PARIS — Surely that mannequin is meant to be Kate Moss — even if she is on all fours in a cage and with the head of a panther? And those bonbon creations, displayed in pleated paper as in a classic chocolate box, are indisputably handbags. (Read on…)

Jane del Monte, bridging the distance

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]]> http://muguetdeparis.com/2012/03/27/times-reviews-lv-mj-exhibition/feed/ 0 Jane del Monte http://muguetdeparis.com/2012/03/26/two-books-to-consider/ http://muguetdeparis.com/2012/03/26/two-books-to-consider/#comments Mon, 26 Mar 2012 23:16:22 +0000 Jane del Monte http://muguetdeparis.com/?p=2787 ]]> Two links to books appeared in my mail today that I think will be of interest to you. My wish list gets longer and longer.

The first is Dreaming in French: The Paris Years of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Susan Sontag and Angela Davis, by Alice Kaplan. What these very different women have in common is a year abroad in France as young women.

The second book, Atget, first came out in 2000. MoMA  has republished this beautifully written volume by John Szarkowski, rich with photographs, to complement the current exhibition, Eugene Atget: Documents pour Artistes,” which continues through April 9.

Bonne lecture!

Jane del Monte, bridging the distance

© 2012 Jane del Monte

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In Paris, see the work of Helmut Newton at the Grand Palais, in “Helmut Newton 1920 – 2004.” Here is what the Washington Post has to say. Then, make your way over to the 16th arrondissement, where the Musée Marmottan Monet presents ”Berthe Morisot,” the first Parisian retrospective dedicated to this Impressionist painter in more than 50 years.

In North America, there are three of note:

In Washington, D.C., the National Museum of Women in the Arts exhibits the work of 35 French woman artists in “Royalists to Romantics, Women Artists from the Louvre, Versailles and Other French National Collections.”

Heading west, two exhibitions pay tribute to designers who changed the way we look and live. Opening tomorrow, the first honors an immortal with  “Yves Saint Laurent – The Retrospective” at the Denver Art Museum, while in San Francisco, the De Young Museum features the work of the bad boy of haute couture in “The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk.”

Jane del Monte, bridging the distance

© 2012 Jane del Monte

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French Surgeon, 71, Saves Lives in Syria

PARIS — At the age of 71, Dr. Jacques Bérès, a veteran of war zones, left his comfortable Paris life last month to smuggle himself into Homs, the center of the Syrian revolt, to tend to the wounded and the sick. Read on… 

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In the Pink -- A Birkin Bag

To learn how one icon inspired the creation of another, read on.

And here is the video:

The exhibition continues through 16 September 2012 at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

The Family Vuitton at Asnières, 1888

If you would like to receive daily updates on what’s going on in Paris and in the world of French arts, visit the ARTS in PARIS Facebook page and “like” us.

Jane del Monte, bridging the distance

(Photo credits: Bag, Yvette Religioso-Ilagan; Family Vuitton, PD-US)

© 2012 Jane del Monte

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Women have been changing the course of French history since 451, when a prayer marathon promoted by a certain Geneviève de Nanterre saved Paris, diverting Attila and his Huns away from the city. Instead, he attacked Orléans. Geneviève was rewarded with sainthood and became patron saint of Paris. Her tomb is in the Church of Saint-Etienne-du-Mont, one of the most charmingly eccentric churches in all of Paris.

Sainte Geneviève Looks Down on the City of Paris (Sculpture, Paul Landowski; photo, Guimis PD-US)

Orléans was again under siege, this time by the English during the Hundred Years War, when a young girl liberated the city and paved the way to the coronation of Charles VII. Of course I mean Jeanne d’Arc, who became one of the patron saints of France and a political symbol to this day.

Portrait of Jeanne d'Arc, the Maid of Orléans (Artist unknown; PD-US)

Marie-Antoinette changed the course of history by her presence more than her actions. A scapegoat was needed; she filled the role. Just to briefly mention her contribution to the arts, under her patronage two women artists flourished — Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun, who chronicled the lives of royals and aristocrats, and Anne Vallayer-Coster. Both managed to keep their heads as the Revolution raged around them. Their works are featured in one of the exhibitions mentioned further down.

Portrait of Marie-Antoinette (Martin von Meytens, 1767; PD-US)

Many women changed the lives of other women. Simone de Beauvoir, of course, but there were others who came before, too numerous to name. Two whom I have mentioned before in these pages changed the lives of women in different ways – Marguerite Durand and Madeleine Vionnet.

A New Translation of The Second Sex, by Sheila Malovany-Chevalier and Constance Borde

Marie Sklodowska-Curie accumulated a series of “firsts,” She was the first person honored with two Nobel prizes – in physics and chemistry, the first female professor at the University of Paris, and, in 2005, the first woman to be entombed, on her own merits, at the Panthéon.

Pierre, Irène and Marie Curie (PD-US)

If, as claimed Coco Chanel, “Elegance is refusal,” Julie Récamier qualified, for not only did she rebuff the advances of Lucien Bonaparte, but she had refused to become lady-in-waiting to the Empress Joséphine, neither of which endeared her to Napoléon. Depicted by numerous artists of the time, she was renowned for her beauty, as well as for her salons where the illuminati of the day gathered. Sometimes just providing a place for the exchange of ideas facilitates the course of history.

Julie Récamier (François Gérard, 1802; PD-US)

Many women are noted for their association with a great man in their field. Camille Claudel was Rodin’s muse, mistress and student, yet today she is believed by many to have surpassed the master. Her work may be seen with his at the Musée Rodin. You decide..

Camille Claudel in her Workshop (PD-US)

Two exhibitions open today involving French women artists, one in Washington, D.C., the other in Paris.

In Washington, the National Museum of Women in the Arts will present the works of 35 women artists made between 1750 and 1850 in an exhibition entitled “Royalists to Romantics, Women Artists from the Louvre, Versailles and Other French National Collections.” The exhibitions runs through July 29. www,nmwa.org

Self Portrait of Elisabeth Vigée Lebrun

And in Paris, on the heels of an exhibition in Madrid, the Musèe Marmottan-Monet will present a retrospective of the work of Berthe Morisot. Morisot was the sister-in-law of Edouard Manet, and it has been generally believed that he was the master, she the student. However, the relationship was reciprocal, and one can see her influence in his work in the form of stylistic characteristics originated by Morisot. The exhibition continues through 1 July. www.marmottan.com

Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets (Edouard Manet, 1872; PD-US)

Jane del Monte, bridging the distance

© 2012 Jane del Monte

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Juliet Greco (2009)

It has been said that her voice “encompasses millions of poems,” and at 85 years old the darling of Saint-Germain-des-Prés is still performing, appearing tonight and tomorrow at Théatre du Châtelet.

I think this tour of Paris is a nice way to celebrate with her.

Jane del Monte, bridging the distance

(Photo: Harry B.P. Jaeger)

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Eugène Atget, Rue Lepic

Eugène Atget devoted 30 years to producing a photographic record of the architecture and daily life of Old Paris, more than 10,000 images that capture the capital as it was as it was then.

While doing some research for another project, I stumbled upon this  online feature from the National Gallery of Art (www.nga.gov) showcasing 32 works from the gallery’s collections, along with maps and information about the artist.

Check it out at http://www.nga.gov/feature/atget/. I hope you find it as interesting as I did.

Jane del Monte, bridging the distance

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Employing René Lalique’s lost wax technique and a special formula of copper and cobalt oxides to produce the color, — developed by Klein and known as IKB, or International Klein Blue — the sculpture is shown below. Read more…

Yves Klein, Winged Victory of Samothrace, Lalique

And what does this have to do with ARTS IN PARIS? Just that I’ve been immersed in the new site, with little time to blog here. I will do better. In the meantime, let me say the response to the site has been gratifying, So far this month, we’ve tripled the visits of last month. If you haven’t already, I hope you’ll visit and give me your feedback. And of course, if you see a trip in your future, I’d like nothing better than to share Paris with you.

Jane del Monte, bridging the distance

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© 2011 Jane del Monte

In truth, I really love walking, having spent most of my adult life in world-class pedestrian cities. Need I say that Atlanta is not one of them? So I’ve renewed my acquaintance with public transportation.

One advantage of taking the MARTA (I almost never slip and call it “Métro” anymore) is that it’s boring — and so I read more.

Not long ago, I picked up an old friend, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. As with many friends who’ve been absent for a while, you find yourself taking up where you left off, rediscovering things about them you had forgotten while at the same time discovering things you had never before noticed.

I had forgotten that this one never fails to make me smile. So enchanting is it in its  innocence that you scarcely notice the depth of its wisdom. But you feel it.

It is generally accepted that the prince represents the author’s desire to return to his inner child; the rose, his beloved wife Consuelo. The book could be seen as a love letter, were it not so much more.

• The book was written in the United States and first published in English. Saint-Exupery, along with a number of French intellectuals, had quit France during the Occupation. It wasn’t published in France until two years later, after the author’s death.
• It has sold more than 80 million copies and  has been translated into 190 different languages.
• It has been adapted to stage, screen and opera.
• Before the euro became France’s official currency, the little prince and Saint-Exupery appeared on the 50-franc note.
• The airport of Lyon, France, birthplace of Saint-Exupery, is named in his honor.

The Little Prince is especially beloved by the Japanese. There is a Museum of the Little Prince in Hakone, Japan. The chapel is a replica of the one in the village of Saint-Maurice-de Remens, Saint-Exupery’s childhood home, with rose and fox motifs incorporated into the stained glass of the interior facade. A café, Le Saint-Germain-des-Près, is modeled on the Brasserie Lipp, one of his favorite haunts, and the more elaborate Restaurant Le Petit Prince offers the cuisine of Provence, prepared (according to the website) by “Monsieur Okabe, who defeated Iron Chef Sakai in a lamb battle on the Japanese TV program Iron Chef.”

And the book is eminently quotable:

• “You are responsible for that which you tame.”
• “All grownups have been children, but few remember it.”
• “Language is the source of misunderstanding.”
• “It is truly useful since it is pretty.”
• “One only sees well with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes.”

Jane del Monte, bridging the distance between Paris and Atlanta

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© 2011 Jane del Monte