Recently Visited Paris Art Expos – Whirlwind Review

I had a couple of days off (no work and kid w/his grandparents) and profited from the occasion to catch up on the Paris Art Expo scene. Here’s what I saw in the order I saw them:

Musée Cernuschi – “Courtisanes, Part 2”: This one was honestly a little disappointing. I already blogged about the Part 1 about two months back. This was just more ukiyo-e to complement what they showed the first time around. Unfortunately, there were no revelations this time around. There was a nice Eichi and a few Utamaro that I had never seen which were worthwhile but I was kind of naïvely hoping for more Hokusai and Hiroshige personally.

Musée de l’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris – “Raoul Dufy: Le Plaisir”: This expo was enormous (as expos in this particular venue tend to be) and very interesting. They cover the career of Dufy chronologically and in depth. Personally, I like the 14th of July paintings from before WWI quite a lot (I remember studying them in h.s. for some reason) and the ones he did when he stayed in the south of France as well – his color palette reduced but the expressiveness and the arabesque curves increased in emotion IMHO. There was a (IMHO sad) propagandistic period during WWI and a fashion/fabric period following the war. What I appreciated the most was the work from after this fashion period up until the “black barge” period. So many beautiful paintings full of color and life. Gertrude Stein was totally correct in her assessment that he knew how to paint “pleasure” in all senses of the word. A must see this season although, sadly, the expo is over soon…

Grand Palais – “Picasso and the Masters”: This is clearly the EVENT of the season in Paris. PACKED like you could not believe. About a 4 hour queue (I am a member so no line for me :)! Once inside, one is struck by the autoportraits in the first room. There is a painting of Picasso’s dad who, being a painter himself, put away his brushes when he saw his son’s work as early as 11 years old! The next room shows some student sketches he did of classical sculpture. Incredible talent. Obviously, he was destined and talented beyond anyone’s imagination. The exposition at this point takes on each of the themes (Color, Portraits, etc) and is no longer chronological. The Masters exhibited are impressive: Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Poussin, Velasquez, El Greco…and although my mother-in-law disagrees, I find that Picasso’s borrowings, inspirations, copies, modifications, etc are fascinating. We see that he borrows a line or pose from one painting, fuses it with the light from another and frames it based on yet another. Or, he can be absolutely captivated by say, La Meninas by Velasquez and make copy/interpretation after copy/interpretation. Equally stunning is the output of Picasso – 15000 oils. That figure does NOT include: drawings, sketches, sculptures, fabrics and other works. It is always amazing to see a genius like this and in this particular setting, fascinating to see some of his sources of inspiration and the product of that insight. Another MUST before it ends. It may be headed for London next, I got that impression anyway…

Petit Palais – “Akira Kurasawa”: I went to the Petit Palais across the street from the Grand Palais hoping to see an expo on “Zen and Japan: The Art of Kyoto” and was crestfallen to learn that it ended mid-December. Sigh. As a consolation prize, I offered myself a quick tour of the Kurasawa expo that succeded it. Most know Kurasawa as the legendary Japanese film director of Ran, The Idiot, Dreams, etc. This expo shows off the watercolors he made, presumably for story-boarding and such. Several films including Ran and Dreams were presented. While interesting, it was not the expo I had some for but I was not completely disappointed. I came away hoping to watch a few more of his films in any case.

Musée de la Légion d’Honneur: I took a walk across the Seine towards Musée d’Orsay. The line was HUGE. Even with my membership card there was a line. So, I mosied across the parvis to the Legion of Honor museum. I was hoping that the building would be of interest (it is not) more than the monotonous collection of medals. Well, also, I recall from The Three Musketeers that Athos (it was Athos wasn’t it) had the unique distinction of having won all three of chivalry’s highest medals: The Order of the Holy Spirit (France), The Order of the Golden Fleece (Spain) and The Order of the Garter (United Kingdom) and I wanted to see what these looked like. The museum basically covers all the various orders and medals starting from the crusades (The Order of the Knights of Malta and The Order of the Holy Sepulcre) and the various European ones aforementioned. It then covers Napolean’s creation of the Legion of Honor. There was a temporary exhibit showing off someone’s collection of medals. I am not really much for jewelry or stones so other than seeing a few Golden Fleeces and one Garter, I was not blown away. Unless you are particularly jazzed with the military and orders of knighthood, and you are looking for one of the only free museums in the city, this particular museum shouldn’t be at the top of your list.

Other ones I hope to see before they end – Musée Jacquemart-André – “Van Dyck”, Bibliotéque National Richelieu – “Estampes Japonaises”, Musée Beaubourg – “Futurism”…so much to see and so little time!

Again – Happy New Year to all!