New Issue of States, “Independence at 250,” Now Available

New York, January 20, 2026 — Villa Albertine’s annual creative magazine, States, has released its new issue, “Independence at 250.” Published in the anniversary year of the Declaration of Independence, the issue celebrates French-American friendship and examines the legacy of the Enlightenment and the long history of cultural exchange between France and the United States.

Villa Albertine’s mission is to strengthen ties between the U.S., France, and the French-speaking world through culture and education. It advances this mission by fostering collaboration among French and U.S.-based arts and educational organizations, offering creators, thought leaders, and professionals customized residencies, immersive networking opportunities, grants, and connections to audiences to support new perspectives on society’s most pressing issues.

The Magazine 

A key initiative of Villa Albertine, States is a magazine of art and ideas that brings together essays, journalism, interviews, fiction, and comics. Each issue takes up a major theme and invites a dozen distinguished writers, artists, and thinkers to respond.

The title of States is intended to evoke both the American cultural landscape and the shifting states of contemporary thought and creation. Distributed online and in print across the U.S., States debuted in 2023. Previous issues have explored food and culture, American perceptions of France, and arts in the age of artificial intelligence.

The 272-page, English-language publication also features dispatches from Villa Albertine residents working across the U.S. In the “Coast to Coast” section of States, fourteen writers and artists awarded residencies report back from immersive explorations. Villa Albertine recently launched its fifth residency season and has to date hosted 370 residents in over sixty U.S. locations. A special section in States highlights projects that have been supported by the residency program since its launch in 2021, including Sivan Eldar’s opera The Nine Jewelled Deer, Wanjiru Kamuyu’s dance performance Fragmented Shadows, and numerous published books.

The magazine is produced as a luxury bookazine and features work by leading artists including photographer Julie Bourges and illustrators Lucas Harari and Bérénice Milon. States is art directed by Studio Des Signes.

Highlights from the Issue

Independence at 250

“Between Fascination and Rivalry” (p. 3), an editorial by Mohamed Bouabdallah, Cultural Counselor of France in the U.S. and Director of Villa Albertine: “From their earliest encounters, France and the U.S. recognized something of themselves in each other—a shared belief in human possibility that gave the relationship an almost spiritual dimension. Our histories have grown intertwined ever since, each shaping the other’s understanding of democracy, culture, and identity. Across two and a half centuries, France and the U.S. have served as each other’s mirrors—always attuned to what the other reveals.”

“Democracy in Two Worlds” (p. 44) by Robert Darnton, emeritus professor of history and university librarian at Harvard, and Carine Lounissi, professor of American history at the University of Rouen Normandy, explores the improbable origins of the Franco-American alliance, when a French king allied with a struggling republic, and the Age of Revolution, when Paris and Philadelphia, Boston and Bordeaux were bound across the Atlantic by a radical belief: that people could govern themselves.

“The Empty Throne” (p. 78) by David A. Bell, professor of history at Princeton and a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books: Both France and the U.S. were born in revolutions that overthrew kings, yet neither has ever stopped searching for a leader to embody the nation. From Washington and Napoleon to de Gaulle and Trump, a look at how the two countries have wrestled with the paradox of a president who must lead—and embody—the nation.

“Archipelagoes of Art” (p. 85), a conversation between Laurence des Cars, director of the Louvre Museum, and Glenn D. Lowry, director of the Museum of Modern Art from 1995 to 2025, reflects on the future of museums in the wake of the brazen heist at the Louvre Museum.

“Big Theory” (p. 114) by François Cusset, intellectual historian and author of French Theory. Americans are divided over (among other things) French theory. Some blame the American obsession with theory for the country’s intellectual confusion, but, as Cusset argues here, theory has also helped America achieve a new kind of global influence. 

“Reel Love” (p. 121), a report on the symbiotic relationship between French and American cinema by Rebecca Leffler, who covers French cinema for Screen Daily and was one of the inspirations for the Netflix TV series Emily in Paris.

“Transatlantic Dreams” (p. 130), celebrated artist Louis-Paul Caron reimagines the Franco-American relationship through the distortions of AI and machine vision.

Coast to Coast

“Seven Sisters” (p. 146), photographer Julie Bourges rediscovers the ancient art of Polynesian navigation in Hawai‘i.

“For Too Long Others Have Spoken for Us” (p. 164), a conversation between artist Savannah Wood and curator Marie-Ann Yemsi about the archives of Baltimore’s Afro-American, a pioneering Black newspaper.

“The Border by the Sea” (p. 173): Journalist Fabien Benoit goes inside Starbase, the private city Elon Musk is building around SpaceX’s Texas launch facility and headquarters.

“Oil Dorado” (p. 210) by Amélie Mouton recounts the story of America’s first oil strike.

“Ailleurs” (p. 250): In 2025, video game designer Sam Butin and illustrator Karim Oyarzabal each undertook journeys across the ocean aboard the Marius container ship as residents of Villa Albertine. Here, they recount what they found along the way. 

Purchase the new issue of States at Albertine Books (972 Fifth Avenue at 79th Street in New York City) or order a copy here.

States was made possible by the support of Albertine Foundation and Albertine Books Foundation. Leadership support was provided by the Societe Generale Foundation, major patron of Villa Albertine’s residency program, and the Judy and Peter Blum Kovler Foundation, which supports French-American intellectual exchange.