PART THREE - Paris Ultimate Modern Art Tour

Back across the boulevard is Café de la Rotonde, opened in 1911 and soon frequented by Pablo Picasso, among others.  The cast of characters was ever-changing.

In 1914 Nina Hamnet fled Wales and London, and came to Montparnasse, to study at Marie Wassilieff’s academy. Her social life and artistic career rapidly took off as she became the 'Queen of Bohemia.'

Nina

A rebel with a tall, boyish figure, short hair, unconventional clothes, and flamboyant behavior, Nina rapidly became a star. With a little too much to drink she could be alarming, like when she bragged that Modi told her that she had the best tits in Europe, and then pulled up her top to show them off.

Nina and friends

Allegedly bisexual, she had a succession of lovers and acquired a taste for boxers and sailors, because, as she said, ‘they go away’. A free spirit, Nina lived life to the very fullest and hated being tied down by norms and prejudices.

 

Nina and Winifred Gil

Would you like one more? Well, this is how Nina described getting ready for one of many fancy dress parties she attended

I went to the avenue du Maine and bought a pair of French workmen’s peg-top trousers. I borrowed a blue jersey and corduroy coat from Modigliani and a check cap. I also bought a large butcher’s knife made of cardboard and silver paper at the Bon Marche. This I put in the long pocket which was meant either for knives as the Apaches wear them too or rulers. I dressed myself up and went out alone. I met Modigliani at the corner of the rue Delambre and the boulevard Montparnasse. He did not recognize me and when I produced the knife he ran away. I went to le Rotonde, where the waiters did not know me, and to a fair outside the Closerie des Lilas. I returned to le Rotonde and we danced in the streets all night and kept it up for three days.

During this creative era, Rotonde proprietor Victor Libion allowed starving artists to sit in his café for hours, nursing a ten-centime cup of coffee. If an impoverished painter couldn't pay their bill, Libion would often accept a drawing, holding it until the artist could pay. As such, there were times when the café's walls were littered with a collection of artworks that might grace the walls of the world's greatest museums.

Life in the cafe was portrayed by several artists and writers, including Diego Rivera and Tsuguharu Foujita, who depicted a fight in the cafe in his etching A la Rotonde of 1925.

Keep going down the boulevard to No. 125.   A newcomer to the scene, La Coupole opened in 1927, but immediately became a hit.  Founded by brothers-in-law Ernest Fraux and René Lafon, La Coupole was built at the former location of an ancient charcoal depot. After being fired from le Dôme café, they set out to create a magnificent restaurant that would outshine their former place of employment. The resulting café was immense, seating up to six hundred people and employing 450. All the elements of its interior design, from tiles to furniture, were custom made. Yves Klein was there almost every night, giving judo demonstrations on the rooftop.

Aïcha

Another newcomer, Le Select, across the street, opened in 1923, but it was the first to stay open all night.  All the usuals showed up.   But let's take a look at another woman who held a crown.  André Salmon called her "Miss Africa" even though Aïcha Goblet was said to possibly be from Martinique.  She was called 'creole' or mulatto.  But Aïcha had a tale to tell:

At that time, I was working in a circus.  In Clamart.  One day, at the exit of the big top, Pascin  approached me and asked me if I wanted to be his model.  But me, at that time, I was totally ignorant of what I had to do to be a model.  But, since I planned to leave the circus...Pascin gave me his address.  I arrived at the Cafe du Dome, where I found him.  And then for month after month, Pascin guarded me jealously.  In Montparnasse, they didn't even know whether I spoke French, because Pascin didn't let anybody have contact with me.  For almost a year, I posed only for him.  But one day, since all the painters of Montparnasse wanted me as a model, I went out on my own.

She was a bareback horse rider and sixteen when she met Pascin.  On October 2, 1929, Aïcha was honored with a banquet at La Coupole.  Everyone remarked how graceful she was.  How she was known to be content with making a modest living while enjoying an impeccable reputation.

André Salmon commented:

If Aïcha is often naked, she rarely undoes her head kerchief—now cabbage-green, now the color of silver—which suits her so well. Aïcha is too much a girl from Roubaix not to be perfectly civilized. She sits, she dances, she is pleasant. Long before Josephine Baker launched the fashion of banana belts, Aïcha wore, at wild parties in Montparnasse, her diminutive raffia skirt.

Aïcha by Félix Vallotton, 1922

Recalling the back room at le Rotonde, Kiki said:

All the grand ladies of the quarter sat there.  I wanted to see them up close, for they were all legendary.  They all already had extraordinary lives. Aïcha, the splendid creole, a model much in demand; Mirielle, a very pretty dancer; Silvia, a beautiful buxom girl who one day left on vacation and never returned to Montparnasse; Germaine, a beautiful dancer with fiery eyes; and Paquerette and Mado, and others.

Continue down boulevard du Montparnasse to the Gare Montparnasse & Tower. This is where the train came shooting out of the station in 1895, if any of you saw the movie Hugo starring Ben Kingsley. This is also where artists such as Piet Mondrian and Diego Rivera had their studios before the railroad added two more lines to the station.

Mondrian lived at 33 avenue du Maine, previously. And since I may not get another chance, I'd like to mention that Piet Mondrian came to Paris on January 2, 1912. He was 40 years old, had left behind family, friends, and even a fiancée, to enter this new world of Art. He had traveled little and his Art was scorned in Amsterdam and unknown elsewhere. And although he met all the now-famous artists, he remained to himself. He never failed, however, to put in an appearance at openings, and was nicknamed "Here-I-am-again-Piet." Through the course of the year, with exposure to various Cubists, especially Léger and Delaunay, his style evolved.

 Piet a deux

Take a left onto rue de l'Arrivée, then right on rue du Maine. Proceed up Maine to a small alley on the right, with a sign to Villa Vassiliev. This is a fascinating spot.

Mariya Ivanovna Vassiliéva left St. Petersburg and moved to Paris at the age of twenty-three. Her parents, naturally, encouraged her to study medicine, but she preferred to pursue art. By 1907, she was a correspondent for several Russian newspapers while studying painting under Henri Matisse and attending classes at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts.

Mariya at work.

She founded the Académie Russe (Russian Academy) in 1911, at the end of the impasse at 21 rue de Maine. It was renamed Académie Vassilieff the next year.  As we walk down this alley, you cannot help but notice all the panes of glass.  As a matter of fact there are still a lot of glass-walled studios around Paris.  The sources for much of that glass were the Expositions which featured enormous glass buildings.

21 rue du Maine

Mariya closed the school in December of 1914 because of the War, and after commandeering a second workshop, she opened a popular canteen for artists and models.  It was the meeting place for the Avant-garde. Mariya also volunteered as a nurse in the French Red Cross. She saw how many artists in Paris had little or nothing to eat, so the canteen was a precious refuge for them, providing for a few cents a full meal and a glass of wine and, moreover, a friendly meeting place.

                                                                    At the end of the alley.

Matisse spent his 47th birthday, December 31, 1918 at a party for Apollinaire, to mark his return from the war. It was held at the Orleans Palace, 198 avenue du Maine. Apparently, Apollinaire was so obnoxious strutting around with his head bandaged and his medal pinned to his chest, that when people attempted to give a tribute, they were drowned out by the objectors.

Guillaume

It was just two weeks later that Georges Braque was released from military service after also being wounded, so Mariya Vassilieff and Max Jacob decided to organize a banquet for him and his wife, Marcelle. Among the guests was the new partner of Beatrice Hastings, who had just ended a two-year relationship with Modigliani. The artist was a well-known drunk and so not invited. Naturally, he heard anyway and crashed the party. A fight ensued, a pistol came out, and Mariya, despite her diminutive size, pushed Modigliani down the stairs while Picasso locked the door. She made a drawing of the event.

The Braque Banquet by Mariya Vassilieff

From the left, Mariya (with the knife), Matisse (with the turkey), Blaise Cendrars (who lost his right arm in the War), Picasso (with the glass), Marcelle Braque (wearing a laurel wreath), Walter Halvorsen (waving hands in the air), Fernand Léger (wearing a hat), Max Jacob (at the end), Beatrice Hastings (wearing a dress) and her lover, Alfredo Pina (aiming a gun at Modi in the doorway), followed by Braque (also in laurel), Juan Gris, and Erik Satie (holding out plate).

Georges in the trenches.

In 1998, the Musée du Montparnasse was opened in Mariya Vassilieff's old studio. Now the Villa Vassilieff, they do shows of Art there, if you see something that interests you. Afterwards go back down Maine a bit and on the other side of the street is rue Antoine Bourdelle, and half-way down the block is Musée Bourdelle. Paris is littered with his statuary, and among his students was Aristide Maillol.

young Antoine

 

Marc Chagall had a studio here from 1910 to 1912.

Now an adventure. Coming out of the museum turn right and go down rue Bourdelle to the end and turn left onto rue Falguiere for one block before turning right onto rue Dulac. Go to the other end. Take a left onto rue de Vaugirard. Walk 1,000 feet and take a right onto rue Copreaux and go to the other end, turn left onto rue Blomet. Proceed 300 feet and on the left is the entry to the Square de L'oiseau Lunaire. Go on in. After you pass the pétanque courts and vollyball nets you will see the great sculpture by Joan Miró entitled L'oiseau Lunaire. Nice decoration.

When I went to Cimetiére Bagnold, much further south of here, to find the grave of Henri Rousseau, I was shocked to find that his name was not among the notables in the cemetery and therefore not on their map. And there is no way to find anyone without a map in these huge cemeteries. Fortunately, I eventually "unearthed" the whole story, and would like to relate it to you now.

As you may remember, Henri Rousseau was penniless, and so when a simple cut turned gangrenous, he did not get help, or tell anyone of his situation. His friend Wilhelm Uhde found him and rushed him to the hospital too late. He died from a blood clot on September 2, 1910.

Willy

At his funeral, seven friends stood at his grave: Paul Signac, Robert and Sonia Delaunay (once married to Uhde), Constantin Brâncuși, another artist Manuel Ortiz de Zárate, Rousseau's landlord Armand Queval, and Guillaume Apollinaire who wrote the epitaph, which he pinned to the coffin. Rousseau was buried in a pauper's grave until the following year, when friends paid to have his remains removed to a thirty-year concession. Then, on October 12, 1947, Henri Rousseau was returned to his home of Laval and is now in the Perrine garden there with a proper memorial. Brâncuși etched Apollinaire's epitaph on the stone coffin-lid and made a medallion of Rousseau's profile for the headstone.

We salute you Gentle Rousseau you can hear us.
Delaunay, his wife, Monsieur Queval and myself.
Let our luggage pass duty free through the gates of heaven.

We will bring you brushes paints and canvas.
That you may spend your sacred leisure in the light
and Truth of Painting.
As you once did my portrait facing the stars, lion and the gypsy.

RIP mon ami.

There is one more site south of here, but it's a 20-minute walk and not much to see. I am referring to a place called La Ruche, or the Beehive, that was home to Chagall, Soutine, Modigliani, and so many other artists at the beginning of the century. The area was predominantly slaughterhouses, so the rent was cheap and no-one complained about the artists. The building is interesting, but one is not able to see much.

After the Exposition Universalle of 1900 closed, sculptor Alfred Boucher took advantage and bought up a few interesting structures. These he re-erected on some land at the southern edge of Paris, on the Passage de Danzig, two miles from le Dôme. The almost circular building was designed by Gustave Eiffel and served as the Medoc wine pavilion at the Fair. The entrance was a forged iron gate from the Pavilion des Femmes, and there were caryatids from the British East Indies pavilion.

One hundred studios on two floors radiated from a central staircase creating pie-shaped spaces, but it was the activity of the residents, which led to its name. Because the location was undesirable, Boucher, himself a sculptor, and more importantly, a philanthropist, was able to charge just one hundred francs a year, thus attracting a constant stream of poor artists, most coming from Eastern Europe.

Sculptors on the ground floor and artists above. Zadkine called it a “sinister wheel of brie.” Not just artists. Writers, poets, and anarchists also called it home. Waste was flushed out to the little garden amid the sculptures and rubbish. The place smelled, was infested with bedbugs, and grew increasingly dilapidated. I think Marc Chagall gave us the best description:

In those studios lived the artistic Bohemia of every land. While in the Russian ateliers an offended model sobbed, from the Italians’ came the sounds of songs and the twanging of a guitar, and from the Jews debates and arguments. I sat alone in my studio before my kerosene lamp. They used to throw shoes at my illuminated windows to mock me who painted through the night while others made love or bombs.

                                     Marc

One more La Ruche story about one Marie Bronislava Vorobyeva-Stebelska, who arrived in 1912 to study at the Académie Colarossi, followed by courses at the Academie Russe.  It was Maxim Gorky who gave Marie the new name, Marevna, after a Russian fairy sea princess. She was actually known for convincingly combining elements of cubism (called by her "Dimensionalism") with pointillism and – through the use of the Golden Ratio. She has been accredited with being the first female cubist painter.  She was known and appreciated by everyone.  Even Picasso said "We will make you an artist even more famous than Marie Laurencin."

Modi, Kisling and Chaim Soutine, by Marevna, 1914

Marevna met the Mexican painter Diego Rivera, and, although he was already married to her compatriot and friend, Angelina Beloff, off they went to Diego's studio in the rue du Départ. Their affair lasted six years.  In 1919, they had a daughter named Marika, and Diego left for Mexico a couple of years later.

Marevna and Marika

Léopold Zborowski sold her work and Paul Poiret bought her scarves and ties with colorful Russian patterns. Little Marika took classes at the Isadora Duncan Dance School and became a classical choreographer and dancer.

Now we are going to retrace our steps: turn right on Blomet, go past Copreaux then turn right on rue des Volontaires. After walking the long block, on the righthand side is le Métro. Get back on the No. 12 train, direction "Front Populaire," then get off at rue du Bac (seven stops). The entrance is in the middle of boulevard de Raspail, so depending on which exit you choose, turn right or left to find rue du Bac then turn left. Go one block, turn left onto rue de Grenelle and find the Musée de Maillol on the right.

Aristide at work.

Aristide Maillol began as a painter at the École des Beaux-Arts, made a name designing tapestries, and was in his mid-30s when he began making terracotta sculptures. He never looked back. In 1902, Ambroise Vollard provided Aristide with his first exhibition. Now Aristide's sculptures are all over Paris, France, and the rest of the world. Three of his bronzes grace the grand staircase of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, for example.

Dina and Aristide

A large collection of Aristide's work is maintained at the Musée Maillol, which was established by Dina Vierny, his model and platonic companion during the last ten years of his life. The collection features both the work of Maillol and Vierny's collection of the masters of French Modern and näive art, including a painting by Henri Rousseau.

Go back out Grenelle and turn left on rue du Bac. Proceed to No. 110, lodgings for James McNeil Whistler from 1892 to 1901. In 1896 Whistler was elected first President of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, a union of professional artists that organized exhibitions in England.

Auguste by Nadar

There's another musuem right around the corner. Double back on du Bac, then turn left onto rue du Varenne and walk about 2,000 feet to the entrance of Musée Rodin. Auguste Rodin is so famous there is no need for an introduction. The museum was opened in 1919, and has two sites: the Hôtel Biron and grounds right here, and another just outside the city at Auguste's old home, Villa des Brillants at Meudon. While living at The Villa, Auguste used The Hôtel as his workshop. He subsequently donated his entire collection of Art, including paintings by Van Gogh, Monet, and Renoir to the museum. Here are a couple of tidbits about the great sculptor which you may not know.

Auguste drawing a Cambodian child, 1906

In 1864, Auguste began living with a young seamstress named Rose Beuret with whom he would remain for the rest of his life. Though there were others. Like when Auguste was substitute teaching and met eighteen-year-old Camille Claudel. Their passionate relationship influenced each other artistically as Camille served him as a model, as well as assisting him on commissions. The museum has a room dedicated to Camille's work.

Camille

Auguste had other problems, however. When his sculpture The Age of Bronze was first exhibited at the 1877 Salon, he was accused of having made the statue by casting a living model. Of course, Auguste vehemently denied the absurd charge. The scandal, however, drew huge crowds because people were eager to see it for themselves.

The Age of Bronze by Auguste Rodin. 1876

Turn left out of the museum and take Varenne to boulevard des Invalides, turn left and go around the museum grounds.

The next building is Lycée et collège Victor-Duruy which opened in 1911, right after Académie Matisse closed up shop.

Henri at work.

Monsieur Henri Matisse, with encouragement (money) from the Steins (Leo and Sarah, not Gertrude) and the Dômiers, announced the creation of his own school in 1907. Along with several painters, he rented space in the abandoned cloister of the Couvent des Oiseaux on the rue de Sèvre. The painters were Hans Purrmann, a German; Americans Patrick Henry Bruce and Max Weber; and Swedish artists Carl Palme and David Edström. Initially, Henri came on Saturday mornings to provide instruction.

The Académie Matisse then moved to this site which had been the Couvent du Sacré Coeur. Of the more than one hundred student artists, about half came from Sweden and Norway, led by Sigrid Hjertin and Isaac Grünewald, who later married. The influence of Henri on his young pupils should not be exaggerated. He discouraged imitation and exhorted the students to discover their own style. He emphasized the importance of practice, and gave priority to studies of nude models over finished work of other media. Henri also emphasized the importance of studying the Masters and Renaissance painters such as Giotto and Leonardo.

Sigrid Hjerten and son Ivan, 1916

Lucy Vivil ran away to Paris in 1905 when she was fourteen, but it wasn't until the spring of 1910, that she posed at Academie Matisse while Per Krohg was a student there.  The next year she modeled in Per's studio at 9 rue Campagne Premiere.  Soon after that, she had her hair cut short.

Lucy

In the fall, Jules Pascin had Lucy pose for him in his room at Hotel d'Anvers.  They had a brief affair, but while Pascin remained devoted to Lucy, she went for the young, handsome Per.  They discovered that they had something else in common - dance.

Lucy and Per

Per and Lucy fell in love on the dance-floor of the Bal Bullier that winter, and were soon giving tango lessons.  In 1912, the Bishop of Paris banned the tango, so Per and Lucy went to Norway and worked as professional dancers.  Per also designed the scenery for the Chat Noir in Kristiania, since his aunt, Oda's sister Bokken Lasson, was the owner.

Bokken

Even though the war was going on, Per and Lucy returned to Paris in 1915.  They moved into Paul Gauguin's apartment at 6 rue de Vercingetorix, then got married in December.  It was decided to keep it a secret from both of their parents when, the next spring, they were back in Norway until the war was over.  Son Guy was born in July of 1917.

Lucie and Per with cigar-smoking friend.

By the end of the following year, Per and Lucy were ensconced in the top floor of #3 rue Joseph Bara, in Montparnasse.  This is where Lucy bumped into Jules who used to live in this building and left his stuff in Isaac's apartment.  Jules again professed his love for Lucy and they again become lovers. Soon Per and Lucy, and Jules with his wife, painter Hermine David, would often go on a picnic with Guy, and the group of models that Jules called “les petites crevées” met up for picnics.   

That summer, Per, Lucy, and Guy went to Norway, while Jules and Hermine visited fellow-painter Abdul Wahab in Tunisia.  That was it for Jules and Hermine David, but Lucy continued the affair with Jules.  I believe we addressed the conclusion to this story-line earlier on our tour.

Continue walking on Invalides to the end of the block, turn right on rue d'Estrées. Go all the way to place de Fontenoy. This is less than 2,000 feet, crossing a greensward and through a tricky intersection. Turn left and go around until you get to the entrance for U.N.E.S.C.O. Headquarters. Inside you will find a remarkable collection of artwork.  The acronym stands for: United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, which:

"encourages international peace and universal respect for human rights by promoting collaboration among nations. Its mission is to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue."

That's Joan in the red tie.

After the headquarters were constructed in 1958, a committee was formed to select from among the contemporary artists of the time who were commissioned for works to embellish the building. Works by artists such as Picasso, Miró, Arp, Karel Appel, Afro, Matta, Calder, Chillida, Giacometti, Moore, Tamayo, Soto, Vasarely, and many others, totaling more than five hundred pieces. Enjoy.

Turn left on place de Fontenoy, and back left onto avenue de Lowendal then right on avenue de Suffren. One more right on place Joffree and you're at the Champ du Mars.

Soak in the ambiance of the wide-open spaces and watch everyone at play. Or join in! Le Champ du Mars is a place where many amazing events have taken place. It was originally a huge community garden, but when they built the École Militaire in 1765, the inevitable land-grab ended that. But since that time, it has remained open-space and has seen some wild stuff, including the launch of the world's first hydrogen-filled balloon in 1783.

Drawing by Honoré Daumier.

It was also a favorite launching site for a gentleman called Nadar, or Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, if you will. He was nineteen when he changed his name to Nadar to pursue careers as a journalist, caricaturist, photographer, and balloonist, among others. As you can guess, this is an epic saga, but I just wanted to tell a couple of tales.

Nadar, self-portrait, 1865

By 1850, he had taken portrait photos of all the famous celebrities in Paris and beyond. His studio at 35 Boulevard des Capucines was an extravagant marvel. He loved to talk to the sitters to make them feel at ease as well as let him get a feel for their moods. Nadar's magic was particularly evident in the portrait of Sarah Bernhardt.

Sarah

"To produce an intimate likeness rather than a banal portrait, the result of mere chance, you must put yourself at once in communion with the sitter, size up his thoughts and his very character," Nadar said about his craft.

Le Géant

The gondola after it landed.

But he was always interested in aeronautics, and so he built an enormous (6000 m³) hot air balloon and baptized it le Géant (The Giant). Nadar launched it from the Champ du Mars on October 18, 1863.

photo by Nadar

Naturally Nadar became a pioneer in aerial photography, using the hot-air balloon with his entire developing lab up in the basket with him. The images of Paris seen from above were considered magic to the public, and Nadar's fame spread.  He inspired Jules Verne to write Five Weeks in a Balloon. And Jules' admiration was also evident when he named the hero of his novels, From the Earth to the Moon and Journey Around the Moon, Michel Ardan, an anagram of Nadar.

The Neptune being launched from Montmartre.

His next adventure was a bit more desperate, but critical. Because of the Franco-Prussian War, Paris was under siege. Swollen with war refugees, the city was cut off. The citizens suffered severe food shortages and there was no communication with the outside world. Nadar believed balloons could help with that last problem. He began by launching an observation balloon from Montmartre, before spearheading the manufacture of balloons for mail deliveries. More than two million letters traveled by balloon during this time.

As the poet Théophile Gautier wrote, “The wind was our postman, the balloon was our letterbox…. With each departing aeronaut, our deepest thoughts also took flight.”

Victor Hugo marveled that “One would have to be a pinhead not to recognize the huge significance of what has been achieved… By means of a simple balloon, a mere bubble of air, Paris is back in communication with the rest of the world!”

Nadar Studios

After the War, Nadar was delighted to offer his fabulous studio free of charge for the first exhibition of the Impressionists on April 15, 1874. Nadar was a close friend of Manet's, you see. Nadar died in 1910, and today, the Prix Nadar is an annual prize awarded for an outstanding book on photography published in France.

On July 14, 1790 a major celebration took place on the Champ du Mars exactly one year after the storming of the Bastille - the first Bastille Day fête. Two years after that, a massacre took place on the same ground, with the first mayor of Paris guillotined.

Here he is now, being led to his doom.

And for the sake of lunacy, the year after that, on June 8, 1794, the Festival of the Supreme Being featured painter Jacques-Louis David's design of a massive altar of nations built atop an artificial mountain on this site. I'm surprised they didn't guillotine him for that.

The Champ du Mars was also the site for Expositions Universelles in 1867, 1878, 1889, 1900, and 1937.

Gustave Eiffel by Nadar

And then we come to the Le Tour Eiffel. No need to go into great detail here, but I will tell you a story I came across from 1912.

François Reichelt was fixated with developing a suit for aviators that would convert into a parachute and allow them to survive a fall. He dropped dummies from the fifth floor of his apartment building successfully, but was unable to replicate those early successes with any of his subsequent designs.

Francois before jumping.

He believed that the problem was that he needed a higher test platform and so repeatedly petitioned the police for permission to conduct a test from the Eiffel Tower. He finally received permission in early 1912, but when he arrived at the tower on February 4 it was clear that he intended to jump personally rather than using dummies. Despite attempts by his friends and spectators to dissuade him, he jumped from the first platform of the tower wearing his invention. The parachute failed to open and he crashed into the icy ground at the foot of the tower.  I have video.

Walk across the Seine on the Pont d'Iena to the Jardins du Trocadero. Feel free to stop at carousels on either side of the bridge. Years ago, we found a hand-operated "manege" in a glade of trees in the Champ du Mars, that has since disappeared.

At the top of the stairs is the Palais Chaillot, with one wing being the Museum of Man and the other the Museum of French Architecture. The vast central plaza between them is called Parvis des droits de l'homme. There is supposed to be a sculpture by Ossip Zadkine here of Alfred Jarry. Maybe you can find it?

view from the Eiffel Tower

Across avenue President Wilson to the left is the Cimetière de Passy. Here you might find the final resting places of artists like Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot, or musicians like Claude Debussy.  But few have such a plush set-up as that of painter and sculptor Marie Bashkirtseff.

 

From here, turn left and make your way East along President Wilson to the Palais de Tokyo. This building, like the Palais Chaillot, was constructed for the International Exposition of Art and Technology in 1937, for exhibitions of Modern Art. Today this is the Paris Museum of Modern Art, but before we go in, I have to tell you about the 1937 Exposition. I can't believe I'm going to even try this, so I hope you are ready.

View from Palais Chaillot.

The full name was: Le Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life) and was Paris’ sixth and latest international exposition.

In spite of the lingering world-wide depression and unsettling developments in Germany, many countries were induced to create elaborate pavilions which filled the Champ du Mars, surrounded the Eiffel Tower, were in and around the River Seine, and then crossed the bridge connecting the new Palais de Chaillot and Palais de Tokyo. And don't forget, Art was to be featured!

France set the tone by assigning Robert Delaunay to design and decorate the aerospace pavilion. He had, of course, wife Sonja to lend a hand.

Notice how the 3D elements reflect Robert's 2D paintings.

Fernand Léger contributed Le transport des forces (The Transfer of Forces) to Le Corbusier's Palace of Discovery.

Le transport des forces by Fernande Legér

Raoul Dufy's 6458 square foot mural La Fée Electricité (The Spirit of Electricity), showcasing the history of electricity was installed on the curved entrance to the Pavillon de la Lumière et de l'Électricité (Pavilion of Light and Electricity). There are portraits of 110 scientists and inventors who made electricity happen. There was, however, as one writer pointed out, only one female amid the many. And that was Marie Curie, painted with her back to the viewer.

Spain was in the midst of a civil war, but the Republican government could not let go of the opportunity to attract international support by assembling modern works by sympathetic artists that expressed powerful and overt political outrage. Here is Joan Miró working on his anti-war mural, The Reaper. 

Joan

Alexander Calder was a friend to many Spanish artists and contributed Mercury Fountain, in the foreground.

Painted in twenty-four days, Picasso's Guernica's palette reflects how Picasso and the rest of the world learned of the Nazis' devastating saturation bombing foray: via newspaper photos and newsreels.

Actual devastation

But Germany and the Soviet Union came out with guns blazing.  They had their greatest architects create the most impressive, nay, repressive monumental structures across the promenade from one another. Both filled with propaganda.  Talk about foreshadowing!

Here is a video I found:

Now back to the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. The good stuff is inside, though I might point out that the door handles were design by Alfred Janniot, who also did the bronze friezes on Rockefeller Center's wall, overlooking Fifth Avenue. Before going inside, I want you to keep in mind that this is just the City museum of Modern Art. The National Museum has yet to come!

There are more than 10,000 works in the permanent collection including Fauvist paintings, Cubist pieces, and works by members of the École de Paris. I will not attempt to recount all the names of the artists represented there, but we especially like the works by Sonia Delaunay. And that mural Raoul Duffy did for the Exposition has been reinstalled here. Spectacular. There are also special shows going on, so check your listings.

Flamenco singers by Sonja Delaunay, 1915-16

 Air fer et eau étude by Robert Delaunay, 1937

Turn right from the museum on avenue du President Wilson for about 1,400 feet.  We will go more-or-less across the next big intersection, entering avenue Montaigne on the other side.  Now we are only 400 feet from the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.  One of the legendary riots in music history took place here on May 29, 1913, when Serge Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes presented the world première of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.

According to some, blows were exchanged, objects were thrown at the stage, and at least one person was challenged to a duel.  One account has it that about forty people were arrested, suggesting large numbers of police.  I would rather not go into all the details here, but rest assured, it was not the "riot" the stories say.  And there probably wasn't the police presence some reported.  Things were certainly thrown.  But who threw them, exactly?

Njinsky

Lydia Sokolova was one of the dancers on the stage that night, and she said the audience came prepared.

They had got themselves all ready. They didn't even let the music be played for the overture. As soon as it was known that the conductor was there, the uproar began.

Some were there, apparently, to be outraged.  But for all the horror, the performance continued to the end, and most accounts seem to agree that there was an ovation at the end.

The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées had opened less than two months before this all took place.  Designed by Auguste Perret for Gabriel Astruc.  Perret was an international leader in designing reinforced-concrete structures.  Antoine Bourdelle was selected to do the exterior bas reliefs, around the center of the dome was painted by Maurice Denis, interior paintings by Édouard Vuillard and Jacqueline Marval, and a stage curtain by Ker-Xavier Roussel, of the Nabis. 

In addition to the Ballets Russes, it was home for Les Ballets Suédois.

A few years later, the poet Blaise Cendrars had an idea for Rolf de Maré's dance company, and asked Francis Picabia to do the sets.  But Blaise was leaving for Brazil, and when Rolf got back to Paris and looked at what Blaise had written, he, Francis, and Erik Satie didn't like Blaise's ideas very much, so they let Francis do it instead.  The result was Relâche, a collaborative two-act 'ballet instantaneiste.'  An odd name, Relâche, is what a theater posts if a show has been cancelled.

On the evening of November 27, 1924, a large audience, including many artists such as André Breton and Fernand Léger, arrived at the Théâtre des Champs Élysées for opening night. You can imagine their dismay when they found the doors closed with a large sign bearing the word, “Relâche” plastered across them.  You would have had to forgive the theater-goers for being skeptical, but with many known Dadaists involved with the production, they pounded on the door until it was revealed that the performance was indeed cancelled because the choreographer and lead dancer, Jean Börlin, was ill.  Or was it all a publicity stunt? 

                                          Rolfe,        Jean                                                                       and  Francis

When the show finally opened, it began with a short film showing Francis and Erik jumping up and down with an old cannon.  This led to the ballet/not-ballet, since the dancers danced only when the music was silent.  Here is how Francis described it in a letter to Erik:

People will feel a sensation of newness of pleasure, the sensations of forgetting that one has to think and know in order to like something.

Erik thought it was obscene or pornographic.  Relâche also brought together some of the most intriguing and adventurous artists of its time.  No details here, though I suspect words could never do it justice, but Erik's music, Francis' sets, with choreography and performance by Jean Börlin were staggering.  There were also cameos by Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp. This was, sadly, to be Erik's final work.  Here is opening René Clair video:

And this is the ballet segment:

Part of Picabia's vision included a film to be played during intermission.  Rolf engaged the famous director René Clair to shoot Entr'acte, which featured several locations around Paris.  Here, see it for yourself:

When rehearsals began, Francis and Germaine Everling moved into the Hotel Istria, down in Montparnasse.  At first, I wondered why stay in a hotel so far away?  The answer lay in the obvious:  It was cheaper.  Then, why the Istria?  And I think that answer is because it is near a Métro stop on the No. 1, which goes straight to the theater.  Next door to them, were Man Ray and Kiki.  Marcel, Erik, and others took rooms there as well.  As Germaine described it:

Intellectuals of all caliber had created a heterogeneous - and often incestuous - family.  The days before the rehearsals were full of excitement.  All the women made new clothes for the evening.  They could be seen nude, bent over on the carpets in their rooms cutting out the clothes.  There were rehearsals every afternoon and all of Paris was fighting over tickets.

There was a packed house and the walls were posted with signs that read “If you’re not satisfied, go to hell!” and “Whistles are for sale at the door,” all the better to heckle the performers.  Relâche was, of course, despised by the critics, and only ran a dozen times.

The artists' models Bronia and Tylia were invited by Francis to come to a show before the run was over.  After the performanc, Bronia was introduced to René Clair.  When Rolfe asked Francis to come up with something special for a New Year's Eve gala at the Boeuf sur le Toit, Francis asked Bronia to join the cast.

Francis' vision for this event was Ciné Sketch, a sexy farce starring Man Ray as the Blabbermouth, Marcel as the Naked Man, and Jean Börlin as the Constable.  There were dances with music by Satie, and the latest jazz band from New York.

Bronia agreed to join Marcel for a living tableau of Lucas Cranach’s Adam and Eve.  While both were nude, Marcel had a strategically placed fig leaf.  Man Ray took the picture.

Marcel and Bronia

Apparently, Rolf was still on the hook for the theater, so when the Relâche people moved out, the Revue Nègre and their star Josephine Baker filled their rooms at the Hotel Istria as well as the stage at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.

After the show, René Clair and Bronia fell in love, got married, had a son, Jean-François, and stayed married.  Erik Satie died six months after the party from cirrhosis of the liver.  His last words were "Ah, the cows…"

Erik

Walk back on avenue Montaigne a little bit, then take a left on place de la Reine Astrid, then the 2nd left onto Cours Albert 1st/Cours La Reine to avenue Winston Churchill, then turn left and look for entrances.

 

Le Grand Palais was completed in time for the 1900 Exposition and has hosted a wide variety of events since. Just look at this room!

The paintings that Henri Matisse submitted for the exhibition were rejected, but he did get a job as a laborer painting garlands on a mile-long interior frieze for one franc an hour.  After two weeks of nine hour days, he was fired for insubordination.

 And downstairs there are huge rooms for special exhibitions. The last time here, we saw a spectacular Niki de Saint Phalle show.

Niki waving her paintbrush from the ladder.

For those of you not familiar with Niki let me give you a little info.  Not your everyday artist, Niki was born in France, then raised in the U.S. and her story is long and complex.  But much of her Art is a lot of fun.  You really must check her out.

Niki

A critic has observed that Niki's "insistence on exuberance, emotion and sensuality, her pursuit of the figurative and her bold use of color have not endeared her to everyone in a minimalist age."

Niki on Life.

 She is well-known in Europe, but her work was little-seen in the U.S.  Another critic said:

The French-born, American-raised artist is one of the most significant female and feminist artists of the 20th century, and one of the few to receive recognition in the male-dominated art world during her lifetime.

Jean Tingley (husband) and Niki

Across the street is the Petit Palais, which was built at the same time. One of Paris' entirely free, city-run museums, this one often gets overlooked by tourists who simply haven't heard about it. Yet for those who love Impressionism, it's an important stop. The modest but noteworthy permanent collection of works by the likes of Delacroix, Ingres, Cézanne, Courbet, Sisley, Monet and Pissarro is definitely worth the time spent.

Petit Palais

Turn right out the front doors and head for the Champs-Élysées, turn left. It is 2,000 feet to le Arc d' Triomphe, enjoy, it's all Art!

L'Arc, once you get there, was ordered by Napoleon in 1803, but not realized until 1836. There were just five streets radiating from the center originally, but Haussmann added seven more to make it the place d'Étoile - of the Star.

Continue up the Champs Elysee/avenue de la Grande-Armée to the Place de la Porte de Maillot. Go around to about ten o'clock and turn left onto Route de la Porte des Sablons à la Porte Maillot/N185. Follow this into the Bois de Boulogne.

Established by Haussmann as part of his Parisian Makeover, this old forest was best known for royal hunting in the old days. In the southern sector are the racetracks Longchamps, the scene of many Degas paintings, as well as the richest horserace in Europe, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, and Auteuil, home of championship steeplechase racing.

The Football Players by Henri Rousseau, 1908

Race Horses at Longchamp by Edgar Degas, 1874

It is another ten-minute walk-through-the-park to the Fondation Louis Vuitton, designed by Frank Gehry and opened in 2014. We were there soon after it opened and saw lots of Giacometti sculptures and installations by Olafur Eliasson, but the star was the building. In a country renowned for its bureaucracy, this private museum appeared in the public park without a sound.  Of course, chairman Bernard Arnault, is the richest man in the country.

When you are finished, go back on avenue Mahatma Gandhi and when you get to the circle, bear left and take the boulevard des Sablons to the avenue Charles DeGaulle. Look for the Métro station. Go downstairs and take the #1 Métro to La Défense.

La Défense looms over Paris from a distance. If you had on green-tinted glasses, it might even look like the Emerald City. It was named after the sculpture, La Défense de Paris by Louis-Ernest Barrias, in memory of those who defended the city during the Franco-Prussian War. They would have called it 'Urban Renewal' in the US, as they began leveling factories, neighborhoods, even farms in the 1950s, to have a place to build skyscrapers for business. Brilliant, really seeing how compactly the center of Paris was built. We'll talk more about La Défense after we get there.

You see, two thirds of the territory of La Défense is located within what was the Paris suburb of Puteaux. That, of course, means most of old Puteaux is now gone. Among those buildings were the studios of the Duchamp brothers and the beginnings of the Puteaux Group. But let me start a little while back.

The Duchamps came to Paris from Normandy, around Rouen, not the coast. It was a lively household, I understand. The father was a successful lawyer who was eventually elected mayor, while the siblings enjoyed lively artistic discussions with their maternal grandfather, a painter and engraver. Together, the family liked to play chess, read, paint and make music. And as much as he wished his sons to follow in his path, if not in law, at least in medicine, the father did not force the issue when his plans went awry.

Gaston/Jacques

In January of 1894 Gaston (born in 1875) and Raymond (1876) were sent to Paris to study law and medicine. Gaston soon decided he did not wish to pursue law and so, in 1895, he changed his name to Jacques Villon and began contributing cartoons and illustrations to Parisian newspapers as well as drawing color posters. His work appeared in the satirical weekly Le Courrier français and L'Assiette au Beurre.

Raymond, likewise, took up sculpture after being forced to quit his medical studies due to rheumatic fever. He added “Villon” to his name in 1900 and had his first show just two years later. The next year, on September 9, 1903, he married Yvonne Reverchon-Bon (c. 1880). Many books refer to Yvonne as Marcel's sister, but it was his sister-in-law, whom he painted.

The Little Merry-Go-Round on Caulaincourt Street by Jacques Villon, 1905

Jacques, meanwhile, knew many artists and helped organize the drawing section of the very first Salon d'Automne in 1903. Then young Marcel (he was 12 years his junior) came to live with Jacques at 65 or 71 rue Coulaincourt in Montmartre, and study art at the Académie Julian. Jacques and Marcel actually went together.

Marcel looks like Alfred.

In 1905, after failing the entrance exam for the École des Beaux-Arts, Marcel was conscripted into military service. He opted for an Art trade training program in Rouen as a way to defer his obligation (in fact, his status was never cleared up), so he had to leave Paris.

Montmartre was a bustling community by 1906 so Jacques decided to move to the quiet suburb of Puteaux where he would have more room to experiment with his printing techniques.

There he was re-joined by Raymond, setting up in an adjacent building at 7 rue Lemaitre. Marcel soon returned from Rouen and took lodgings in nearby Neuilly. A feature of the brothers' years in Puteaux became their Sunday meetings which took place typically in Raymond's studio, or in the garden.

Jacques, Raymond, and Marcel

Among the painters attracted to these occasions were the famous Salon Cubists: Albert Gleizes, Henri le Fauconnier, Robert Delaunay, Fernand Léger, and Jean Metzinger. Later painters included Marie Laurencin, Roger de la Fresnaye and Francis Picabia, plus poets Apollinaire and Maurice Raynal. Discussion and debate covered a myriad of topics including Cubism. At first, they called themselves the Puteaux Group, though they also met at the Gleizes’ studio in Courbevoie.

Albert

Following the 1911 Salon des Independents, they were augmented by many of the cubists who showed there: Alexander Archipenko, Joseph Csaky, František Kupka, Juan Gris and Jean Marchand, and others were known as la Section d'Or (the Golden Section). The name was influenced by Jacques' interests in Pythagorean theorems and the writings of Leonard da Vinci.

Suzanne

The Duchamp sisters were also involved. Suzanne, the eldest, developed as an artist in her own right, later establishing herself as a leading Dadaist, like Marcel, and marrying the painter Jean Crotti. Raymond's wife Yvonne and Suzanne served as models for their brothers. Later the youngest, Madeleine, also came to Paris and modeled.

We'll talk more about the Duchamps and la Section d'Or later. We should have arrived at la Défense. Before we leave the station, I want to tell you a little about the sculpture of la Défense. Right from the start, in 1958, President Francois Mitterrand sought to inject Art into the lives of Parisians. While there are examples of the result all over the city, the concentration of Art here is remarkable. There are at least 70 monumental sculptures spread around this complex.

END OF PART THREE

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