Nous n'avons pas encore visite le Louvre!

April 15th is the opening of a show at the Musee Rodin of the works of Camille Claudel. She was a young woman --rather young-- who worked with Rodin (and of course had a relationship with him, this older man/younger woman -c'est une longue histoire ici!). Mais, ce n'est pas tout --she was an artist, sculptor herself, although her career was cut prematurely by mental illness and an unscrupulous brother. We did visit the Musee Rodin and got a glimpse of her presence which makes the show more enticing to me! There will be more on Claudel and Rodin once I have seen the exhibit.
As I opened with "we have not yet been to the Louvre" it begs some explanation. We live literally three blocks from the entrance to the Louvre via "La Pyramide" which has created on wonderful entrance to the museum with a fabulous bookstore and space (if you visited the Louvre pre-pyramid you appreciate the "space"!) We may not have been to the Louvre, but we've been in the Pyramide and bookstore! And as you know, what is close to home....it's like your first walk of the Freedom Trail --you do it when your son is in 5th grade and you volunteer to be a chaperone on the coldest day in February! But in fairness to us, we have been to the Musee d'Orsay and Les Arts Decoratifs which are other large museums connected with the Louvre. And, the Louvre is on our rainy day in the middle of the week list --although we need to go soon before the tourist population of Paris soars!
We have been visiting some of the smaller museums that focus on one artist and his life (and it is HIS). Of course, there seems to be an important woman in these artists' lives who is responsible for the museum and the donation of art work to the City of Paris or a foundation--like Dina Viernay and Aristide Maillot. Several of these smaller museums are in ateliers --workshops-- and the houses where the artist lived. And several have enclosed gardens.


Le Musee Eugene Delacroix is just across the Seine in the 6th arrondissement and an easy and pleasant walk down one of our favorite streets, Rue Jacob. Delacroix moved to this house/atelier late in his life when he was painting a chapel in the Church of Saint-Suplice. He was ill and his former home was too far away from his work, which he wanted to finish. He had the atelier built to his specifications, with a large window overlooking the garden.
Delacroix is perhaps the best known 19th century French painter; his painting, Liberty Leading the People is one that you have perhaps seen --it is a prominent woman waving the French flag in the midst of the revolution of 1830 in Paris. This is in the Louvre (another reason to go!).
He was a Romantic painter and it is said that he was a great influence on the Impressionist painters; he himself was a fan of John Constable. Some of his works depict massacres and other tragic events --both ancient and contemporary to his life-- and often they are without an expression of valor or triumph over tyranny (like the pictures we see from Iraq).
Baudelaire refers to Delacroix: "The last of the great artists of the Renaissance and the first modern."


The Musee Bourdelle is the area around Montparnasse. This area has a bohemian history and is the center of the Rive Gauche, in terms of art, philosophy, politics, music, and was frequented by the likes of Sartre, Lenin, Hemingway, Chagall, Picasso....of course, it is hardly like that now --the Tour Montparnasse is the only "tower" (209 feet tall) in the center of Paris, and the area is home to movie theaters, fast food, shopping. Yet still there can be found charming spots like the Musee Bourdelle, Foundation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Musee Zadkine, and the lovely little street of Cite des Artes. The Cimetiere Montparnasse is interesting place to walk and search out the graves of people like Sartre and Simone de-Beauvoir (which we did!).




I must admit that I was not familiar with the work of Antoine Bourdelle. And David had seen his most monumental work --the massive installation of the Monument au General Alvear, which occupies an entire plaza in Buenos Aires-- without knowing who he was either. (We still do not know who Le General Alvear is, but he must have done something to warrant this HUGE installation --shipped from Paris!) We were originally drawn by the description of the garden in a small and wonderful guide book we have, "Quiet Corners of Paris" (thank you, Norah McMeeking!).
The atelier, the apartment, the great hall to house these large figures, the garden --just a magical spot-- literally a "quiet corner in the bustle of Montparnasse". And it's hard to visualize, but this atelier, on Impasse du Maine was at the edge of the city and there were vineyards just past the studios --less than 100 years ago.
Bourdelle, originally from the Montauban in the south of France, studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Toulouse before coming to Paris as a young man. He worked at Rodin's studio before going off on his own. He was also a teacher --a copy of his "textbook" is at the musee. His sculptures are powerful and monumental in scale and style. Le Centaure Mourant (The Dying Centaur) was particularly fascinating as the tortuous position of the centaur (the last centaur who is dying because no one believes in him any longer) is geometrical and architectural --almost Cubist.


Bourdelle also created a number of large reliefs, and his installations at Le Theatre des Champs Elysees (actually on Rue Montaigne near the Ponte d'Alma in the 8th) is worth the walk to see...but hard to photograph! It was also one of the first buildings built of reinforced concrete --it was avant guarde in both structure and performances-- Stravinsky's Rite of Spring had its debut here and Josephine Baker was introduced here in 1925 and became famous for her dancing sans son chemisier (I have a French language comment here --a woman's shirt is le chemisier; a man's shirt is la chemise-- I find no logic.)
And it was Bourdelle's wife, Cleo and daughter, Rhodia who were instrumental in creating the museum and donating the art work. Amazing but true, the City of Paris first refused the gift and it took 10 years before they accepted it! (And the city just installed a gruesome scupture by Louise Bourgeois (some homework!) in the Jardin des Tuileries! The Pompidou Center has an exhibit of her works going on through June 2, so am hoping that the piece will crawl away!)

On our walk in search of le Theatre des Champs Elysees, David noticed a broken branch of a rhododendron on the sidewalk (no relation to the golden rings!). He found the first blooming rhododendron I think in Paris --at least the first we have seen. Perhaps that is why is he works at MIT --he can see the rhododendrons blooming from his atelier!



And today is Timothy's 25th birthday--nous t'esperons un joyeux anniversaire! Nous celebrerons ensemble a Paris!
Bises, Mom and Dad