The Road Goes Ever On

Le Musée du Louvre: Une dernière fois

As our departure clock was ticking down, we visited the Louvre one more time: Vicki's fifth on this stay in Paris, my third. Hopefully it wasn't really the last. Anyhow, we concentrated on decorative arts this time, and the new Muslim section, which Vicki had not seen before. Then, even we were Louvre'd-out.

Old-time time-pieces for the pocket; for those who didn't trust on the new-fangled
devices

She's domineering, he's sneaking around behind her; they don't see eye-to-eye;
but they both like Margaritas...

Picasso inspiration

Muy famoso...a stained glass window depicting the
achievements of Francois Premier

Not least of which was bringing Leonardo to France (with all the art works he
and Team Leonardo could carry), and starting the tradition that would become
the Louvre Museum; here, Francois is bed-side at Leonardo's death;
manufactured in Sevres

And another, much larger Sevres window, this one depicting the
achievements of the Renaissance, the inventions, discoveries,
and great works, 1450-1550

Jan van Eyck representing the arts; of course it's gratifying to us van Eyck fans
to see him so honored; but he was long dead by 1450, and although his major
innovation, painting in oil, came of age in the Renaisssance, it is hard to think of
him as "Renaissance" or even "northern" Renaissance; in my humble opinion

Moving right along, through vast halls of decorative arts; not very crowded for
a late July Wednesday; everybody else is taking pictures of other people taking
pictures of the Mona Lisa

Nice tapestry of an elephant hunt; elephant hunt?!

Nice serpent serving dish, one of many from the studio of Bernard Palissy,
16th-17th centuries; "garcon!--what's that at the bottom of this dish?!"

Nice center-piece, we thought, but actually it's merely a dish-warming piece;
17th century

Another busy day at the Louvre; note the line to buy tickets

Sunny, in one of his great halls

I think this was in a classic Greek ceramics room; recent ceiling
treatment by the estimable Cy Trombly; I trust the Louvre
director who authorized this abomination was executed by
firing squad; or, preferably, guillotine

And right next door, another abomination, thankfully not by an American

Now in the new and extensive Muslim collection

Roman mosaic from a now-Muslim country

Muslim medieval glass, always interesting

Ceramic tiles, also always of interest, for a few minutes, which is my toleration for
kaleidoscopes

Extremely rare Iranian tile depiction of a poetry contest, 17th century, from the
royal residence in Isfahan; most such depictions, of anything non-kaleidoscopic,
were destroyed in the 19th century

The Winged Victory was being worked on when we were at the Louvre in June,
so we had to stop for a look this time now that she's out again; always impressive,
inspiring, like the great cathedrals and a very few other things

Paris, 1900: La Ville Spectacle, 3

And still more of Paris, 1900...

Bal-Blanc, Joseph-Marius Avr

From the naughty Paris room, Madame Satan, by Mlle George
Achille Fould

Visitors' guide to Montmartre

And the really iconic stuff, Toulouse-Lautrec's
Aristide Bruant

Steinlen's Le Chat Noir, which one sees nearly
as much as the Tour Eiffel

And thus

And Toulouse-Lautrec's Marcelle Lender dansant le bolero dans Chilperic

Never enough Mucha

Various Mucha posters for Sarah Bernhardt

She made him an over-night sensation...and
the rest is art history

Colorized early movies

And the concluding treat...George Melies' The Voyage to the Moon, the first sci-fi
movie, 1905

A fitting end to a stunningly great exhibition

Paris, 1900: La Ville Spectacle, 2

Continuing the Paris, 1900 exhibition at the Petit Palais...

More Mucha...

Still more...more than anywhere we've seen of his Parisian
work

Lalique

Mucha up closer

A Mucha-designed bust; La Nature

Spoon-set, by the exiled Prince Bojidar Karaeorgevitch

Rodin's Amor et Psyche; lots of Rodin, also his hey-day

Rodin's Eve Fairfax, 1905; at this point, obviously, we have
moved beyond the 1900 world fair and to the city that
presented it...

Albert Maignan's striking La Muse verte (the glass of green
absinthe on the table)

One of several Monets of the period

And Renoirs

Renoir's portrait of Berthe Moriset and her
daughter

Paul Troubetzkoy, Mother and Child

And no end of Mucha, here illustrating a magazine cover

Paris, 1900: La Ville Spectacle, 1

The Paris, 1900 exhibition had been going on at the Petit Palais the whole three months we were in Paris, and we saved it for nearly last in order to savor it fittingly. The Belle Epoch was Paris at its most glamorous and famous, and creative, and if you love the place, this exhibit was for you. I took probably 300 photos and am now painfully reducing them to a mere 3 posts--well, there will be some out-takes, too. It was one of the very best special exhibitions we have seen, perhaps the best.

The main poster one sees all around town until (August 17th);
Toulouse-Lautrec would have been proud

Entrance to the exhibit; most of the buildings and structures
associated with the Paris, 1900 world fair are now gone, but
the entrance depicted here is some indication of size of the
thing

Fragment of one of the many items done for the Paris, 1900 world exhibition by
Alfons Mucha, then very much in his hey-day; in the 2014 exhibition, we'll see
more of Mucha than any other artist