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December 22 2011
One horse town (hall)!
I'm so behind on my work right now, that I really did not have any minute to horse around today ;-) Except for a short visit to the gym at dawn this morning (yes, people!), I did not go out at all... Therefore I did not have the chance to take my photo du jour. So let me use this one, that I took about a month ago at the Paris Town hall and that I really like. I never posted it because I have no information what's so ever about this stunning sculpture.
November 14 2011
The Messenger
Ossip Zadkine is a French sculptor of Russian origins who died in 1967. There is a museum dedicated to his work at rue d'Assas (in his former home), but there are also several of his sculptures throughout Paris. One of them is called Le Messager (the messenger) and it's located at Quai d'Orsay ; from what I read, it was made after a wooden sculpture that was made for the World exhibition of 1937. As you can see, the weather is still lovely in Paris at the moment...
October 29 2011
Giant artichokes at Invalides
A-ma-zing. As I was coming back from the 15th arrondissement yesterday, I passed by Les Invalides and saw this giant artichokes sculpture (by Patrick Laroche who claims to be fascinated by nature) in the middle of the pavement! Really cool ;-) Turns out it's part of a contemporary art trail organized by the art gallerie 208 and a local association. So it's not the only piece of art you can come across in the 7th arrondissement at the moment ;-) Here is the only online information I could find about this (in French).
September 06 2011
The naked truth!
I actually did not know how to photograph this sculpture initially (a beautiful piece by Daniel Hourdé called "La vérité mise à nue par ses thuriféraires" (don't ask me to translate!), then I found this angle which I find interesting even if you cannot really see the sculpture! Anyway, in the background you probably recognized the Saint-Germain Church. As you can see the rain has returned in Paris...
August 05 2011
Coool sculpture
Look at this cool sculpture! Isn't that a great idea? I found it on the Port de Suffren, by the Eiffel tower. Unfortunately I did not see who made it and could not find the info on the Web. If you know the artist, please let me know. This reminds me of a well-known problem that French mailmen have to face: every year 2 000 of them get - sometimes very seriously - bitten by dogs! BTW, thank you very much for your nice words yesterday. Now I know that your favorite monument in Paris is ! But I had no doubt about that...
July 27 2011
Place Dalida
Yesterday morning I had a business meeting on avenue Junot, probably the most chic avenue in Montmartre - where a lot of famous people lived. On the way out I walked around a little bit and ended up at the Place Dalida, that I had never been able to find before! Dalida was a very famous Italian/Egyptian singer who used to live in France, precisely in Montmartre (listen here to one of her songs). She was also a good friend of the present Paris mayor. BTW, this bust of her was made by Alain Aslan.
June 10 2011
Arts et Métiers Statue of Liberty
Thursday evening I attended an event at the Arts et Métiers museum, a great museum I already mentioned several times here, where they have all these cool inventions on display (the first "car", the first telephones, cameras...) including mock-ups and photographs of the Statue of Liberty (which you probably know, was made by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi in France and given as gift of France to the US on July 4th, 1884. Recently the photographs have been restored, that is why the organized this event that the US Ambassador to France attended. See more photos here.
May 21 2011
Times change
I live in the lower part of the 9th arrondissement, an area where there is almost no green spot, apart from a couple of gardens, like the Square Montholon, in the middle of which there is this interesting sculpture of female workers by Lorieux. It was made in 1908 and shows a tradition that is totally old fashioned. At that time, young girls who would reach the age of 25 and were still single would be given by her friends an extravagant hat and were made "the queen of the day" (read some explanation in English here). Sounds like fun, but I'm not sure it was, really! FYI, nowadays, in France, women get married on average at 29,7 and workers (80% are males) represent about 25% of the population, against 80%, when this sculpture was made.
April 29 2011
Le triomphe de la république
So she said "I do", he did too, and they even kissed in front of the crowd! Now enough British Royalty, let's celebrate the republic, and more particularly, the French one ;-) Here is a close up of a huge monument called "The triumph of the republic" located at Place de la Nation, in the 12th arrondissement, made by sculptor Aimé Jules Dalou, a true republic supporter that lived between 1838 and 1902. As you can see there no more sun in Paris at the moment ;-( Have a great week-end everyone!
April 09 2011
Holy cow!
The Swedish Cultural Center was not my only find at rue Elzévir... I also noticed the workshop of Judith Devaux, an artist who specializes in animal sculptures. Her work (made of bronze, mostly) can (or could, as I think it's over now) be seen in the Mouvance art gallery at Place des Vosges, but I love the way her mock-ups appear though the frosted glass of her workshop. From the number of art pieces on display I guess we can say she's been as busy as a beaver lately ;-) Do check her website for more.
April 04 2011
Délicieuse attirance
I don't remember exactly how, but I recently got invited to an art exhibit on a boat by the Eiffel Tower by these people. I had no idea of what I was going to find there and I was not really sure it would be worth it. And then I really fell in love with the sculptures by Aude de Bessac, two of which you can see in this photo... The one in the foreground is called Délicieuse attirance (delicious attraction) and, well, that is how I felt towards it when I saw it.
February 10 2011
Apple...
Funny how apples are part of the culture for some of us... The Christians believe that things turned ugly after Eve ate the apple, Isaac Newton, who is said to have discovered gravity after an apple fell off the tree he was sleeping against... There is also the Apple cult that manages to get its worshipers to buy just about any product it manufactures ;-) and here in Paris, we now have the Apple of Charles Fourier, a French philosopher (born in 1772) who discovered the unfairness of this world -and wrote about it after he bought an apple in Paris for 100 times the price he would have paid it in his home town! Well Mr Fourier is now honored through this brand new apple sculpture by Franck Scurti that I photographed today at place de Clichy.
December 29 2010
Man and the moon
I found this sculpture in the 10th arrondissement at the beginning of rue du Faubourg Saint Denis, and since I did not really like the surroundings (too busy!), I managed to find a little trick to help you concentrate on them: Cool effect isn't it?! FYI, the man on the left is called "The man who carried the moon" but I don't know what the sculpture of the woman is called (maybe "The woman who carried the Earth"?). Apparently ,the artist who made these sculptures is Turk and his name is Cem Sagbil.
December 06 2010
Splendid!
Like every week I took a little trip to La Défense, the main business district of Paris, and when I went out it was already dark and my eyes got attracted to the Agam Fountain (named after Yaacov Agam) again. With a little bit of the Grande Arche in the background the scene was really stunning. I recommend you enlarge the photo to feel the same I did (without the cold!)
October 17 2010
Youth!
One of the very positive thing about PDP is that it forces me to raise my eyes on things that I would normally pass by without noticing them. That's what happened Saturday on the way back from the Eiffel Tower where I tool the banquet photo. I walked by the Trocadero and noticed the two sculptures located on the lower parts. Very beautiful and very typical of the 30's. Through Google I learned that they were made by Pierre-Marie Poisson (1876 - 1953) and that the one I photographed is called "La jeunesse" (youth). Now my problem was to find an interesting angle for the shot. I chose to concentrate on one part, but, of course, my choice is debatable...
September 19 2010
If only I had a brain...
I had dinner at "Fish", a very good restaurant at 69 rue de Seine in the 6th last evening and when I went out of the restaurant I came across this stunning brain "sculpture" in the window of the Galerie Bailly Contemporain. Very beautiful and very impressive. I simply love it. It is called 13000 volts, and I understand , Cédric Ragot made it. I wish I had a creative brain like his!
September 06 2010
Water games at La Défense
I had a meeting at La Défense today, the main business district of Paris. It's a quarter I really like because of the stunning architecture of the buildings (mostly skyscrapers), because it's a pedestrian area and because you can come across a lot of sculptures and other forms of art. Hence this Agam Fountain (named after Yaacov Agam) made of enamel from Venice. The "cloud" in the background belongs to La Grande Arche, but you probably already recognized it...
August 21 2010
An elephant at Orsay
This sculpture is called "the trapped Elephant" and it was made by Emmanuel Fremiet for the Universal Exhibit of 1878 (it used to be gilded then!). To me it has a special flavor as... before being in front of the Musée d'Orsay like today, it was located at Porte de Saint Cloud, in the 16th arrondissement. I used to pass by it everyday when I was a little boy and would try to climb on it!
August 18 2010
The exercise tower
Here is a pretty interesting sculpture I came across by coincidence in the 17th. It was made by Wang Du, a Chinese artist who has been living in France for 20 years now and who was ordered a monument dedicated to the Paris firemen, by the Paris town hall. It's called the Exercise Tower, and it's located right in front of one of the largest fire stations in Paris, at Place Jules Renard. It weighs 7 tons, it's 11 meters high and it's made of polished iron, just like the firemen helmets. Which makes it pretty difficult to photograph LOL!
April 21 2010
Motherhood
Of course I took this photo because of the lipstick touch that I found pretty funny. But I also think this sculpture is pretty interesting. It's called "L'éducation Maternelle" (Maternal Education, or something like that...) and it was made by Eugène Delaplanche, a French sculptor from the 19th century (this sculpture was made in 1875). If you want to see it for real, it's located very near the Sainte Clotilde church of Tuesday, in a little garden called Square Samuel-Rousseau. BTW, talking about children in Paris, don't forget the book of Sheridan Becker (and 2 other co-authors) that I photographed here if you come with your little ones...
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