The French Journal

Parisians, under the Occupation, in color

A new, sometimes controversial, exhibit featuring rare color photographs of Paris during the Occupation has opened at the La Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris. The photographer André Zucca took the shots while on the staff of a magazine, Signal, which was largely an outlet for Nazi propaganda.The Paris portrayed here might almost seem insouciant; the epidemic of queues of people waiting for food rations is not in evidence. If one looks closely, however, at some of the bucolic shots, the color reveals yellow Stars of David in shop windows.

The controversy surrounds Zucca. He was well-paid for his assignments, and he obviously had access to resources such as color stock when it was not ordinarily available. In reviewing the exhibition and an accompanying book on his blog for Le Monde, prominent intellectual Pierre Assouline notes that there is -- at best -- ambiguity about whether Zucca could be considered a collaborator. In response to a line in a preface that "(Zucca) worked for and against the Occupation," Assouline writes, "'For,' one sees well, but 'against,' one still searches for."

A museum tour, via NYT/IHT: Haring, Gréaud's Tokyo concept, and freedom!

Some of the current happenings on the French museum scene, courtesy of The New York Times and its sibling, The International Herald Tribune:

• Repackaged Haring: Lyon is the spot where you can see a "stupendous" exhibition of the works of American artist Keith Haring, whose graffiti-influenced art remains familiar and influential more than a decade after his death. Perhaps the biggest exhibition of Haring's work ever assembled, there are paintings, drawings, sculptures, murals, and even a BMW, plus films and photos of the artist, who died of AIDS-related causes in 1990.
• Try this on for a concept. Contemporary artist Louis Gréaud has taken over 40,000 square feet -- the entire Palais de Tokyo in Paris -- for "Cellar Door," in which a viewer travels the exhibition space and "meanders through the artist's strange, dark universe, divided into various attractions called bubbles." A big hit: vending machines which sell candy that tastes like "nothing." There's a slideshow.
• Free museums for awhile. The pluses and minuses of President Sarkozy's experiment with free admission at 14 museums are tallied. The article puts the test in the context of a similar, successful endeavor in Great Britain, where free general admission led to more profitability as visitors then paid for special exhibitions. No conclusions, yet, in France. Admissions are up, but it's unclear who benefits.

A Francophile in NYC, Part I: Courbet, Poussin

As I've said in the past, the great thing about being an insane Francophile is that it provides an organizing principle for making decisions about what's important. For instance, when thinking about what to do on my recent short stay in NYC, I needed to determine what museums to visit, and I was weighing either the Museum of Natural History, which I've never been to, or the Metropolitan Museum of Art. On the way to the city, I read in the latest New Yorker that a new, major exhibit of paintings by Gustave Courbet was opening on February 27 at the Met. Good-bye to any thoughts about Natural History.

The Courbet exhibit is awesome, with over 130 items arranged thematically: self-portraits, paintings of Ornans (his birthplace), hunting scenes, nudes, etc. Courbet was an expansive man, rebellious, a proponent of "realism," which in his case meant not hyper-representation but a dedication to subjects that reflected day-to-day experience. It's difficult to believe there was a time when an artist could be condemned for painting a big canvas which portrayed the peasantry, yet that was the case for Courbet. Large pictures were to be used only for grand, "important" subjects. 

Courbet worked from approximately1840 - 1873, and he had the ability to dash off paintings if there were commissions to be had. He would sometimes paint the same scene repeatedly for different buyers; and in one case produced a piece of pornography (called "The Center Origin of the World," it's part of the exhibit). I'm not sure I found him an artist to love -- did any other artist use himself as a subject as much as Courbet? -- but the exhibition features some breathtaking canvases, and it was a privilege to see.

The Met's site, as of yet, doesn't have a wealth of material about the exhibit, somewhat shocking given the scope of the show; a podcast that's supposed to be available isn't as of yet. To learn more, you can read a review from last week's New York Times.

And there was a second Francophilic reason to go to the Met: another major exhibition, this one of works by Nicolas Poussin, who painted about the time of the Renaissance. Poussin approached art almost as an intellectual puzzle; his paintings are precise, and the way he presents his subjects reflect a thoughtful process about how to dramatize events, what techniques and placements are most effective, where symbolism is most effective. etc. I knew little of him prior to the show; now that we've been introduced, I'll never forget him. Below is the stunning image Summer: Ruth and Boaz, one of Poussin's paintings of the four seasons. They were the final works of his life.

Coming up soon: More about being a Francophile on the loose in New York, including a tale of revenge.

A Tuesday morning walk on the wild side

Two stories that deal with touch ever-so-lightly on sex, and one on bad language.

• Birds and bees for kids at Villette. Over at La Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, the science museum in the nineteenth arrondissement, a new exhibit is aimed at explaining sex to kids (LAT/Chicago Tribune). A great concept. The displays use designs by a popular cartoonist; parents and "tweenagers" can wander through them, get (gently explicit) information, and let the conversations begin! Samples:

"There is a "love-o-meter" to measure the strength of romantic feelings, a "pubermatic" that shows bodies transformed during puberty, and a pinball machine where tiny balls in the shape of sperm race for eggs...In a "teenagers" corner, an area isolated by curtains, the curious can put on headphones to get answers to questions such as, 'I have one breast bigger than the other, is that normal?' 'What is masturbation?' and 'I'm afraid to have my period, is it painful?'...By using cartoon drawings rather than realistic images, (the curator) says, she hopes to reduce the children's discomfort and pique their imagination."

• College kids make a point. A poster, produced by a student organization, which shows a young couple making love in their parent's bed (while the parents themselves are asleep) has brought attention to an issue: the lack of student housing for French university students (Der Spiegel). There are approximately 150,000 units available for 2.2-million students, which means many stay at home with ma and pa. The poster has had some results: the government has announced construction of thousands of rooms over the next five years, but organizers are not satisfied.
• Sarko swears. You may have heard that M. le Président is under fire (again) for cursing out a man who insulted him at an agricultural show. He has expressed regret for his anger, but not the words. Try Art Goldhammer for a discussion about translations of what he said. 

Bon anniversaire, Comte de Buffon!

My war against germs continues, and I'm losing. Perhaps a discussion of viruses and other natural phenomena is appropriate for my next offering, which is a celebration of the 300th birthday of Georges-Louis Leclerc, the Comte du Buffon. The man in question, explains the NY Times, is largely forgotten, but his legacy is considerable. He wrote, all by his lonesome, a 44-volume encyclopedia about the natural world which was a standard text for over 200 hundred years; he was a contemporary and rival of a Swedish botanist, Carolus Linnaeus, who is still revered. A more familiar part of Buffon's heritage, however, is Paris's Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, which he founded, and the Jardin des Plantes, the acreage of which he was instrumental in expanding. Besides those two landmarks, the Times also takes us to Buffon's country home in Montbard, a small Burgundy town which "is not otherwise particularly picturesque," and then a walk to nearby Buffon, a village which gave the Comte his name and which still maintains a forge that he built. Should you retrace these steps -- and I can't imagine too many people doing that, but whatever -- be prepared not to find much mention of the Comte, so you'll celebrate him alone. For the rest of us, a slideshow may suffice.

And now I have a date with a bowl of chicken soup.

The Institute du Monde Arabe turns 20

Covered by photosensitive light screens which change design, the Institute du Monde Arabe, by famed architect Jean Nouvel, is a notable landmark in Paris.  As a story in Al-Ahram Weekly reports, "A total of 22 Arab countries are partners in the Institut's management and funding, and its activities, including major exhibitions on aspects of Arab culture, have a secure place on many visitors' itineraries in the French capital."

The Institut is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. It began as one of President François Mitterand's grands travaux, projects like I. M. Pei's glass pyramid at the Louvre, which were meant to liven up the Paris cultural scene. Two big shows mark this special occasion: one of modern Arab art derived from the Institut's permanent collections, and another featuring cultural artifacts from the Phoenicians (Bloomberg).

Psstt! The Bibliothèque Nationale has this hot exhibit...

The Bibliothèque Nationale, France's national library, has as its mandate the responsibility to collect samples of all of the printed material in the country, including, as it turns out, pornography. This material is kept in an area known as "L'Enfer" that's off limits to all but scholars with credentials. Until now...

That's right. In what is likely to be one of the most popular museum shows in Paris this winter, the Bibliothèque Nationale has created a special exhibit derived from its collection of porn. Entitled "L'Enfer de la Bibliotheque, Eros au secret/The Hell of the Library, Hidden Eros," the show includes 350 "frankly filthy" works, according to The Independent (UK). The Bibliothèque is so convinced that the material has lost its ability to shock that to publicize the exhibition, "a disused Metro station has been taken over (and) ....from 17 December to 15 January, passengers on Line Ten, between Sèvres –Babylon and Mabillon, will find the abandoned Croix Rouge station turned into an erotic ghost train. Large reproductions of naughty old prints will be glimpsed briefly through drifting curtains."

Those under 16 years of age will not be admitted. I'm really shocked about these goings-on (but if you happen to get to the show and pick up an extra catalog...I'm just saying, for research...)

NYT: Dancing Americans in Paris (plus the original)

Here are two stories of la danse from today's New York Times:

• Artist Anselm Kiefer, recently in the news because he painted a gallery in the Louvre, has also been named guest curator at that museum, in a gig similar to one that Toni Morrison had last year. For one of his offerings, Kiefer asked American choreographer Bill T. Jones to create a dance work in a Louvre exhibition hall that is bracketed by "Winged Victory" and "The Dying Slave," a Michaelangelo sculpture.  The danse, called "Walking the Line," probably became the hottest ticket in town; seating was limited to 150 people for each of its three performances.
• Another American, Brooke Desnoës, has made an impact on dance in France by starting a very successful ballet school in Paris. Unlike traditional French dance schools, Desnoës's "American Academy of Dance" accepts everyone and uses a less severe approach to instruction. The school has over 540 students, some of whom have been placed in major companies in Chicago, Britain, and elsewhere.

It's unfair that we can't participate in any dance in Paris or view one, so let's have a vicarious thrill instead. Here's a clip from An American in Paris, the movie starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron. In this scene, they glide alongside the Seine -- or a facsimile thereof -- to my favorite song, "Love is Here to Stay," by the Gershwins.

Napoleon artifacts in Boston

Yesterday, I went to see Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the Empire Style, 1800 - 1815, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. That unwieldy moniker could lead you to expect the worst -- how many phrases can you smash into a name? -- but it's a terrific show that tells a marvelous story. Done in cooperation with the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the exhibition, full of paintings, furniture, tapestries, and dozens of other artifacts, emphasizes how symbols were used in the design of art objects during Napoleon's reign to convey power and importance. The motifs range from bees and swans to griffins and laurel wreaths and more. There are extraordinary items on view: Napoleon's throne, porcelain from Sevres, a breath-taking container for dinner items in the shape of an ark called a "Nef," and much more. The combination of art and history makes this show Francophile bliss, perhaps even more enjoyable than it would be in France, where sheer abundance in many displays can overwhelm; here, the works are selected and manageable in number.

There's a splendid teacher's packet on-line which is almost a mini-catalog. The MFA, linked above, provides a point-and-click elaboration on the symbols used in the Empire style. For a critic's take, there's a Boston Globe review.

Days gone by (almost): Le Musée du Fumeur

With the full smoking ban about to occur in Paris next January, a visit to Le Musée du Fumeur in the eleventh arrondissement, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, has a certain irony, even if the museum itself takes the subject seriously. Exhibits feature smoking paraphernalia from around the world. "The displays are sleek, self-serious, tastefully illuminated and studiously clean. Soft jazz mood-music alternates with piano and harpsichord compositions as you move from display to display." Times do change: the celebration of smoking in a museum adds a note of quaintness to the habit, especially when signs forbidding it are posted at the entrance.