29.10.12

Francisque Poulbot



I recently made a post on the improvements which have taken place at the Montmartre Museum. Last weekend an event took place there, in the gardens, where so many nice well-known paintings have been made. A sculpture, bust, was inaugurated. The person who was brought into honour was Francisque Poulbot (1879-1946), affichiste and illustrator, especially known for the drawings of the local Montmartre street kids, urchins, so famous that they now are just referred to as “poulbots”. The house where he spent his last years is nearby and you can find some of his kids as decoration. (I posted about him a long time ago.)

Francisque Poulbot was also also co-creator of the “Montmartre Republic”, of the local vineyard, the “Clos de Montmartre” (see previous post) and a lot of other things which somehow saved Montmartre, from destruction, over-exploiting… 

The “Montmartre Republic” colours were there and a lot of people (despite the first really cold day of the season).

There were of course speeches by Presidents of the “Montmartre Republic”, of the “Old Montmartre” (Le Vieux Montmartre) association, of the Montmartre Museum and of the “Francisque Poulbot Friends” and we heard a song dedicated to Francisque by Alain Turban (who will have a Montmartre “show” at the famous “Olympia” February 3) …


With the crowd, it was not easy to get good close-ups…


…  but, when it was almost all over I managed to get closer. I also took a photo of the bust creator, Agnès Rispal, talking to one of the invited persons, Christian Cabrol, an eminent, now retired, cardiologist, who among many other medical exploits executed the first European heart transplantation in 1968.


We then joined the little “Poulbot Orchestra” for a little aperitif.


Something completely different: Close to the Montmartre Museum there is a little one-room flat where the composer Erik Satie lived 1890-98. He had then a short love story with the painter (who also worked as model for Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec…) Suzanne Valadon (who lived where the museum now is), he played as “bar pianist” at the famous cabaret “Chat Noir”. All of you may not know his name, but I’m rather convinced that you will recognize his music. Below you can even listen to a free version by “Blood, Sweat & Tears”.


12 comments:

Olivier said...

les petits poulbots c'est l'histoire de paris, j'adore ces dessins. la sculpture est tres belle

Alain said...

Poulbot est-il une antonomase ou un éponyme ? Ceci dit, je ne sais pas qui a racheté les droits, mais je trouve les "poulbots" actuels très moches.

Cezar and Léia said...

What a nice event, lots of people enjoying there and lots of them trying to make a speech! LOL
*Love the poster Chat Noir!
**Love the videos ( the wonderful piano melody by Erik Satie, thanks for sharing).
*** Il fait froid! brrrrr :D
bisous
Léia

Carol said...

*love*

Virginia said...

I think I remember walking by that museum entrance once with you Peter, and Meeps is quite happy with the chat noir reference. The music we both are enjoying.

Good for you for getting the great shots of the sculpture and the sculptor.
V

claude said...

On en apprend tous les jours et à tout âge. Je sais d'où vient le mot poulbot maintenant. Le buste est bien beau.

arabesque said...

haha! i'm clearly not a classic enthusiast.
i did listen to the last video though.
well played music. ^0^
whoa! can't believe c'est deja presque d'hiver. ^-^
stay warm dear friend.
nice post on this talented artist.

Studio at the Farm said...

Peter, I love reading your posts. They are always so very interesting, so full of information. Thank you!!!

Anonymous said...

I learned to play the waltz "Je te veux" for a dear friend of mine...an eminent radio-oncologist in Quebec City.

Fantastic post M. Peter!

Mil gracias,
Maria

Anonymous said...

Je te veux ~ Eric Alfred Leslie Satie ~ Philippe Entremont

Hope you like it.
Maria

hpy said...

Ca ne fait pas très Blood Sweat and Tears...

Anonymous said...


I was just listening to some videos of Eric Satie's Je te veux on YouTube, and suddenly I found Mme. France Clidat's version of this beautiful piece.

Mme. Clidat was the beloved teacher of that prodigy of the piano, Kanae Endo.

I adore all of your magnificent post about Montmartre! It was my parent's favorite part of your beloved city.

When I come back to Paris I'm going to retrace every single step of all those ways that led me to so much happiness.

¡Viva la nostalgia!
¡Vivan aquellos deliciosos crepes de Montmartre!
Maria



http://youtu.be/yHSBhD_Qzsk