket mostly for the outfits. Now, instead of scouring the Cricket Direct Web site in search of the perfect slim… WATCH Job Max Wolf Friedlich’s title for his new play, Job, refers to work at a major tech company, not unendurable Biblical suffering…
Small Talk
“Comic Sans? I wouldn’t rescue us.”
“Comic Sans? I wouldn’t rescue us.”
Mediterranean-Mania

The Ultimate Guide to Euro-Island Hopping From Patmos wannabes to Ischia pick-mes, here are the personalities you’ll find along your summer travels

By Elena Clavarino
Read On
Design
The logo for Domino’s Pizza, in the style of René Magritte.

The World Weird Web

André Breton wasn’t the first to use the term “Surrealism,” but the French writer became the movement’s godfather with the publication of his 1924 Surrealist Manifesto.

In the wake of World War I and the Spanish flu, Breton, along with his comrades, such as Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, and Max Ernst, looked for creative freedom amid what they saw as an oppressive modern society plagued by an excess of rationality.

Inspired by the Dadaist rejection of logic and embrace of nonsense, Breton also drew on Jean-Martin Charcot and Sigmund Freud’s theories of hypnosis, free association, and the subconscious. But it was Pierre Janet’s idea of psychic automatism that inspired the Surrealist practice of drawing and writing without any control, reason, or moral preoccupation. READ ON

Read On
Ross MacDonald’s Sketchbook
Food and Wine

The Re-Discovery of Fire At a $4,000-a-head, champagne-fueled dinner, Argentine chef Francis Mallmann prepared a feast that was so primal it was almost Paleolithic

By Dana Brown
Read On
Books
Thomas Mallon On

The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon: The Life and Times of Washington’s Most Private First Lady

by Heath Hardage Lee
Read On
Sridhar Pappu On

The Boys of Riverside: A Deaf Football Team and a Quest for Glory

by Thomas Fuller
Read On
Congressional Aid

Hillbilly Elegy Revisited Was J. D. Vance’s best-selling memoir the work of a single author with an unbelievable life story—or did it take a village?

By Sam Kashner
Read On
Open Book

From Pomp to Purity A new book collects images of 18th-century French furniture, interiors, architecture, art, and fashion, celebrating the period’s timeless influence

15
Hidden de la Tour VI (2022), a photo collage by Volker Hermes, based on Maurice Quentin de La Tour’s Self-Portrait with Lace Jabot, circa 1751.
A replica of a Louis XVI–era embroidered surcoat, by the costume designer Gabriele Mendella, circa 2019.
A watercolor of a salon in the Hôtel Grimod de La Reynière, in Paris, by Jan Chrystian Kamsetzer, 1781.
Hidden Drouais IV (2022), a photo collage by Hermes based on François-Hubert Drouais’s Portrait of an Elegant Lady, circa 1760–75.
A replica of an 18th-century robe à l’anglaise, by the costume designer Madame Jejette, 2023.
A Louis XVI–era wooden pulpit bed, circa 1770.
The Temple of Love, a decorative building in the Gardens of Versailles, by the architect Richard Mique, circa 1777.
The Perfumer’s Costume, a colored engraving by Nicolas Bonnart, circa 1695.
A croquembouche by Stohrer, the oldest patisserie in Paris, founded in 1730 by Louis XV’s pastry chef, Nicolas Stohrer.
A detail of An Interior with a Lady, Her Maid, and a Gentleman, by Louis Roland Trinquesse, 1776.
A carved giltwood voyeuse by Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sené, 1787.
A porcelain sculpture by Chris Antemann, 2007.
Top, inside Féau Boiseries, a firm that designs, makes, and sells decorated wood panels inspired by interiors from the 17th century to the present; above, Kirsten Dunst in Marie Antoinette, a film by Sofia Coppola, 2006.
A French silk court dress and petticoat brocaded with gilt threads, circa 1753–55.
A detail of the Salon de la Princesse, in the Hôtel de Soubise, circa 1735.
Small Talk
“Boys! Enough! Your father has a migraine!”
“Boys! Enough! Your father has a migraine!”
Listen

Saltburn on the French Riviera On this week’s podcast, John von Sothen takes us inside the scandal rocking one of France’s great hotels

Read On
Highlight

Where Poetry Comes to Die Annie Clark, the alternative singer and three-time Grammy winner known as St. Vincent, performs her first self-produced album, All Born Screaming, on her international tour

By David Yaffe
Read On
Close-up

Ali Truwit One year after losing her leg in a shark attack, the Yale swimmer is gunning for gold at this summer’s Paralympic Games

By Jack Sullivan
Read On
The Imperfect Ending

Oliver Platt

The Bear actor shares his least favorite things
Read On
Pip Carter’s Sketchbook
2
Anyone who lives in England knows we can’t rely on much of a summer. So inevitably we start daydreaming of another life—a terra-cotta-hued backdrop of meadow grasses, a big leafy tree providing pockets of shade, women stretched out on the banks, dancing, reading, sleeping.
Matisse, the master of cutouts, once declared, “I will make myself my own pool” when filling his entire room at the Régina hotel, in Nice, with splashing, paddling forms in the creation of The Swimming Pool. So after another gray-skied day in the U.K., I thought I would make myself my own summer.
Is Edited By

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

Creative Director

Angela Panichi

Deputy Editors

Ashley Baker Ash Carter Chris Garrett Nathan King Julia Vitale

Chief Technology Officer

John Tornow

Editor at Large

George Pendle

Books Editor

Jim Kelly

Arts Intel Report Editor

Laura Jacobs

Senior Editors

Elena Clavarino Jensen Davis Clara Molot

Photo Director

Ann Schneider

Copy Editor

Adam Nadler

Research & Legal Editor

Matt Kapp

Production Editor

H. Scott Jolley

Associate Editors

Carolina de Armas Lucy Horowitz Jeanne Malle Paulina Prosnitz Jack Sullivan

Art Director

Paloma Huerre

Senior Photo Editor

Emine Gözde Sevim

Designer

Zoé Gillette

International Editor

Isabelle Harvie-Watt

Communications Director

Harrison Vail

Columnists

Dana Brown Cazzie David Lisa Henricksson
Walter Isaacson Pico Iyer Rachel Johnson
John Lahr Jonathan Margolis Linda Wells
James Wolcott

Writers at Large

Lili Anolik Bridget Arsenault Johanna Berkman Joseph Bullmore Vassi Chamberlain William D. Cohan Rich Cohen Michael Hainey Stuart Heritage George Kalogerakis Sam Kashner James Kirchick Alexander Lobrano Alexandra Marshall Daphne Merkin Sam Wasson

Contributing Artists

Monica Ahanonu Barry Blitt André Carrilho Pip Carter Paul Davis David Downton Andrea Ferolla Josh Gosfield Cathy Graham Eric Hanson Angelica Hicks Hilary Knight Danielle Kosann Michael Lindsay-Hogg Ross MacDonald Joe McKendry James McMullan Donald Robertson Charles Dare Scheips Grant Shaffer Ed Sorel Ralph Steadman

Contributing Photographers

Jonathan Becker Justin Bishop Alex Board James Emmerman Marcos Fecchino Daniel Paik Art Streiber Sharon Suh Justin Weiner

Architectural Consultant

Basil Walter

Head of Audience Development

Rachel LeSage

Audience Growth Manager

Merritt Johnson

Cartoon Editor

Bob Mankoff

Music Supervisor

Randall Poster

Technology

Brooks Oakley Justin Rubaloff

Interns

Alice Browne Isabella Carter Nyla Gilstrap Zack Hauptman Gasper Tringale-White

OUR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER ARE

Bill Keenan and Emily Davis

Air Supply General Manager and Brand Partnerships

Anjali Lewis

Advertising Director

Michael Pescuma

European Sales Director

Selim Mataraci

Financial & Business Operations

Marc Leyer

Chief Strategy Adviser

Adam Mendelsohn

Chief Merchant

Jennifer Noyes

Shop Editor

Jessica Iredale

E-Commerce Manager

Isaac Metlitsky

E-commerce Associate

Lilly Schoenbaum

In Memoriam

Peter Bogdanovich Duncan Hannah Douglas McGrath Richard David Story André Leon Talley

Issue No. 264
August 3, 2024
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Issue No. 264
August 3, 2024
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