Rouen

One of my trips this spring was to Rouen, capital of Upper Normandy, a city since Roman times.  Joan of Arc died here, King Richard the Lionhearted is buried here, French novelist Gustave Flaubert of Madame Bovary fame lived here and Monet endlessly painted the cathedral from a perch in the building across the road.

Clock Tower

Rouen Street

Joan of Arc
Rouen Cathedral

Rouen Cathedral

One of the joys of walking in the old city is the number of beautiful 15th-18th century half-timbered buildings one finds.  Another is the size of the pedestrian zone, which makes gawking highly feasible.  There is also a lovely clock tower in a medieval gate (now no longer on the edge of town) and a terrific market building.  The cathedral is a beautiful example of French Gothic style, built starting in 1200 after a fire destroyed much of a previous church building.   It is still suffering from an allied bombardment in April 1944.   The exterior is so well known it seems silly to give you one of my inadequate photos of the facade, but the interior contains some wonderful items, including the lovely staircase on the right, a charming modern statue of Joan of Arc (left), and this beautiful altar in one of the side chapels.  I think the angels are simply stunning and done with such delicacy.  This isn't really old work, but it demonstrates that the old artistry has not been lost to time.                                              

Side Altar, Rouen Cathedral

Faience Coffre

Faience Tray 

Faience Globe
of the Heavens

I spent a quiet afternoon in the Ceramics Museum which has a collection of 16th to 18th century faience pieces from this region.  Along with Quimper in Normandy, Rouen was an early center for making this pottery in the 14th-16th centuries.  Faience is a technique for glazing and firing clay at much higher temperatures than pottery by adding tin to the glaze.  Faience is, thus, more durable than pottery but less so than porcelain.  The pieces were amazing and here are a few.
                                                                                                                           

Church of St. Joan of Arc
Stained Glass Windows

Statue of Joan of Arc

Finally, I should note the new and very modern church dedicated to Joan of Arc in Rouen's Market Square.  This stained glass window gives a sense of the architectural design of the 1970's church (formed like an upturned boat) and the statue of Joan is a beautiful modern interpretation of the Maid of Orleans, the flames holding votive candles.   Burned at the stake in the Market Square in 1431, she continues to capture our imaginations nearly 600 years later.

A (Wo)man About Town

"The English: At Last Masters of Their Own Country"

Before I begin my usual notes about life in France, a brief political comment:

For the last month, I've watched with fascination the political melt-down of somebody else's country.  Everyone is preoccupied with Brexit, it seems.  It's a nice relief from what is going on in the U.S.  As usual, Charlie Hebdo captured the view of many on this side of the Channel in its typically irreverent way.  Lots more to come on this front, I'm sure.

Moving in, Paris style

 


In spite of the preoccupations of a political junkie, I'm still walking the streets of Paris, observing and enjoying.  Have you ever wondered how people get furniture up those tight circular stairs or in one of the one-person elevators?  The simple answer -- they don't!  They open the windows instead and a small truck with a hydraulic platform thrusts their goods upward or brings them back down again.

One of my walking tours this spring was in what is now called the "Haut Marais" --  a nice name for the northern part of the Marais district or the northeast corner of the 3rd arrondissement.  Long ignored by aficionados of the rue des Rosiers and the rue des Francs Bourgeois,  this is a cluster of streets around one of the city's covered markets, the Marché des Enfants Rouges, named for an orphanage whose inhabitants wore red uniforms.   It's become another foodie mecca.  Among the shops not to miss:  J. Barthouil, 41, rue Charlot, which specializes in smoked salmon and related preparations; Thiercelin, 3 rue Charles-François Dupuis, a gourmet grocery store with all sorts of treasures, especially spices; Jacques Genin, 133 rue de Turenne (also at 27 rue de Varenne in the 7th), a premier chocolate emporium (note: you can have hot chocolate at the store on rue de Turenne -- it's a stunning place); and Bibovino, 35 rue Charlot in the Marché des Enfants Rouges, an organic winery that sells its wine only in boxes (better for the environment).   I think the name should be Bobovino after David Brooks' Bobos in Paradise.  Bohemian and bourgeois about sums up this part of Paris.

Montmartre Windmill

A charming corner corner café
in Montmartre

Another walking tour took me to Montmartre where I learned something I had never known before.   I knew the hill of Montmartre was once dotted with windmills -- it was this history that gave the Moulin Rouge (Red Windmill) nightclub its name.  A few are still preserved for history's sake.  I had always assumed that the windmills ground wheat from the plains of Saint Denis, which are just to the north of Montmartre beyond the city limits.  Yes, some wheat was ground there, but what the windmills really ground was gypsum.  Montmartre is a giant hill of gypsum, the mining of which eventually had to be stopped to keep the hill from collapsing on itself.  And what is gypsum used for?  Plaster -- hence the name "plaster of Paris".  What a hoot!  I really find Montmartre one of the city's more interesting districts.  If you are put off by the mobs around Sacre Coeur, just skirt the church and head into the streets and staircases to the west.  There is much to delight the mind and eye, including studios where Picasso and others painted.

A Rare Medieval Structure
in Paris

Section of Medieval Wall of Paris

"Arrested by the Vichy police...more than 11,000 children
were deported from France between 1942 and 1944...
because they were Jews."

When my cousins Tom and Susanne Cambern came to visit, we spent a day out and about.  We toured the part of the 4th arrondissement south of the rue Saint Antoine and the Place des Vosges, my favorite square in Paris.  We learned a lot about this section of the city.  When the king moved the palace off the Île de la Cité to the Louvre, a new city wall had to be constructed and many noble families and wealthy prelates built their mansions just outside the wall in this area of Paris.  This is also the home of the Memorial de la Shoah, 17 Rue Geoffroy l'Asnier, the museum dedicated to telling the story of the deportation of Jews from Paris during the Second World War.  We didn't have time to go in but I want to get back there, especially having just read a wonderful history of the period When Paris Went Dark by Ronald Rosbottom (I highly recommend it).  Paris is owning this part of its past more fully now and one often sees signs, such as the one on the left, usually on school buildings, indicating how many children were deported.

Hôtel de Lauzon

Hotel de Lauzon Interior

Our other visit on this memorable day was to the Hôtel de Lauzon on the Île Saint-Louis, a beautiful 17th century mansion.   The island was used in the Middle Ages for grazing of cattle, but one cash-strapped king or another decided to sell lots to courtiers and the nouveau riche.  One of the latter built this mansion, which is at 7 Quai d'Anjou.  It is now owned by the city of Paris but generally not open to the public.  We were lucky to be able to see the inside, which is beautifully ornate and covered in gold.

Lurçat Tapestry

There have been several wonderful opportunities this spring for opera and ballet.  I've been to an opera concert -- given free each year by the Paris Opera --  and to two performances of the New York City Ballet at the Théâtre du Châtelet.  It is a company in a class by itself.

The Musee d'Orsay also hosted a wonderful exhibit of paintings by the primitivist Henri Rousseau, which I managed to see in the company of one of my conversation exchange partners just before it closed.  Last weekend another of my conversation partners took me to an exhibit of twentieth century tapestries by a designer and artist named Jean Lurçat at the Gobelins facility.  Extraordinary!

Things are winding down now as the August vacation period looms, but there will be more to see and do in September.

July 14 -- Bastille Day

Yesterday was a joyous day in Paris -- the French 4th of July.  There was the usual military parade down the Champs Elysée with an Air Force flyover.  There were fighter jets and their tankers, a giant AWACS plane (Go, Boeing!), a big transport plane and many older prop planes including, I think, a B52.  Lots of red, white and blue smoke too.  I watched the flyover from the Louvre rather than stand with the mob on the Champs Elysée.  Last night was the equivalent of the concert and fireworks on the Mall in Washington, D.C.    France's version takes place on the Champs de Mars, where the Francs were reputed to have finally defeated the Romans.  The concert, which was fabulous, was followed by a fireworks display.  Hard to imagine how they could pack that many explosives on the structure of the Eiffel Tower without blowing it up in the process.  There's quite a good view from the Pont des Arts just a few blocks from my apartment, but in the end I just watched on the TV since the pyrotechnics didn't begin until 11:00 pm.

I woke up this morning, as you will, to discover that there was what appears to be another lone wolf terrorist attack in Nice.  A man in a truck drove along the waterfront mowing down the thousands of people gathered there to watch the fireworks just as the show was ending.  He was finally shot by police but not before killing more than 80 people, including at least two Americans, and wounding many others.

This is such a sad turn of events and I mourn for all the families of victims and for France.  But, be assured that I am safe.  I avoid large crowds and pay attention to what is going on around me.  But like the French, I am determined not to let this sickness change who I am in the world.

More later...

An Excellent Adventure

When friends in Seattle asked if I would be interested in joining them on a canal barge cruise in Burgundy this spring, I jumped at the chance.  Susan Hall readily agreed to join me and so we were a congenial bunch of Seattle friends -- Ed and Pat Wagner, Mimi Stanley and Peter Young, Susan and me.  We were on L'Art de Vivre, a barge that was built a hundred years ago and first used to carry ammunition to French troops in World War I.  It was eventually turned into a passenger barge and was a lovely home for a week.

                                                                       
The Nivernais Canal runs between the Loire and Seine rivers in western Burgundy.  Because of the flooding, we were unable to complete our original itinerary between Auxerre and Chevroches.  The river had simply overrun the canal, so we cruised a more rural section instead, between Baye and Chevroches.  Not many vineyards here.  Instead, we were treated to gently rolling hills covered in green wheat or spotted with Charolais steers and the occasional flock of sheep.  The four-person crew was a polyglot bunch of charming folks.  They added immeasurably to our enjoyment.


It was a hard life:).  After a leisurely breakfast, we went for a walk along the canal, or made an excursion to a nearby town, then back for a three-course lunch (e.g. melon and Bayonne ham followed by roast salmon fillet with chive hollandaise sauce, minted new potatoes, mixed salad and then a Brillat Savarin cheese to finish the meal).   In the afternoons, more of the same, with time for a bridge game or reading (or even a nap), and then a spectacular multi-course dinner.  On one evening our menu featured a goat cheese and red onion tart, followed by pork fillet with peppercorn sauce, dauphinoise potatoes and provencal zucchini, then a selection of three cheeses and a banana souffle with rum raisin ice cream for dessert.  Oh, my!  And, of course, we washed down our meals with outstanding Burgundy wines, usually premier cru.  One afternoon, we even had our own jazz concert on deck.


I particularly loved the scenes along the canal -- for example, the friendly dog who came to see us at one of the locks.  It was such a quiet and peaceful journey.

Dining Room, Bazoches Castle

Our excursions included a visit to Bazoches Castle, the home of Marechal de Vauban, Louis XIV's military engineer.  The rooms were beautifully decorated.  Another day, we visited the Basilica of Sainte Marie Medeleine in Vezelay.  The town is charming and the Basilica most interesting, especially the pediments of the columns that supported the roof, each with its own scene carved in stone.

Pediment, Basilica of Sainte Marie Madeleine, Vezelay

Thank you, Ed and Pat, for organizing this adventure
and also our wonderful crew!

One evening we went to a local restaurant, L'Auberge du Centre in Monceaux le Comte, a charming, family run country inn with the husband in the kitchen and his multi-lingual wife looking after the dining room.  It was an amazing seven course meal with wonderful wines and friendly service.  I ate every bite and left the table feeling not overly full, convinced that some of the best restaurants in France are these out-of-the-way places.  On our final day, we visited Auxerre and the Cathedral of Saint Stephen, window shopping and stopping for a coffee at a cafe near the center of town.

Can you tell?  I had a wonderful time!

Getting Acquainted with Another French Impressionist

Last year in my art history class at Cambridge, I discovered an Impressionist painter that I had never heard of before -- Gustave Caillebotte.   What a revelation!  And what a delight to discover that an exhibition of his works was being displayed at the Musée des Impressionisms at Giverny this spring.  Founded by Daniel Terra in 1992, originally as a museum of the American artists who followed Monet to Giverny, it is now dedicated to art in the Impressionist style, whether French or foreign, modern or historical.  The purpose-built museum is a lovely structure with a pleasant garden just down the street from Monet's home.

Hôtel Baudy, Giverny

Chantal Burns' friend, Barbara Stickler, took me out there and we made a lovely day of it.  A train from Gare Saint-Lazare, then a cab and we found ourselves on the doorstep in time for an early lunch before the worst of the crowds arrived.  We ate at the Hôtel Baudy, a beautiful old inn with a magical garden out back.  

Caillebotte is an interesting figure.  Born eight years after Monet, he came from a well-to-do family and quickly developed an interest in painting.  He was a friend of many of the Impressionists and supported several of them financially, purchasing their canvases or art supplies and on a few occasions even paying the rent.  He financed several of the annual impressionist exhibitions in the late 1870's and early 1880's.  Because of his wealth, he had little need to sell his own paintings so he is seldom seen in museums;  more than 70% of his work remains in the hands of his descendants.  He was passionate about sailboats, loved to race them and was an amateur naval architect, building boats that usually won.  He moved to a country home near Giverny in 1888 and became a dedicated gardener, regularly exchanging letters on the subject with Monet.  He painted his garden frequently and encouraged Monet to do the same.  Tragically, he died in 1894 at the age of 46.

Here's an early painting on the streets of Paris.  Workers are painting a sign on a storefront.  He did another of workers scrapping wooden floors.  Although the Impressionists loved to paint out of doors, few bothered with people actually doing work.  And these subjects guaranteed that Caillebotte's paintings would not be accepted at the annual Salon -- who, after all, would want to see mere workmen in a painting?

I particularly like this one, painted off the coast of Normandy.  Caillebotte's painting is an interesting mix of realism and impressionism, sometimes even in the same work.  Here is a painting that is purely impressionist.  I love the sense of movement.

This photo cannot do justice to this painting.  The way Caillebotte treats the water in the foreground is simply amazing.  The color of the oars not only is nice contrast to the colors of the water and landscape, but also gives you a sense of how hot it is.  And the angles all suggest movement.  

Here are three wonderful landscapes.  

I was also delighted to make the acquaintance this spring of a Hungarian Impressionist painter named Ferenczy.  There was an exhibit of masterpieces from the Budapest Museum of Art on loan to the Musée du Luxembourg while the museum in Budapest is undergoing renovations.  I think the light in this picture of a woman painting in the sunshine is absolutely breathtaking (see below).

Finally, there was another surprise at the Luxembourg:  this little Monet that I had never seen before.

Although not frequently a museum hound at home, I have found some of my most enchanting moments here in France looking at paintings.

                                                                                        

Fashion First and Foremost

18th century

Paris is a city of fashion, perhaps eclipsed by Milan these days, but always a star.  This year, fashion is a special attraction at one of my favorite museums in Paris, the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, which is located just along the rue de Rivoli at the west end of the Louvre.  Like its famous neighbor, Arts Decoratifs is a national treasure -- one that more tourists should get to know.

18th century

At the moment, it is featuring, among other things, an exhibition called "Fashion Forward: 300 Years of Fashion, 1715-2016."   In these months in Paris, with its bounty of museum exhibitions, I've become keenly aware of how important curating and design are to the success of an exhibition.  Is it jumbled together or is there a clear flow and a beautiful presentation?  In this case, the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, in addition to choosing exquisite examples from its vast collection, took the unusual step of turning to Christopher Wheeldon, a British choreographer whose work is often performed at Pacific Northwest Ballet, to do the design.  As a result, the exhibition is breathtaking not only for the elegance, workmanship and beauty of the costumes displayed but also for the stunning way in which they are presented.

Napoleonic era

Louis XIV died in 1715, the year in which this exhibition begins.  Back then, men were as style conscious as women and some of the elegant embroidered velvets worn by courtiers of that era are even more extravagant in their way than the exaggerated styles of their wives and daughters.   Of course, we know what happened by the end of that century of extravagance!

1860's

The Napoleonic style was simpler but no less elegant.  In the middle of the 19th century, styles became wasp-waisted (as they did in the 1950s) and a bit later, the emphasis was on big bustles out back.

1870's - 1880'

There were some spectacular displays of accessories -- gloves and fans for example -- from across the centuries. Note the tiny monkey in a his stylish suit at the bottom right.

Dolls

Wheeldon really came into his own with a display of dolls that was reminiscent of the Busby Berkeley musical extravaganzas of Hollywood in the 1930's.   These, posed on a spiral staircase, put Barbie to shame.

Lanvin Evening Gown

There were some lovely pieces from the twenties and thirties.  I particularly liked this one by Lanvin.  I could just imagine Myrna Loy wearing it in one of the Thin Man movies.

But imagine our surprise when we entered the final room, an enormous space in which there were not one, but two, giant spiral staircases featuring fashions since World War II!

Extravagant Fashion Display

1950's Suit

Among these, I particularly liked this 1950's suit with its slender waist and crinoline skirt and a ball gown with embroidery to die for (see below).  All in all, a wonderful morning!