Georges Braque exhibit at the Grand Palais

Just the week after we got back from La Réunion, Paul and I took in the Braque exhibit at the Grand Palais. It's one of those monumental exhibits, taking in all of Braque's periods. Therefore it is crowed. We went in the afternoon, after my stint at the library. That was not a good idea. I hope we get to go back, early some morning. I remember first seeing Braque at the Jeu de Paume, in 1970, when that was the Impressionists and early 20th century museum. I remember Claude's Tante Edith, our art history teacher for the semester telling us about the breakthroughs in art. Most of all, I remember Tante Edith's clasp, which I spotted on a visit to her apartment, and her telling me "Ah, oui, Georges me l'a donnée." And I took a closer look and asked, "Georges Braque?" and she sighed and said, "Ah, oui." Somehow, talking to someone who connected to the past was fascinating.
That was running through my mind as I went through the exhibit. Also, how much Braque and Picasso inspired one another. And how I think Matisse was inspired. Art is long chain of inspirations.
If you go, be patient; go early; take your time.

Toys and People

After seeing the Stein exhibit, a week later, we went to see the toy exhibit. In French it says "Des Jouets et des Hommes", which literally translates as "Toys and Men", but it's "men" meaning "man" or "mankind" and that just doesn't work any more. So, Toys and People, to me.
There's a bit on the history of toys, earliest documentation of toys. An early Grecian tea set! Some Renaissance royal miniature carriages and so on. There are paintings, many of them by women, because, I guess, representing children with toys was a more domestic, amateur painter's fancy. There are, however, some very official paintings with children and their toys. The exhibit has themes. There are the horses, from the basic head of a horse on a stick to "My Little Pony" via the Fisher Price horse on wheels (of which we still have one dating back to Claire's time).



There are pull toys, dolls and doll houses. There are modern art installations, like Barbie Foot by Chloe Ruchon. There's a very interesting couple of photos: a girl in pink in her pink room surrounded by all her pink objects and toys and a boy in blue in his blue room surrounded by all his blue toys and other objects. There are professional themes, with girls being led to playing nurse or teacher and boys off to soldier or fireman. There are video games: war games, Sim City, being a vetrinarian, taking care of horses.... Films on toys or with toys in the plot: Babes in Toyland; Citizen Kane, Toy Story, ....
Again, no waiting on line. Well, this time, there was no one else waiting, and we had our Carte Sésame. So, if you are going to the Grand Palais and feel there are too many people crowding into the Stein exhibit, go to the corner and take in this Toy one.

The Stein exhibit at the Grand Palais

We've been doing a lot recently, and instead of loading up one post, I'm going to break it down into several episodes. I've just been too lazy to write more often.

Back in the days of the Pierwige, back before I stayed there, Paul was already living there and there were plenty of foreign students and young working people. Among them were Peter and Jeanne from Switzerland. They were not a couple, then, but they did become a couple and are still so. They came to Paris a few weeks ago and we all went out to eat on Tuesday evening and then to the Stein exhibit on Thursday morning.

The Stein Collection -- a great exhibit. I don't think I've ever seen so many Picasso and Matisse paintings together. Apparently Leo and Gertrude collected mostly Picasso and their brother and his wife took to Matisse. No matter. They collected early, before these artists became famous and overpriced. When they could no longer collect Picasso and Matisse or Cézanne, they started collecting newer artists. It's all interesting. Leo, the elder brother, left Gertrude when Alice B. Toklas came to live with her. And that's the Gertrude Stein I was more familiar with, the writer who befriended Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. We got to the Grand Palais a few minutes before opening and with our Carte Sésame we were in the direct access, no waiting line. It's so refreshing to see exhibits before the crowds come in and you can't see anything. (Last year, at the Monet exhibit, I saw the difference. I saw it once with Rita at 9:00 a.m. and then went again with the Pickars and Paul one afternoon. They allow too many people at once in the Grand Palais and it's tiring to try to see anything. You can get close. You can't stand back. Just keep moving.)

Before going to the exhibit, we all met for dinner on Tuesday evening. Of course, over the years I had heard stories of the Pierwige before me and of Paul's friends there, so I felt as though I already knew them. Paul had found the restaurant on Lafourchette.com. He reserved us at Au Gourmand, where you get a 40% discount when you reserve via the site. Very, very nice. It was an excellent meal and, with the discount, not expensive, at all.

Made it to the Monet exhibit

This is a picture by Jacques Demarthon/Agence France-Presse, used to illustrate the critical review in the New York Times. I'm glad I didn't read the review before seeing the show for myself. It's a great review and a great show, but I'm glad I decided it was great on my own. Well, not entirely on my own since Rita also got up before the break of dawn this freezing morning to get the RER and be at the exhibit entrance at 9:00.
There was already quite a line, but since I had that Sésame card, we went in first and didn't have to stop at the cashier's desk. We got rid of our coats and went into the absolutely empty Grand Palais. They weren't empty for long; Rita and I took our time and by the time we were through the first room, the crowd had caught up with us. It wasn't a horde, though, we were able to go at our own speed and look carefully at whatever we wanted to. That brings me back to why I chose this picture; I was most impressed by the many series. 
Back in September, when we went to Rouen with Jackie and Ed, we saw the Impressionists in Rouen exhibit and, of course, the series of the Rouen cathedrale were there. Well, they finished the exhibit in Rouen just in time to make the trip to Paris. Each painting in a series belongs to a different owner -- museums for the most part -- all over the world, so you really don't get to compare the cathedrale, haystack, or parliament paintings. Here, you do. They really did get paintings from all over the world, with the exception of the Marmottan museum in Paris, which has its own Monet exhibit and doesn't want to share. So you get to see the haystacks at different times of the day with colors and shadows more or less intense, or in sunlight or under snow. I just loved the Parliament paintings from the early 1900s. 
Another thing I noticed about Monet is that he doesn't seem to have a signature brush stroke. Each painting is done differently. Reflections on the water are fantastic, but there doesn't seem to be a certain way to get that result; it's all in the color, and there doesn't seem to any right way to do that, either. Sometimes the little people in a painting are really vague tiny splotches, but with a little different color in the middle of the splotch, it's a woman's dress. On the other hand, the details in large paintings with people are exquisite and exact. 
So now, I'm back home. No library today. Anne has kindly taken the afternoon slot for today. She has to stay in town for an evening activity and just preferred staying at the library. I understand her reasoning. It's such a schlep to go back home that the mere idea of schleping back out makes you want to just crawl under the covers and not go. I've had an excellent left-over turkey lunch. It's very cold, but the sun has come out. Rita and I walked up the Champs Elysées from the Grand Palais to the RER station at Etoile and then, of course, I walked home from the Fontenay station. That added to my walk to the station should be enough for today. 
Here is the link to the exhibit again: Monet 2010 and another to the post about our trip to Rouen in September.

Other than the rally

I completely forgot to write about the fascinating exhibit that Paul and I went to last Friday. It's France 1500: between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (That's my translation. I didn't bother to look up theirs.) We're always thinking of the Renaissance as coming up from Italy. It did, but it also came down from Flanders. France sits in the middle and was as much under the influence of artists from the north as from the south. I hadn't realized how much or, at least, how it was all happening at the same time. In my head, I had Italy first and Flanders following. They have paintings, of course, but also sculptures and illuminated books and tapestries. The books were interesting because they weren't all religious books. There again, I was stuck in thinking that it was prayer books and manuscript copied bibles and other religious books that were illuminated, but it turns out all kinds of books were. Of course, by 1500, they were printing books and they were printing them with ready-to-illuminate woodcut illustrations, just like coloring books. Well-known artists were filling in these coloring books, so there!
Some of the scuptures they have in this exhibit still have traces of their colors, some have even more vibrant colors than just traces, so you can really see how they were originally -- very lifelike. On some of the Italian-influenced ones, the fabric, carved in the stone, is so delicate and fine, it's hard to imagine how that could be carved. There is also a lot of wood carving. There is a piece from the Palais de Justice in Rouen and since we were in Rouen admiring the Palais de la Justice just two months ago, I found it particularly interesting.
There's a Leonardo da Vinci portrait of a young lady -- the photo at the top of this page. She's got the same smile as the Mona Lisa, doesn't she? There's no landscape behind her though. It's "La Belle Ferronière" (commentary in French). She's very pretty, I think. Also, we could get up close to look at her!
Much of the art was on order. Anne de Bretagne, first, wife of Charles VII, then Louis XII, started and was followed by Louise de Savoie. It was the women who were the patrons of the arts. And since Louis XII and François I won some wars in Italy, a lot of artwork and artists came from Italy as war booty. The exhibit is interesting, varied, and the works come from lots of different places we don't have access to, so it's not the same as some eshibits that pull in pieces from the Musée de Cluny and the Louvre. I believe this exhibit will be going to Chicago, but I can't find my way back to the page where I think I saw that, so you'd better check.
If you're planning a trip to Paris, you can prepare for Grand Palais exhibits on line and you can download the audio guide (€3 via paypal) if you want. I can't wait to go back again and concentrate on certain pieces.
When we left home on Friday, the idea was to see the Monet exhibit, also at the Grand Palais. But, I had to renew my "Carte Sésame" and as we approached the hall, I figured the line would be longer at the desk at the Monet exhibit than at the France 1500 one. I think I was right, because there was no line at all at France 1500. If you are in Paris for any length of time that would permit you to see several exhibits, the Carte Sésame is worth it. You don't have to stand in line to get into the halls; you can go as many times as you want; with the duo card, you can go with anyone you like because only the cardholder has to be the same person; you get access to the conferences and you get a discount at the audio-guide desk and souvenir shop. If you already have a card for the Louvre or Orsay, you get a discount on the Carte Sésame, or if you have the Carte Sésame, you get a discount at those museums for their cards. And to top off the advantages, cardholders can get into the Monet exhibit as early as 9:00 from Friday to Tuesday, so I think we'll take advantage of that one.
So, that's what we did last Friday. After the exhibit, we walked up the Champs Elysées to the Charles-de-Gaulle RER station, stopping on the way for a coffee and tiramisu at the McDo Café! Very cheap and very good tiramisu and coffee for much less than anywhere else.
Today is Tuesday and I have to get ready to go into town to the library.

Walking, walking, and more walking

This was a week of walking!
After walking to and from the painting class at Francine's. That wasn't too strenuous. On Tuesday I really forget what I did except for an appointment in Nogent near the big market in the middle of the afternoon. It really started on Wednesday.

Mary Lynne took us Ile de France Walkers on a wonderful hike along the Bièvre from St. Quentin en Yvelines to Jouy en Josas. It's always such a pleasure to meet up with old friends now and to meet newer arrivals. For once, I didn't feel like I was lagging behind, either, so that was nice. It seemed to me we were all walking at about the same pace. There were almost 30 of us for this walk, which is perhaps a bit too many, but we managed.

Alexander (now almost 9 months old) came along with his mother again. He's now moved to a fantastic back pack I took pictures of to remember what brand it is in case we want to get one as a gift. When I think of the elementary front pack, and then the backpack, we had, I think the design improvements are extraordinary. The only drawback is, for the front packs, more complicated attachments, and for the back pack, added weight.

The Bièvre is a short tributary of the Seine. It runs into the Seine in Paris, not far from Notre Dame. The water, back in Louis XIV's day, was so pure it was used for rinsing fabric and thread dyes. The famous "toile de Jouy" was produced in Jouy en Josas and rinsed in the river's water and the Gobelins tapestrys were set up (still there) in Paris, on Ave. des Gobelins, Paris 13. They rinsed the dyed wool in the river. Apparently, there were also tanneries along the river and that would certainly have polluted the river for the dyers and in conjunction with dyers, the river became too polluted and was covered for most of its distance until recently. Interesting for those who are familiar with Paris, the printer who set up his fabric printing business in Jouy was Oberkampf, so that's where that metro stop got its name. He chose Jouy not only because the water was excellent for the process, but he also had enough land to dry the cloth, and he wasn't far from the court at Versailles to boot.

The walk is not always along the river, but close enough. There are several ponds and we had our lunch in a clearing at a pond. At Buc we also crossed under the aqueduct that was built in the 1680s to carry water from the Saclay plateau to the artificial canals at Versailles. It was still functioning in the 1950s and is still in good condition even if it is no longer used.

About half of the group decided to visit the museum at Jouy en Josas. It's interesting, although I'm not sure I'd go there on purpose just to see the museum. The museum is in the old Oberkampf home; all the other fabric works buildings are gone. I think what struck me is the variety of Jouy designs and colors. I'm so used to seeing the same design in red or black, I thought that was all they did. There are good illustrated explanations of how the fabric was printed, the chemical process and all that. The arrows led us upstairs, but when I tried to open what I thought was the door to the rest of the exhibit, it wouldn't open, so I just assumed it was closed and went back downstairs. I was not alone in doing this and, from what I heard afterwards, we missed about four rooms of samples and upholstered furniture.

We finished with a short walk to the train station, but no trains were operating, so we had to get on a bus. I ended up getting on a bus that went to the Velizy-Chavilles station, but the others took a bus to Versailles Chantier or Massy Paliseau. I should have gone with them. My bus took us meandering around Jouy for a while before heading on to Vélizy-Chavilles. It was a pretty ride, though.
On Thursday, I walked to and from Francine's again and then headed straight back to the RER station to go to Paris to meet up with a group of AAWE friends for a walking tour of the 1st arrondissement -- a chocolate tour. Iris is a young guide, a real professional guide, whom I highly recommend. She started us off at the Louvre, where Marie-Thérèse, Louis XIV's queen established chocolate as the drink of choice. We then went to where the first chocolat maker set up with a royal patent. We stopped at the boulangerie patisserie that supplies the Elysée Palace. There, we had a sample of an "Opéra", a coffee and chocolate pastry that is sold in almost every patisserie in France. This one was especially good as the balance between the chocolate and coffee was perfect. Of course, we only tasted the very finest quality of chocolate on this tour, all made with 100% cocoa butter and no other kind of oil. (Leslie Charbonnel has kindly allowed me to share her pictures with you -- I forgot to take my camera!)
We then made our way through the Palais Royal gardens (where Anne d'Autriche once lived with the royal princes, Louis XIV and his brother) and went on to three different chocolate makers where we tasted different samples. It was a very tasty tour, but it was just samples and not an excessive amount of ingested chocolate. I found where I'm going to get some year-end gifts, though! Unfortunately, this was a slow walk, though, kind of like a museum and my legs and back hate that.

Friday, Paul and I went to the Renoir exhibit at the Grand Palais. Being a Renoir exhibit, it was crowded. Too crowded. If you tried to look closely at a painting or even the sign with the title, you were pushed out of the way; if you stood back to admire, you couldn't see because of the people passing by in front of you. Luckily, I have a carte Sésame and can go back whenever I want. I might try some morning. I was very happy to stop walking when we got home. That walk uphill from the RER seemed interminable.

An then on Saturday was the Money Matters for Women conference in the 7th. I was a volunteer so I had to get there by 11. Paul drove me in. At least I didn't have to walk around too much. There was a lot of going up and down stairs, but that was a pleasant change. I think I attended some good sessions and the day ended with Samina, who led us through a speedy prosperity workshop. Having done a real workshop with her, I can say that one should take the time to think through the answers to the questions, because if you speed through it, you end up with a superficial view. I think everyone understood that the session was just the beginning.