A choice of year-end exhibits at Paris, London

Kunang Helmi Picard, Contributor, Paris

Those who did not stand in long queues at department stores to buy presents this gift-giving season will have the time to take in a selection of riveting exhibitions in Paris and London as a unique way to usher in the New Year.

Somerset House in London is hosting the first show to feature the last 25 years of the work of reclusive jeweler Joel A. Rosenthal, better known as JAR.

Either extravagant or ultra simple, these pieces are one of a kind. When a client comes to his exclusive premises, which are next to the Paris Ritz, and clamors to have a copy of another piece, the jeweler flatly refuses. Visitors to the London show are given flashlights with which to look at, but not touch, the bedazzling pieces that are otherwise worn in high society.

No flashlights are needed to view the stunning theatrical costumes and jeweled and embroidered couture garments by Versace at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Versace's passion for historical artifacts and contemporary art are also reflected in his classical evening wear, leather creations, tailoring and design.

This is the first major retrospective of fashion designer Gianni Versace (1946-1997) and visitors are given the opportunity to actually touch some of the original clothes.

At the same venue, 100 photographs in A Collection by Bruce Bernard, can be admired for the first time. In 1996, James Moore invited the late picture editor with the outstanding eye for images to assemble a collection of photographs.

Bernard was given complete freedom and collected key pieces from the 1840s to the 1990s. This highly personal collection of images also contains a photo supposedly taken by Dorothea Lange in Thailand in 1958, only it is really a scene taken from the steps of a temple in Bali.

Albrecht Durer's drawings and engravings at the British Museum resemble a sort of visual diary in the days before photography, with his first auto-portrait at the age of 13 in 1484 until his death in 1528. His exquisite draftsmanship is fascinating throughout and includes less well-known landscapes.

The blockbuster in Paris that had charmed Londoners before is the Matisse-Picasso show at the Grand Palais. These two giants of last century's modern art were rivals, yet also close friends.

Picasso once said: "Everything that Matisse and I did at that time will have to be put side by side some day. Never has anybody looked more closely at Matisse's paintings than I did then. And he looked just as closely at mine".

The 165 works on display are grouped by date, themes, techniques or colors, revealing differences in their approaches and offering much food for thought.

Passionately interested in Constable's (1776-1837) work, renowned British painter Lucien Freud selected the paintings and drawings also presented at the Grand Palais. Besides the great landscapes in a quietly realistic style which made the artist's name famous, Freud chose works shedding light on neglected aspects of this contemporary of Turner, notably a most extensive set of portraits and drawings.

Highly anticipated for 20 years in Paris, a hundred works by the tormented Italian expressionist Amadeo Modigliani (1872-1920) can be seen at the Luxembourg Museum until March. The choice of this portraitist's oeuvre is marked by a common expression of solitary melancholy: Elongated nude figures, heads perched on high necks and some faces without eyes.

Unfortunately, the setting for the show deliberately resembles a construction site.

The multi-faceted body of work of Japanese American sculptural designer Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) at the Maison du Japon attracts not only furniture design freaks but the broader public with his sculptural minimalist furniture and his famous akari lamps in bamboo and paper. Noguchi's influence on modern design becomes apparent here. He also staged the likes of Martha Graham and his own show in Paris is designed by Robert Wilson.

Perhaps one of the most unusual exhibitions ever is the series of digital photomontages by Indian Vivan Sundaram at the Galerie du Jour. It focuses on Sundaram's Eurasian aunt, Amrita Sher-Gil, one of India's more renowned modern artists -- and a woman with an Indian and Hungarian heritage who lived in Paris in the 1930s.

Sundaram plays with digital technology to juxtapose images from three generations of family archive photos, including those by his grandfather, Indian nationalist and aristocrat, Umrao Singh.