Paris has always been a city loved by artists. How can it not be? Paris is beautiful twenty four hours a day in every light. In Paris, art is everywhere. From every building to every café crème, beauty is a big part of life in Paris. New York is the opposite. In New York, art is basically confined to Art Galleries in Chelsea and museums. Please do not miss-understand, New York has its own art and beauty, but it is not as visible and tangible as the art in Paris.
metmuseum.org
On my second day of spring break, I was brought to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan. My friend Jaclyn and I walked through the hallways filled to the brim with European, Roman, and Greek art and felt the soft cultural touch of the old world. Then we got to the special exhibit. The exhibit that this article is centered around, the exhibit that was comparable to me getting on a plane, putting my tray in a an upright position, leaning back, and taking off back to the place that showed me the beauty of art for the first time 5 years ago. I saw Paris for the first time through a very unique lens. I saw Paris through the lens of someone who didn’t know what to expect. I was 17, and I acted like Keanu Reeves in “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”, needless to say art was not in my repertoire. But, before I go into the exhibit and what I saw, I would like to give some background on Impressionism and what impressionism is.
In its time, Impressionism was a very controversial subject. Some writers thought it was incomplete and did not understand its sketch-like and creative appearance. But, other writers saw it as a depiction of modern life. That is exactly what Claude Monet and his contemporaries were trying to accomplish. Impressionism is considered to be a new way of looking at life, to quote my friend Jaclyn “not exactly what is there, but the way the artist sees it”. Impressionism is a long and complicated subject that I can write you pages and pages on. But, I’ll save that for my book. Right now, I’ll just cut to the chase about what I saw. Continue reading →
Now an on-going series exploring the “most romantic” spots in Paris, I have written on the romance in the open air along the water in the City of Lights, as well as romantic dining…
Now poses the question of what is the most romantic cultural experience in this beautiful city. Freedom of space as well as delightful things to taste can ignite romantic feelings, well, art also inspires emotion. So there is most definitely room for romance among the various and numerous museums in Paris.
Parc du Château de Chantilly, by Esther Westerveld
With so many tourists visiting Paris every year looking for great deals, it’s hard to imagine that there are still some places that are relatively unheard of. Away from some of the more popular attractions, there are however various monuments that are equally as impressive. One of these is the Château de Chantilly – a beautiful castle located in one of the largest forests near Paris, Le Massif de Trois Forêts, in the town of Chantilly. It is home to the Grand Stables, various courtyards and gardens, a lake and the Musée Condé – one of the country’s finest art galleries. Continue reading →
The World Press Photo 2011 expo is hosted by (fashion designer) Azzedine Alaiä, in his gallery in the Marais.
These are the photos of 2011 that have won World Press Photo recognition. This is photojournalism with a push towards creativity. The contest to select the top photos was held in February, and over 108,059 photos were submitted in the 9 different categories. Press photographers, press agencies, newspapers and magazines were able to submit photos. Those that were recognized are up on the walls of Mr Alaïa’s gallery.
The building is normally home to The fashion designer’s showroom. It was build just before the Eiffel tower, and has that very distinct architectural design that came out of that era. The space was originally built by the owners of the BHV to become a people’s class restaurant. After that it became a place for BHV to store things, until Mr Alaïa purchased it for his fashion house. I love the opaque white glass ceiling which lets in so much light that no artificial light is really needed at all. And then there’s that typical juxtaposition of sculpted metal and glass that is so common to Parisian architecture from the Art Nouveau period (one of my favorites along with Art Deco).
Enjoy the expo until June 21st, 11am to 7pm every day. Entry is free. 18 rue de la Verrerie 75004, Paris.
Le concept : traduire un ancien billet et français, déjà pour pratiquer mon français à l’écrit mais aussi pour faire un geste envers mes lecteurs et lectrices francophone!
The concept : translate an old post into French, first in order to practice my written French, but also to be a bit more welcoming to my francophone readers!
Je ne vais jamais au Champs Elysées, sauf si c’est absolument nécessaire. Mais quand même j’ai rencontré Dita Von Teese elle-même en Printemps dernier, et cela dans une pharmacy… peut-être je devrait y aller plus souvent. Bon bref, nous y étions l’autre soir, pour allé au cinoche pour voir The Informant (avec Matt Damon jouant très bien dans la peau d’un personnage différent de ses rôles habituels, je devrais dire). En avance d’une demi heure, nous avons décidé de se promener un peu sur l’avenue au lieu d’attendre dans la queu à regarder avec désintérêt le vendeur des popcorns. A quelques portes de là on se trouve au 136 avenue des champs Elysées. Alors ce n’est pas la première fois que je suis passée devant cette adresse, mais je l’ai toujours ignoré comme si c’était un attrape-touriste et totalement sans intérêt. Cette fois j’ai en fait regardé ce que l’on y expose.
À part les voitures Peugot, articles d’exposition complètement évident (et assez beaux), il y a plein d’autres articles à voir et à acheter qui sont eux aussi créés par Peugot. Et moi qui pensais qu’ils ne faisait que des voitures! En fait il paraît qu’ils n’ont pas commencé en fabricant des voitures.
En plus d’une petite leçon d’htoire (Peugot) avec une liste des dates, on peut examiner tous les modèles jamais fabriqués par peugot en forme de petit modèle.
Savez-vous que Peugot fabrique aussi des clés à molette? Et des salières et poivrières (avec éclairage dessus)? Ouai! Ils les font! Une bonne idée pour la chaussette de noël. En fait la boutique a plein de bonnes idées. Mais vous pouvez y aller voir comme si c’est une exposition de l’hostoire Peugot si vous ne commencez pas encore vos courses de noël, et c’est entré libre et gratuit!
The nineties and the first decade of the new millennium brought us an entire spectrum of emotions that the Musée des Arts Décoratifs has decided to commemorate in an intimate look at some of the most influential designers, in the second volume of their retrospective exhibition : Histoire idéale de la mode contemporaine. Starting with Maison Martin Margiela and ending with Balençiaga with sandwiched inbetween everyone from Dries Van Noten to Alexander McQueen to John Galliano, Karl Lagerfield with Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Lanvin, Prada, Comme des Garçon, Martine Sitbon….and more.
The expo began with these words (translated by me) : The nineties was the decade of maturity. They were also radical years, completely opposing the preceding decade.” …… “The first decade of the millennium were years marked definitively by the graveness of the events that punctuated them. The euphoric start of the new century was in part stunned by world-wide tragedies. The world of fashion put on a more discreet demeanor.”
Each designer that is displayed has several pieces set in a mise-en scène with lighting, and a video of a défilé or two that helps define the artist’s true nature, or inspiration. Some of the artists reinvent themselves over and over, so it is hard to chose one particular collection, but if it can’t pin them down to one style or inspiration it can at least communicate what drives these designers to create, and display what they bring to their art.
Just some of my personal highlights :
Dries Van Noten, his SS2005 show, set to the musical piece “Boléro” by Ravel, with the models walking the length of a podium turned into very long white linen table and the spectators had glasses of wine they were drinking out of, with dozens of chandeliers hanging in a line over the table. The spectacle was so breathtaking that I forgot to look at the clothes!
photo: style.com
Lanvin
Lanvin, by Claude Montana, with stiff form holding pieces made mostly out of silk. The amount of work it must have taken to find the right composition so that the fabrics held these very striking forms…it’s a science really.Plus the video of his Automn-winter 1990-1991 and Spring-Summer 1992 where a stunning Linda Evangelista walks the podium, and the collection is full of that sheer classy elegance that Lanvin is famed for.
Photo: Guy Marineau, from museum website
Alexander McQueen’s Spring-Summer 2004 collection shown in the form of a 30 minute show that was inspired from the novel “They shoot horses don’t they” (1935) that was turned into a movie by Sydney Pollack, 1969, (which I have actually seen many years ago); a story about a dance marathon during the Great Depression, starring Jane Fonda, that tries to take a look at what desperate people will put themselves through. It’s a study in psychology more than a fashion show, and gives a hint to those emotions that simmered within this incredible artist.
Dior
Dior’s gown, from the 2004-2005 collection, by John Galliano, shows the bottomless source of over-the-top creativity of the designer for this couture house. The gown gives a whole new meaning to the shape of a woman, and although it is different and not common, it is beyond beautiful, and displays the fact that couture is art first and fashion second.
D&G
A Dolce & Gabana bodice made entirely out of gem-like “stones”. from the Autumn-winer ’91-’92 collection at the start of the nineties, that was shown to mixed Madaonna hits, and was composed of mostly whites, contrasting with what most palettes are composed of for winter wear, this blinged-out bodice shows the remnants of the 80′s that influenced fashion is such a dramatic way. (sorry for the poor photo quality, photos are not allowed at this museum, and I was taking clandestine ones with my phone).
The previous collection I mentioned, contrasts so greatly with the Victor and Rolf Autumn-winter 2001-2001 collection where forms were larger-than-life, colors were steel-grays and moody blacks, and the défilé had models with faces painted entirely in a dark soot color. This shows the mood of the start of the new century, and the somber turn fashion took almost as if it were anticipating the mourning to come after the tragedies that were about to unfold…
Photo : Guy Marineau, from the museum website
To end on a happy note, with a theme that is becoming as common in our daily lives as breakfast : recycling. E2, a line created by a couple of designers that uses vintage pieces found in flea-markets, vintage clothing stores and elsewhere, and remakes them completely or reuses the fabrics to create an entirely different piece. I love the eco-friendly aspect of re-using, and the creativity of finding a new soul for an old article of clothing.
Photo: Goran Vejvoda, photo from museum website
Exhibit until May 8, 2011
Les Arts Décoratifs – Mode et textile
107 rue de Rivoli
75001 Paris
This sculpture was made by Etienne-Maurice Falconet, in 1757, a marble sculpture of the god of love, of which there are two other copies, one in Saint Petersburg, and another at the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands. This statue was conceived for the Marquise de Pompadour for her garden. Garden of loooove?!?
I love the life that Falconet has sculpted into this little child-sized body, and the perfect proportions that he has given it. It’s marble, but when I look at it, I can almost see it come alive with warm flesh and soft tussled hair and feathery wings… I visit this statue every time I go to the Louvre museum. ♥
Amour, the god of love, as a child, is motioning for silence as he delicately picks an arrow out of his sheath, in order to shoot it at someone, and thus make them fall in ♥ love… Isn’t he sweet! ♥
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
At the Louvre inn the French sculptures hall.
Did you know that every Friday after 6pm, the Louvre gives free entry to all persons aged 25 and under?!?
I had been wanting to visit the Fragonard museum for quite some time now, knowing that the guided tour is free, and finally the opportunity came up. (It’s hard to make time for frivolous and fun things sometimes, even in the city of Paris…time, that ever fleeting escape artist…)
Photo : Fragonard web site
Sitting just behind the Garnier Opera house, the hôtel particulier (mansion house) in which the museum is house was designed by one of Garnier’s students, Lesoufaché, in 1860 and reminds us of the old Parisian splendor of the 19th century. Painted ceilings, gorgeous molding, gold-leafing and brilliant crystal chandeliers that date from the time the building was constructed… it’s enough to make you day-dream…
Photo : Fragonard website
But you don’t have much time to let your mind wander into 19th century land, when people wore top hats and carried canes and drove in carriages… because your highly knowledgeable guide has a thousand things to tell you about the history of perfume and how it came to Europe, France and on your wrist.
Photo : Fragonard web site
I learned that perfume was invented in the middle east for the Arabian royalty many many centuries ago… Grecian folks also used scents as offerings to gods. Perfume in it’s primitive form was created out of oils and fats that were permeated with the scents of plants and flowers… Later, perfume then was begotten from the condensation process that we all know of from watching that creepy movies (based on a novel) called “Perfume”, and an essential oil is extracted. But I won’t tell you all of the secrets I learned at the Fragonard perfume museum…because it is so much more entralling when you here about it in that exquisit building. I will tell you though that I learned that were very few perfumers in the world today, in French they are called “Nez” as in nose! There are perhaps around 100, in the entire world and only a couple of them actually create for their own brand (Serge Lutens is one of those)! It is not easy to become a “nez”, you must have abachelor’s of chemistry degree to even be considered at the schools of perfume. In France there are 2 schools, one in Grasse and one in Versailles. The school in Versailles required two years to get the degree (that is if you are accepted into the school and can handle the rigorous studies) and there is an age maximum (around 32 I believe). The school in Grasse does not have an age requirement and the degree lasts one year.
Photo : Fragonard web site
Perfume is made from essential oils and is composed with only 25% of alcohol, and eau de toilette is made with 50% alcohol… this tid-bit and other fun things to know about perfume and the work of a “nez” are to be discovered at this magnificent museum. And the ground floor is their boutique where you get high quality French made products for bargain prices, because there is not middle-mad seller between Fragonard fabrication and …Fragonard boutiques!
Le musée du parfum
9 rue Scribe
75009 PARIS
FRANCE
Tél: +33 (0) 1 47 42 04 56
Fax: +33 (0) 1 47 42 17 45
Open Monday to Saturday 9am to 6pm.
Open Sundays and holidays 9am to 5pm.
Métro station : Opéra
High brow shopping for fat wallets and investors…or a pleasant promenade among beautiful objects and a voyage back in time…
Since 1978, the Louvre des Antiquaires, right next to the Louvre museum, hosts the boutiques of dozens and dozens of connaisseurs and experts that sell things from years past. On the grounds of what was before the Grands Magasins du Louvre which was founded in 1855 to compete with Le Bon Marché. It closed it’s doors in 1974.
It had over a century of history and success, selling anything that their clients might desire and everything à la mode (in style). Now it is a building full of offices, and on the underground, ground and 1st levels are where you will find the rows of antique dealers with their treasures on brilliant display.
A stroll here is a daydream as well as a moment of education, because you will find things from all over the world and from all different eras… Don’t be afraid to press your nose against the windows, ask questions and linger…
Here is a look at just some of the possibilities you could find there :
Le Grand Orient has hosted a museum for over a century, but most recently the site at 16 rue Cadet in the 9th arrondissement, was renovated and reopened with a much more coherent and refined presentation of lodge’s treasures, and dubbed Musée de France. The Ministry of Culture, the Région of the Île de France and The city of Paris all contributed to the renovation, and the doors were re-opened on February 11th 2010.
musée de la franc-maçonnerie Siège du Grand Orient de France 16 rue Cadet 75009 Paris Tél : 01.45.23.43.97. Métros : Cadet (ligne 7) ou Grands Boulevards (lignes 8, 9)
Open from Tuesday to Saturday, from 2pm to 6pm (closed on Mondays, Sundays and holidays)
The museum will be closed from December 24 2010 to January 3rd 2011.
Entry : 6 €
reduced tariff (with justification) : 4 € Seniors (over 60), students (under 26), subscribers of the association Léon Bourgeois and of the association : amis du musée, personnels du Ministère de la Culture.
Free (with justification) : under 18, unemployed in search of work, journalists, official guides, ICOM.
There are guided individual and group visits. See their website for more information.
Montmartre, a long time ago, was an ancient place of legend where Saint Denis was beheaded (and according to this very legend, he picked up his head and ran to the place that is now the City of Saint Denis, North of Paris where there is a cathedral built in his namesake). Montmartre used to be a little village with nuns, a convent and a monastery with their religious brethren… with fields and windmills for grinding grain… farmers etching out a quiet existence.
And then, less than a couple centuries ago some “marginal” people came to populate this land, set up clandestine cabarets, used the windmills to grind elements for paint pigments, and discovered new subject matters for the canvas : regular people, nature, landscapes, debauchery, the daily toil of the little man, the beauty of the common woman, and the simply wild or the wildly simple pleasures of life.
In more recent times, Montmartre has smelled the lingering perfume of the tragic disco stars, has listened to the movie sets of famous film directors, and seen a rise in tourist groups peering up and down the hilly cobblestone streets. And through it all, the charm has been retained.
A place with more than just one attitude, in Montmartre you will find many facets and faces.
When chéri-amour (sweetie-pie) is coming home from several days away on business what does any self defined parisienne, do in anticipation?
1. Clean house…okay fine but the ironing can wait.
2. é-pi-la-tion… in other words undergo the torturous ritual of tearing the small hairs off of one’s legs. Oh joy. But the smooth skin après is a temptation tool with incredible powers!
3. That old golden rule that our grandmothers told is is still true…the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. A little love-cake baking is in order.
4. Determined not to be defined only as a maid, temptress and fée de cuisine… the parisienne heads out to see an art expo that not only is quite interesting to her and at the top of her to-do list, but can add a little more to her conversation. She doesn’t want to bore chéri with a recount of the socks that have missing pairs. Not that she actually counted them herself while doing the laundry. Really! She didn’t. I promise.
5. Pilates class… to um stay in shape… Oh and it helps maintain a nice level of flexibility! Which is good for… for…, for many things. (Address shared by the always perfectly shaped, Dita Von Tease, in Vogue août 2010).
And then finally at 9:30pm he arrives and the parisienne is in an exhausted slumber on the couch, spent from too much anticipation! Good thing it’s Sunday tomorrow!
On the edge of the Jardins du Ranelagh in the 16th arrondissement in Paris is nestled a wonderful ‘hôtel particulier’ that was owned by the Marmottan family. Jules the father and Paul the son collected art, Jules especially was keen to Napoleonic pieces. At his death he willed the pavillion and the collection along with an extensive library to the Académie des Beaux-Arts. It has become over the years, known for it’s Impressionism era interests. It houses a large collection of Monets, and is probably a more comfortable place to come admire them than the over-run-by-tourists-wait-in-line-forever Musée d’Orsay.
They moved the usual spot of the Monet canvases for the temporary exhibition at the Musée Marmottan Monet. I was able to take a few clandestine photos to give you a sneak peek (especially those of you who are “locationally” challenged). It’s a must in the cold Parisian winter weather (certainly with this years unusually unusual cold spell)… The paintings are full of warm, vibrant colors that warm you up from the outside chill; full of expression to melt your icy face. There’s a steady simplicity in the brush stroke, and the thick paint recalling their impressionistic for-fathers, have a way of making manifest the painting with more than just an image, they attest to the matter, the material of which that image is made. When you look up close you can see it. You can see the exacte touch of the painter’s hand, you can see his intention, you can see the strange colors that make up a skin tone, a water tone, a shadow. And when you step back a few paces, you see the harmony that it all creates. But, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I will cease my “baratin” (jabber).
(click images to enlarge)
Above:
1910, Jeune fille en jupe rouge, by Adolf Erbslöh
From left to right :
1906, Nu de jeune fille, by Kees Von Dongen
1907, Portrait de jeune fille, by Auguste Herbin
