Many streets
in Paris, especially the narrower ones, are equipped with poles. This is a way
to protect pedestrians and to avoid wild car parking. More and more of them are
painted in a colourful way. A street artist, known as CyKlop, is especially known
for this. When you see an eye on top of each pole he has painted, the relation
to the ancient mythological cyclops is evident.
Here we can
see CyKlop in operation.
CyKlop has
rather recently painted a number of poles in a small Montmartre street, Rue
Piémontési. It’s a tribute to artists who have lived and worked in the area.
Each pole
refers to a specific painting. Here are a few. Maybe you can find some others?
I would like
to make some special comments with regard to the Modigliani one: A painting of
the same series from 1917 was a couple of days ago sold to a Chinese taxi driver
turned billionaire for $170m, the second highest price ever paid for a
painting. It seems that he has the intention to exhibit the painting in one of
his (two !!) museums in Shanghai. At least it
will be possible to see it. However, the highest rated pieces of art are today often just bought as capitalistic investments, kept hidden, in a vault in a bonded
warehouse in Geneva, Dubai, Shanghai… awaiting sale for a higher value,
tax-free. Also, a number of new museums are created and they all need a “Joconde”
to attract the public. All this creates incredible prices for some pieces when artworks
by other, living or dead, artists have difficulties to be sold at decent prices.
This may
again remind us that Modiglaini had one single exhibition in his lifetime, in
1917. It was organised by the remarkable gallerist Berthe Weill. (I wrote about
her here.) It seems that it lasted only for a few hours - police intervened
because of the nudity - and obviously nothing was sold. The $170m painting,
from 1917, was probably part of the exhibition. A year later Modigliani tried
to sell all he had for $100, but found no buyer. He died in 1920, at the age of
35.
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7 comments:
Food for the mind!
Bravo pour cette série.
Pas mal comme idée !
J'aime assez.
Quand je pense qu'un nu de Modigliani s'est vendu à prix d'or et que lui a crevé la dalle toute son existence.
AMAZING post Peter. As usual,so much to see. Thanks for sharing . Lots of interesting facts too.take care.
First of all, I always thought those must have been from long ago when people had to tie up their horses. Thanks for clearing that up for me!
Second, I love them! Very clever and very well done -- and so extra delightful to see.
And finally, thank you for the info and shout out to one of my favorites, Modigiliani. One of his paintings that had been in our Detroit Institute of Arts was recently auctioned, much to my sadness. It was part of a private collection on more or less permanent loan. Less, I guess. I'm glad the one that sold to the Chinese collector will be exhibited. I couldn't agree more about the sharing of art.
Love those light brown eyes. A pianist friend of mine has eyes that same kind of color.
What a great idea por those poles. Kudos to that artist who painted them.
Thanks for sharing this!
Maria
Sending my sympathy and support to the people of Paris today. My heart is crying.
I love these painted street poles! What a wonderful way to brighten a mundane object!!
Kathryn
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