An Early Spring Recap 4-09-15

***Went to a huge, high-end antique show down at the Carrousel du Louvre. Just fun to see the nice quality things for sale. It was intended to tap a younger, poorer market than the gargantuan Bicentennial des Antiquares, and so offered that it had “many nice items for as low as 1000 euros.” We didn’t see many of those, but quite a few nice little Dutch paintings in the 5” by 7” range for only 100,000 euros. I loved a booth from a framer (Galerie Montanari). Remarkable gilt frames grouped by the period, Louis IV, V, VI, etc. If you drop 100k on a nifty little painting, you do want the right frame…

 

***About Easter egg hunts, there's an interesting variation here. Bunches of the municipalities sponsor hunts in the parks, because so few people have gardens or yards in the urban areas. The Easter Bunny (actually, I think it may be the Easter Chicken, but I'm not sure) will put groups of candy eggs in the hiding spots. I watched little hunters find the stashes, and then each child carefully took only one egg and put it in their basket. The only exceptions were older children who sometimes took a second egg to give to a clueless younger sibling (quite a few itty-bitties, standing around holding baskets and looking confused). Lots of scrambling and squeals of delight and running around and a generally good time had by all.

 

***Warren helped an elderly lady with her shopping cart coming from the market at Place des Fetes the other day, and she fell into conversation with me as we waited for the bus. She spoke in her bird-like, gracious French of being 87 in May “by the grace of God” and we chatted a bit about the flowers and little bush she had bought (that is, she chatted and I stammered.) She noticed the bag I was carrying from the butchers, and commented sagely “Ah, he’s the best butcher in the market, the best, but very dear (expensive.) His grandfather was just the same…” I said I would just try to buy a bit less. She nodded and said something like “Absolutely, buy the best but buy less. I WILL NOT die in debt. Absolutely not.” She departed then, calling Warren an angel for helping her.

 

***We’re trying to get some music in our schedule. We have tickets for a concert at the nearby new Philharmonic Hall in May. We went yesterday to the Pierre Boulez exhibit at the Musee de la Musique I’m afraid it was almost totally lost on me except for the Kandinsky, Klee, Mondrian, etc. paintings. Boulez’ compositions are way too advanced for me. I still seem to need some melody or rhythm, techniques he has moved beyond since 1945. But a couple of days ago we attended a concert of the City of Birmingham (England) Choir at the Madeleine, accompanied by the church’s celebrated organ. The choir’s lovely voices singing Vaughn Williams’ mass in that soaring space just brought tears to a person’s eyes. Even an agnostic like me.

 

***We have been interested in the architect Gehry’s work since I saw it in California years ago, and we visited Bilboa during our Madrid time. Our friends the Baldwins stayed in a hotel he designed in Spain and loved it. So we were anxious to see his new creation in the Bois de Boulogne.  I was totally dazzled by the Louis Vuitton Foundation. I sat up on the high terrace and just let myself be mesmerized by the craftsmanship of the building. All the neat decorative wood and steel and glass features Gehry put into this exuberant structure. It strikes me that it’s a cathedral for the 21^st century, showing joy and pride in workmanship. Struck me that, like the DAM in Denver, exhibition spaces were a fairly secondary concern. Getting to one drove me to a fit of querulous irritation when we nearly succumbed to “can’t get there from here” syndrome, after 3 tries from different portals. The effort was worth it, though, to see a temporary exhibit, with its Picassos, Matisses, Monets, etc., on and on. But still, I think the building was the star of the visit.

 

*** One last thing about the Gehry: he did a water feature, a fountain or basin of water flowing down a long, wide series of steps, all done in a dark tile. The idea was to give the impression of waves propelling the “ship” that is the building. The truly nifty thing to me, though, is that he made the water flow in a constantly changing pattern, falling off each step. The cascading waves break in a different symmetry with each fall. I can’t figure out how he did it, and haven’t found any mention of the technology. The fountain is alive with its variations. I sat for a long time, watching it.