19.4.12

Passing the wall



We are at Montmartre. I have often passed by here, but never made a post about this sculpture. It represents somehow a combination of a Franch novelist, screen and theatre playwright, named Marcel Aymé (1902-67) and Mr. Dutilleul. Marcel Aymé lived just round the corner (Rue Norvins) and so did the fictive Mr. Dutilleul, the “heroe” of a novel by Marcel Aymé titled Le Passe-Muraille (The Walker-Through-Walls). Mr. Dutilleul discovered at the age of 42 that he “had the remarkable gift of being able to pass through walls with perfect ease”.

The sculpture was made by a – at least in France – famous actor, Jean Marais (1913-98), who had sculpting as more than a hobby. Jean Marais was a big star in France and was also known as the friend (in all respects) of Jean Cocteau (1889-1963), who portrayed Jean at many occasions.


What made me think it was time to post about this was the little extra thing that also seemed to pass the wall. I’m not sure how long it will stay there.
  

24 comments:

[G@ttoGiallo] said...

On dirait qu'on lui serre souvent la main.

Denise Covey said...

Great as always Peter. Your childhood picture is up today at my blog.

Denise

Pierre BOYER said...

:-)
Bonne journée,

Pierre

Olivier said...

cette statue en hommage a marcel ayme est magnifique (j'aime aussi le rajout ;o)) , superbe livre et film le "Passe-Muraille"

SusuPetal said...

Oh, I have a photo of that sculpture, that man in the wall. It was somewhat scary when I ran on it.

Alain said...

Les fesses dorées, un nouveau space invader ?

Thérèse said...

En pensant au superbe rajout je lisais "sans coeur!" au lieu de "Sacré Coeur!"

Synne said...

Oh my goodness, I absolutely LOVE nerdy street details like this! I am definitely shaking this man's hand - as many other people have done, from the look of it - the next time I'm in town!

Bettina said...

I have seen him many times but never known the story about him before. Thank you for the info.
The little golden b... I haven't seen before ;o) lol...

Game said...

What the ... . Never knew about it.

Cezar and Léia said...

Very interesting art! :)
Love the first composition!
Léia

Anonymous said...

What a perfect golden sculpture!
I like Jean Marais´s work too.

So, is young Indiana Jones back from the old splendor?

Hope you had a great time...
Maria

Graça Pereira said...

Uma foto curiosa de uma escultura esplêndida...Vi muitos filmes com o grande Jean Marais que eu muito apreciava.
Um abraço
Graça

Parisbreakfasts said...

Amazing wall
Thank you for showing it to me..
Unforgetable

Starman said...

Bon Anniversaire, mon ami!!

Virginia said...

I too have photographed this but was awaiting your blog post to find out the story ! :)

Now about the golden "thing"! HA Only in Paris!
V

Ruth said...

What a mystery. And great idea for a sculpture to represent him. And cute little addition, which reminds me of my little grandson. You see, I happen to be the one who changes his nappy while I'm visiting on weekends. :-)

Simony said...

Too funny! Nobody knows who left their butt there?

This is Belgium said...

bon anniversaire Peter.. I just saw it on Claude's blog and as I only know one blogging Peter...
have a happy one !
anni

Kim said...

That's a fun addition to this wall, Peter. Thanks for showing it to us. It was not there when I photographed there in Oct/Nov last fall. Ah, street artists.
-Kim

Cergie said...

La main à la patine lustrée me fait penser à une nouvelle effrayante de Guy de Maupassant :

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Main_d'%C3%A9corch%C3%A9

Trotter said...

Is this new there or I've simply missed it?

arabesque said...

haha! that shiny thing looks like it's going to stay for awhile. ^-^
and again, thanx for the much info,
i;m learning something new about this and that everyday. ^0^

Laura said...

I remember the actor Jean Marais, quite handsome when young and bad actor. Far better when older and ugly. This is the first piece of sculpture I see from him.
Thanks