The Road Goes Ever On

Monday, October 11, 2021

Canal Saint Martin

After the weekend's museum and other excitement, we rested Monday with a stroll over to the Place de la Republique and then up the Canal Saint Martin, over to the Gare de l'Est, and then back through the northern extension of Rue Saint-Denis. Our daily 10K.

Among the theaters in the Grands Boulevards area; we don't
think Paris has a Theatreland like London, but there must be a
dozen or more in the vicinity

Among the pedestrian bridges over Saint Martin's Canal (we'd
done some of the walk before)

At the Gare de l'Est

Perhaps Paris' greatest danger is being
run over by bicyclistes

Rue de Fauborg Saint-Denis; a few blocks north
of our apartment; the Porte Saint-Denis in the
background

A private alley off the street

Squid Game In Paris!

Returning from our museum excursions on Saturday and Sunday, we were surprised to find huge lines of young personnes wrapped around three sides of the block outside our building...

By Sunday the police arrived to clear the streets

It was Netlix's "Squid Game," in Paris for the weekend

I remain blissfully ignorant of what this is all
about, except that it is Netflx' greatest hit ever,
so far; but you can find out more here if you wish

By Monday morning, the streets were empty and the Kick Cafe

was returning to normal, and you'd never know what a fuss

there had been on the weekend

Pompidou: Georges Roualt

We are not big fans of contemporary art, and we had just visited the Pompidou in 2019, but when we heard it was holding a special exhibition on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Georges Roualt's birth, we had to go. Roualt is special for us because of a self-portrait he did in his younger years, a poster of which has been in the family from before the time we were married in 1968. It is something Vicki acquired because it somehow reminded her of me, then. The Pompidou has most of the Roualts in the world, but every time we've visited in the past 20 years, the painting in question has been elsewhere or in storage. But this time, for the 150th anniversary exhibition, it was out, front and center.

Standing in the first Sunday line

Thus

Notre Dame in repair; they hope to have it ready for visitors in
2024, if not completely finished

One view from the terrace of the Pompidou: the Bourse Commerce,
La Defense, Les Halles, Saint-Eustache...

Montmartre

It's a self-portrait that goes by several names,
Head of a Young Man, The Apprentice Worker

We knew little about Roualt before this exhibit...largely, his
style, which reminds some, with the heavy black lines, of stained
glass; in fact he worked in glass before becoming a painter;
above, Exodux, April, 1945, one of several concerning refugees
following the world wars

He was a highly moralist artist, focusing on social injustice,
war, the status of women; these are a few of his Miserere series:
scores of engravings, accompanied by short narratives by the
artist, all depicting the sufferings incurred throughout society in
WWI

Passion, 1929-45; the Passion

The horrors of WWI drove Roualt to many anti-
war works; this is his sole response to WWII, the
quote from Hobbes, "man is a wolf to man"

Girls and Factory, 1931

The Wounded Clown, 1932; a metaphor
for humanity

The Sainte Face, 1933

Pleased with our success, but moving right along...Frantisek
Kupka, Plans par Couleurs, 1910-1911; described as a
"post-Cubist fantasy," "a milestone on the road to abstraction,"
also something I really liked

Wilhelm Wagenfeld, Art de la Table Kubus, 1938; these are glass
storage containers for the fridge; Vicki astutely notes the 17 piece
set lacked two lids, clearly the sign that they were done by a male
designer who had never consulted with anyone who had actually
used a refrigerator; anyhow, when you're next at the flea market or
Goodwill, be on the look-out for these, as they're valuable enough
to be in one of the world's great museums...

Obligatory Jack the Dripper; possibly upside-
down or side-ways; Number 26A, Black and
White, 1948

Vuja de: Yves Klein, IKB 3 Monochrome Bleu,
1960; last seen at the Tate Modern

Cy Twombley's immortal Thermopylae,
1992; at this, we left, having had well
enough of "modern" art; but grateful for
the opportunity to see our Roualt

Sunday, October 10, 2021

Orangerie

The Orangerie, down-river a bit from the Louvre, is a three-fer: you get your two huge rooms of Monet water lilies, an always interesting/amusing special exhibition (Soutine/de Kooning), and best, for us, several rooms of Impressionists, post-Impressionists, and especially our favorite, Renoir.