Paul Werner

has a PhD and an MPhil in Art History, an MA in Art Criticism, a BA in Medieval Literature and a DSFS (Danger to the Security of the French State) in Politics. He is a former member of the CGT and presently a member of the UAW.

Paul grew up in France and studied classics at the prestigious Lycée Henri IV before joining the Théâtre National Populaire as an actor. In 1968 he was forcibly relocated to America for his part in the May uprising. In New York he studied briefly at Juilliard and the Actor's Studio. Appropriately, his doctoral dissertation was devoted to the relationship of art and politics in the French Revolution.

Since 1972 he has focused on the History of Writing, including the techniques of Medieval European Calligraphy and Illumination, but ranging as far as semiotics and deconstruction, as well as Baroque and late nineteenth century lettering. In 1980 he initiated the Dragonsblood Project to research and teach the techniques of the Medieval scribe and artist.

He has taught and lectured in the New York State Penitentiary system, in elementary and high schools, at an eco-resort in the Caribbean, in various academic departments and a French "Salon" in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. His work has been reviewed (among others) in the journal of the French Anarchist Federation. He lectured for nine years at the Guggenheim Museum and now conducts private tours as well as courses for NYU at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, following the theory that looking at real art is a lot more interesting than looking at slides. He also teaches at the School of Visual Arts.

Paul is an artist and a critic, the two being, for his purposes, interchangeable. Since 1998 he has edited the webzine WOID, and since 1973 has edited and published his own writings through The Orange Press, including a series on Medieval techniques. He is the author of Museum, Inc.: Inside the Global Artworld, published by Prickly Paradigm Press and distributed by the University of Chicago Press, which he has translated into French.