06.10.07
Posted in Crafts, Paris Life, Yarn Arts at 9:16 am by rachel
How did you celebrate Worldwide Knit in Public Day yesterday? Many areas of Paris held events in a range of formality, but my friend Julie and I decided to celebrate La Journée Mondiale du Tricot at the beautiful and centrally-located Palais Royal. The French yarn company Phildar was giving away free needles and yarn, but we were so overwhelmed by dedicated to our current projects that – gasp – we decided to pass on it.
The Palais Royal is located just across the rue du Rivoli from the Louvre Museum. One of many experiments in making contemporary an old royal site (like the Louvre’s pyramids), the courtyard is covered in black- and white-striped columns of various height designed by the contemporary artist Daniel Buren. The little columns made for lovely perching seats for knitting, although I had to work on my posture to save myself from a backache.
To coordinate with our surroundings, a small group of the organizers made a knit Buren column, which I thought was quite lovely (see photo below). Julie is getting closer to finishing the scarf she’s working on for her trip to Iceland this summer, and I almost finished bootee number 17 million. The sun even made an appearance and everyone was in good spirits: strangers talked to each other, friendly little ladies came up to us talking about how they used to knit socks, too… Restores your faith in humanity, to be honest. Ah, the power of knitting!
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06.08.07
Posted in Cuisine, Paris Life, Travel at 7:58 am by rachel
When it comes to eating a classic French meal in the more touristy areas of Paris, quality food and a pleasant experience are sometimes hard to find. Here are some of the tried-and-true dining establishments we’ve come to love.
3rd arrondissement:
Chez Janou
2, rue Roger Verlomme
01.42.72.28.41 You will need this phone number to reserve a table; this restaurant fills up fast!
Traditional provençale cuisine with an emphasis on fish dishes. Try a pre-dinner “apéro”: a large selection of pastis, the anis-flavored liqueur from Provence. The atmosphere is busy and the walls are covered in vintage posters of films based in Provence (notably screen adaptations of Marcel Pagnol’s popular books).
5th arrondissement:
Café Panis
21, Quai Montebello
Reliable classics like French onion soup and croque monsieur, with a friendly waitstaff. To accompany your lamb or steak-frites, order a bottle of Cotes du Rhone for 12.50. Old Latin-quarter feel with old books filling the walls of bookshelves. Hard to believe such an “authentic” feeling place could be just across the Seine from the tourist center that is Notre Dame Cathedral. I wouldn’t say there are no tourists here, but it doesn’t have the high-stress atmosphere of some other Latin Quarter restaurants a few blocks over on rue de la Huchette.
6th arrondissement:
Le Bistrot d’Henri
16, rue Princesse
01.46.33.51.12
Metro: Mabillon
Traditional French cuisine, from the foie gras entrée (if you dare…) to the crème caramel dessert. Prix-fixe menus under 20 euros.
La Bastide d’Opio
9, rue Guisarde
01.43.29.01.84
Provençale cuisine that may even beat Chez Janou (see above). Fish, chicken, and brochettes (skewers of meat) are delicious here. The daily specials are particularly recommended - classic flavors with creative flair. Don’t forget to order a dry rosé from the Aix-en-Provence area: not sweet, but an oh-so-refreshing complement to the sunny, savory food.
10th arrondissement:
Chez Julien
16, rue du Faubourg Saint Denis
01.47.70.12.06
The Flo chain of restaurants has received some bad press, but I was impressed with my dining experience at Chez Julien. The exquisitely preserved Belle-Époque dining room is quite a marvel, with stained glass peacocks and art déco paintings of muses. My salmon was tasty, as was my île flotante dessert (”floating island,” in the above picture). A friend was disappointed in her crème caramel, which was flavored with a hint of orange. Nonetheless, a friendly and fun dinner.
18th arrondissement:
Le Bruant
rue des Abesses, in Montmartre
Prix fixe menu for 17.50 or 23 euros, depending on how fancy a dish you’d like to order. Bistro classics (steaks and chicken) and live jazz several nights a week.
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06.04.07
Posted in Academic, Art, Paris Life at 11:00 am by rachel
Was Picasso – lover of women, Spaniard expatriate, passionate painter – preoccupied with the figure of the gypsy seductress, Carmen? The Musée Picasso is currently holding an exhibition based on the premise that the character of Carmen, first developed in Prosper Mérimée’s 1845 novel and then interpreted in Georges Bizet’s 1874 opera, was an influential figure in the painter’s oeuvre and imaginary. Alan Riding’s interesting review in the International Herald Tribune promotes this reading of Picasso’s work, imagining a seductive Carmen as motor and muse for his representations of the many women he painted throughout his life. I am not convinced this reading “sticks,” however, once you’ve examined the sources on display.
To be sure, Picasso twice illustrated editions of Carmen – once in the late 1940s and again in 1964 (Le Carmen des Carmen) – and entitled “Carmen” an early drawing of a Spanish woman. A Spaniard and also lover of many women, images of his lovers wearing mantilla veils appear in dozens of drawings and paintings, as does imagery of the corrida. These two themes – seductive women and the bullfight – are indeed the principal components of the Carmen story and so, also, form the bulk of the Picasso works in the exhibition.
But I argue that these themes are simply identifiers of the Spanish culture from which Picasso came and then definitively left behind during the Franco era. The retro-fit operation of placing Carmen behind these works of art doesn’t seem to fit when Carmen really represents an exotic, Spanish caricature that would mean more to an outsider (say, a French author) than to the painter himself.
The Corrida
An avid fan of the corrida, Picasso quite often experienced this tradition of stamina and struggle, honor and sacrifice. It should be no surprise that the bullfight would emerge in so many of his drawings and paintings: Alan Riding has a convincing argument that Picasso used the bullfight in his art as a metaphor for animalistic human passions. Nonetheless, it would hold more strongly that the corrida imagery came from first-hand experience and artistic interpretation than it did from a 19th-century French story the artist read or opera he saw. It is not doubtful Picasso was interested in the corrida theme of the Carmen story, but the interest most likely preceded the story and not the other way around. It made up the cultural imaginary that surrounded him.
The Seductress
Much has been said about Picasso’s personal life. Womanizer to some, serial monogamist to others, he was married twice and had four children with three different women, and had many other companions in between. Françoise Gilot notoriously wrote about their 9-year relationship in often unflattering terms. I am not convinced, however, that this behavior is linked to a “Carmen” that Picasso sought time after time in his serial amorous exploits. The theme of the femme fatale has more far-reaching origins and widespread interpretations than the particular figure of Carmen. Fin-de-siècle and Belle Epoque art and literature is particularly preoccupied with dangerous, hysterical, and eroticized femmes fatales, through figures like the biblical Salomé in the symbolist art of Gustave Moreau, paintings by Gustav Klimt, and literary works by decadent writers like Joris-Karl Huysmans. If in Picasso’s work or life such a figure emerges, it would be more useful to analyze this phenomenon in the broader context of late 19th- and early 20th-century art.
In all, the exhibition did not seem to provide convincing evidence of a “Carmen” figure as the influential force behind the works displayed, but promoted instead a hind-sight look at his oeuvre through Merimée’s lens. Spain seen through the eyes of a Frenchman (be it Mérimée or Bizet) then caricaturized and reintroduced to a Spaniard? It may be giving too much credit to the mythical Carmen what Picasso’s own native visual inspiration and cultural imagery produced in his work. This context would serve as a more accurate and equally interesting premise to the exhibition.
“Picasso-Carmen: Sol y Sombra” runs until June 24.
Musée Picasso, 5, rue de Thorigny, 3rd arrondissement.
Open everyday but Tuesday from 9:30am-6:00pm.
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05.29.07
Posted in Books & Paper, Paris Life, Travel at 9:20 pm by rachel
What was it like to visit the Eiffel Tower in the 1890s? Today while following some leads for my dissertation at the Bibliothèque Nationale, I came across a fun little guide for the Eiffel Tower, published in Brussels in 1893. It’s always a pleasure to discover these sources that don’t necessarily have much to do with my project, but that show some aspect of fin-de-siècle French culture.
This 64-page guidebook seems to be mainly concerned with the statistics: how many kilos of steel, how many visitors, how much revenue? It’s fun to think back at what this tower meant in 1893: it was only four years old that year (it was built for the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris) and was quite the marvel of modern science and engineering. More than just a “must-see” of rich Parisian history, the Eiffel Tower at that time represented modernity itself.
You can download this guide, and many, many other original documents at the Bibliothèque Nationale’s portal to digital documents, Gallica. Just do a title search for “Guide Offiicel de la Tour Eiffel.” Happy researching!
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05.08.07
Posted in Paris Life at 12:59 pm by rachel
“This is a solomn but glorious hour…” Thus began President Harry Truman’s speech announcing victory in Europe on May 8, 1945. Today we commemorate the end of the European conflict of World War II, V.E. Day, which is a public holiday in France. It does not mark the end of World War II, however, which would come with victory over Japan (V.J. Day), August 14, 1945.
Click here for a vintage movie entitled “Germany Gives Up!”, which begins with President Harry Truman’s speech announcing victory in Europe. This day came less than a month after President Roosevelt’s death. Roosevelt had worked for bringing an end to the war but did not live to see his goal realized.
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05.06.07
Posted in Paris Life at 11:10 pm by rachel
I interrupt my ramblings on our trip to the south to quickly comment on the French election. The polls correctly predicted a Nicolas Sarkozy win, and as I type this there are riots in the Bastille area of Paris. I’m too chicken to check it out, but a couple of investigative friends of mine should be there and will no doubt give me the full story.
This reaction comes as no surprise, since there has been a lot of anti-Sarkozy sentiment approaching the first and second rounds of elections. He is a divisive figure; an excellent speaker with a stubborn approach to his opposition and some very clear ideas about economic and social changes he wants to impose on a France stuck in a rut. Today’s election – the second round – was a run-off between the more right-leaning UMP candidate and his opponent, the socialist Ségolène Royal. Either way, France was to enter a new era, where politicians would no longer belong to the World War II generation. Sarkozy – although more conservative – has not been a part of the traditional French political élite (he did not attend the Ecole Nationale d’Administration, for example), and being the son of a Hungarian immigrant, his message of “controlled” immigration is a far cry from the strictly anti-immigration message expoused by the far right.
In France, the presidential changing of the guard happens less than two weeks after the election (16 May this year), so we’ll have to quickly develop an ear for the term “President Sarkozy.” It may not be a very peaceful transition, if this graffiti is any sign of things to come:
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05.04.07
Posted in Cuisine, Paris Life at 7:55 am by rachel
We tried macarons for the first time since moving here in September. That is, it was the first time we had macarons that were not from Picard, the frozen-food store (it’s not as bad as it sounds). The verdict? Delicious, but choose your flavors wisely. The hazelnut-chocolate ones were divine, as well as the coconut ones. Raspberry was made with read raspberry compote, as was the black current variety. The pistachio macaron tasted a bit like chevre cheese, for whatever reason, but my sister thought it tasted more like a (very expensive, 1.30 euro) birthday candle with a little frosting on it.
Rumour has it that the best Parisian macarons are to be found at Ladurée, the original inventor of the new macaron in 1930. Apart from the birthday candle, we were impressed with ours from Pain de Sucre, at 14, rue Rambuteau, which is also home to our alltime favorite baguette à l’ancienne.
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04.22.07
Posted in Books & Paper, Paris Life at 9:03 pm by rachel
In school we learned many French songs and rhymes, which don’t have English equivalents. The following one I learned from an elderly man from Louisiana (he sang it as a child):
Il pleut, il mouille. C’est la fête à la grenouille.
Il’s raining, it’s getting wet. It’s the frog’s fête.
Because I have a love for old books and can’t bear to see a book thrown away, I recently saved three children’s books from the dumpster: Three French versions of those Little Golden Books so many of us grew up with. I never learned anything about a French “Little Miss Muffett” or “Humpty Dumpty” or “This Little Piggie…” and I don’t know if this is because I just didn’t spend my first years in France, or if it’s because they are English nursery rhymes that were translated just for this particular printing.
In any case, they are darling and I am in love with the vintage drawings and find the French version of “Ring Around the Rosie” (”…the roses are in bloom…”) is much more cheerful than “ashes, ashes, we all fall down!”
Here are some of the pages I’ve scanned (click them to enlarge). I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!
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04.07.07
Posted in Paris Life at 10:01 am by rachel
It goes without saying that Parisian boutiques have some of the most attractive shop windows and displays among world capitals. Inspiration for home interiors, fashionable dressing, or decor for a fancy soirée, window dressing is no trivial matter here and contributes significantly to the aesthetic experience of the Parisian flâneur. American photographer Brian Ogilvie has a wonderful on-line gallery of eclectic Parisian shop windows of all kinds.
One of the most stunning trends I’ve noticed is the dramatic lighting most flower shops use in our part of the French capital. Unlike many flower shops I frequented in the States, which seem to say “spring!” all year round, virtually all the florists in the Marais display their botanic creations against a pitch-black backdrop, with a light source usually illuminating the bouquet or centerpiece from only one direction (above or to the side), for effect. One major exception to this “rule” is the outdoor flower market that lines the Seine, but the individual shops do seem to follow this display style.
With Easter and warmer weather approaching, I wonder if this will change. For now, I’ve tried to capture this phenomenon in photographs, below. I took many of these photos at night, but I promise they have a similar effect in daylight as well.
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04.03.07
Posted in Paris Life at 10:23 pm by rachel
It’s springtime in Paris, which means that as Easter approaches, chocolate shops are filled with candies in the predictable shapes of eggs and rabbits, and one shape I was not expecting: bells.
In France, the church bells stop ringing on Maundy Thursday and remain silenced until Easter morning, when they ring once again to celebrate the Resurrection. The legend told to children is that the chimes leave France and go to Rome (apparently to visit the pope) during this time. When they fly back on Easter Sunday, they bring along chocolate eggs and treats. Délicieux!
The drawing is from a children’s coloring page from this site.
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