Birds

I already posted, soon six years ago (see here), about the Flower Market on Ile de la Cité, close to Notre Dame… 

... and once more, soon two years ago (see here), when Queen Elizabeth visited it and it was renamed “Marché aux Fleurs Elizabeth II”.

Well, on Sundays this market place becomes – also - a bird market. 

You find of course also all you need to keep the birds in good shape… although of course imprisoned. 

Maisons closes - brothels

From the latter part of the 19^th century until 1946 – when they were outlawed, (also) Paris had a reputation for its “maisons closes”, brothels.

Among the most famous was “Le Chabanais” (12, rue Chabanais), created in 1878 and thus lasting, as all the others, until 1946. A lot of luxury, some 30 ladies… Kings, princes, actors, authors … went there for their pleasure, but it was obviously also a place where people just socially met, including some women, e.g. Marlene Dietrich. In those days the French government even often included a visit to “Le Chabanais” as part of the program during state visits.  The building is still there, but nothing reminds us about its past. All equipment and furniture were sold at an auction in 1951.

The most famous customer was obviously “Bertie”, the future Edward VII, who had his own room, his own bath-tub (to be filled with champagne) and a very special kind of chair. (I would need a handbook.) Salvador Dali later became the owner of the bath-tub and placed it in his room at the Hotel Meurice. 

The reputation for top brothel was a bit later taken over by the “One-two-two” (122, rue de Provence), which opened in the 1920’s. Once again, the list of kings and princes is impressive, but there are a lot of other names like Charlie Chaplin, Humphrey Bogart… and again a number of women like Marlene Dietrich (again), Mae West, Katherine Hepburn, Edith Piaf … Once again we can see that these brothels also were where you could, should, “be seen”.  A movie called “One-two-two” came out in 1978. 

“Le Sphinx” (31, boulevard Edouard-Quintet) was created quite late, in 1931, in a rather Egyptian style. It was also highly fashionable with some 65 ladies. The building is gone.  

“La Fleur Blanche” (6, rue des Moulins) is especially known for having had Toulouse-Lautrec as a very frequent guest (a permanent room booked). He made a number of paintings from the place (see top picture). On one of the paintings we can see two ladies preparing for the regular medical inspection. (A lot not so nice could be said about these inspections.) 

“Aux Belles Poules” (32, rue Blondel) is one of the few brothels which has kept its outside and partly also inside looks. I managed to get in, but not as far as I wanted. One of my blogger friends, JPD, managed to get some inside pictures, which I partly have copied. You can see his post here. What was specific for some of these establishments is how the street number is designed. This was a very neutral way to “show the way” – possibly even made compulsory by the authorities? 

You find a similar type of house number also at “Chez Miss Beety” (36, rue Saint-Suplice). Its location just opposite a side door of the Saint-Sulpice Church made it very popular among the priests or members of the church.

There were tens of these more “official” ones, not mentioning the less “official”. Here are a few more, where the buildings still stand. 

When it comes to the “stolen” illustrations, I found sometimes the same ones illustrating the interior of different brothels. I hope that most of the ones I show are for the “right place”.

As mentioned above, all these establishments were closed in 1946, actually totally some 1.400 in France whereof some 180 in Paris. The law carries the name of Marthe Richard (1889-1982), an ex-prostitute and spy, who later became a politician. One reason why the law passed rather easily may have been that some of the most prestigious brothels had been more or less confiscated by the Nazi occupants. 

A little touch of winter.

It seems that we have had the mildest winter since 1900. However, the winter made a (last?) try this weekend. Early Saturday morning, “my” street looked like this. The gates to “my” park were not yet open.

Two hours later I could enter the park.

Other places where artists lived and worked.

After a meal (or a drink) at the “Closérie des Lilas”, one of the famous bars / restaurants along Boulevard de Montparnasse, I suggest that you turn around the corner, passing the statue of Marshal Ney (by François Rude), and take a walk along Rue Notre-Dames-des-Champs., (Ney was one of Napoleon’s marshals who was executed somewhere here in 1815, condemned by the Bourbon monarchy institutions after the Waterloo defeat. There were rumours that he survived and escaped to the United States…)  

             

The Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs is not very spectacular, but is interesting thanks to all artists, authors… who have lived here especially since the latter part of the 19^th century.

The list of names could be very long. I will give only a few examples.

Camille Claudel (1864-1943) lived as a young girl with her family at no. 111 and worked in a studio at no. 117 during the years 1882-88. 1882 was the year when Auguste Rodin became her teacher.

At no. 86, Fernand Léger (1881-1955) lived and had his studio for almost 40 years (1916-55).  He was preceded by James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) who worked here in a studio during the years 1891-1902. (For my Swedish friends I can also mention that this is where Isaac Grünewald and Sigrid Hjertén lived during their Paris years.)

Behind the gate of nos. 73-75 lived and worked William Bouguereau (1825-1905) and John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) had a studio here when he lived in Paris.

Some artists have also lived at no. 70, but maybe I should give a special mention for the poet Ezra Pound (1885-1972) who spent the years 1921-24 here, became friends with many, including Ernest Hemingway (1889-1961), who moved around a lot, but for a while was a neighbour at no. 115 (building gone).

The street is long and this time I neglected the lower part, where many of the buildings, e.g. occupied by Victor Hugo, Auguste Renoir… have disappeared. However, before leaving Rue Notre-Dame-des Champs, maybe a special mention for no. 109 where you find one of the most distinguished schools in Paris, “Ecole Alsacienne”, founded in 1874. The list of famous people who received their education here is long.

Once here, it’s worth taking a look at a crossing street, Rue de la Grande-Chaumière, much shorter, but with a lot of history.

Here, at no. 8 is where Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) spent his last years and days, together with Jeanne Hébuterne (1898-1920), who committed suicide two days after Amedeo’s death.

They had met at the “Académie Colarossi”, at no. 10, where there now is a restaurant. Here you can see others who spent some time here – once again we find Camille Claudel. (I don’t know if it was here that she met Rodin.)

Since 1905 there has been another art school, at no. 14 – “Académie de la Grande Chaumière”, still in operation. We can see a number of well-known names, teachers as well as students.

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), lived for a while in the same building where later Modigliani and Hébuterne lived. He was a friend of Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), who lived and worked at no. 13, in a small flat above the little restaurant “Crémerie” (now gone), obviously partly decorated by him (and - again for my Nordic friends – where August Strindberg, here portrayed by Edvard Munch, was a regular guest.)  Here we can see both Mucha and Gauguin photographed in Mucha’s flat. Both Gauguin and Mucha went to the “Académie Colarossi”.

Some other buildings on Rue de la Grande-Chaumière include a famous “Sennelier” art-supply shop. (They opened here only in 1930.) I found no information on the impressive building at no. 6.

On the opposite side of the street, you can find a four-star hotel, “Hôtel des Académies”. It seems that almost all the rooms have Jérôme Mesnager’s (see previous post) “white men” on the walls.  

Most of the “stolen” pictures are from Wikipedia and similar sites. However a special mention for hhtp://www.muchafoundation.org/home. 

Here you can see what the area looked like in 1790, 1894 and today. 

Art galleries

There are art galleries a bit everywhere in Paris, but some of the more exclusive ones can be found in the area around Avenue Matignon and the nearby streets, in the 8^th arrondissement.

Here are some pictures from a recent walk, mostly taken through the show windows, some from inside a few galleries. There are of course a lot of famous names among painters, sculptors… which you no doubt recognize. Other galleries offer other types of art, like furniture, glassware… (I was surprised to see the number of Bernard Buffet paintings offered by many galleries – any special reason?) The only painting where I dared to ask for a price, was a small, modest watercolour by Emile Bernard, Vincent van Gogh’s best friend during his Paris years - 28.000 €. Finally I went home without any purchasing, which anyhow, I must admit, were not planned.

I have a hope that the art market will give a chance to real art lovers and to living artists. Today, in my mind, there is a lot of pure speculative business, where some of the most sought after artists often end up hidden in a safety vault in Switzerland, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong... , not even visible to public. Other less known artists struggle to survive.