Girls' Guide to Paris: What’s Hot in Paris: Cynthia Rose

Another French Revolution (With Chocolate and Champagne, of Course)

The château at the Parc de Bagatelle, in the Bois de Boulogne,
where the annual Concours de Roses takes place.
Photo by Patrick Giraud.

How well do Parisians love their flowers? Let us count the ways. . . . From the humblest window box to the grandest garden (not forgetting the luscious offerings presented by every florist), flowers help the city define its seasons, and celebrations. Whether you are a gardener or an eco-warrior, or just love flowers, here is a bouquet of Parisian floral favorites.

The Bagatelle Rose Garden is one of the oldest, most beautiful gardens in France. Every year it hosts a public competition to “elect” both the loveliest and most fragrant roses in Paris. Begun in 1907, this competition runs from now until September 26, and anyone can participate. All you have to do is visit the park, inspect the new varieties of rose, then vote for your favorite three. (If your selection happens to match that of the professional jurors, you yourself can be part of next year’s jury.) To vote, simply download a pdf of the entry form and submit it—or fill out one at the park.

The roses in this competition are originals; they cannot be seen (or sold) anywhere else until next year. The flowers are the product of two years’ research, during which three separate juries judged and eliminated many candidates seven times. The final competitors have been picked by international experts, rose breeders and more than 100 “personalities from the world of the rose.”

Created in 1905, the Bagatelle Rose Garden is part of the Parc de Bagatelle, in the Bois de Boulogne. As well as this Concours de Roses, it hosts exhibitions and concerts of classical music—but serious gardeners will know it maintains the French national collection of roses. You’ll see more than 10,000 types from more than 1,200 varieties, presented breathtakingly in all kinds of landscaping. To get there, take the metro to Pont de Neuilly (Line 1), then bus No. 43; or to Porte Maillot (Line 1), then bus No. 244. Entry is 3 euros, or 1.50 euros for guests ages 7 to 26; free to guests under 7.

La Maison Rustique, in the 6th Arrondissement, in Paris, is a landmark for both gardeners and those who love fine volumes.

Photo by Steve Sampson.

If you prefer your flowers between the pages of a book, visit La Maison Rustique, in the chic 6th Arrondissement. A landmark for both gardeners and those who love fine volumes, it also stocks a wide selection of books on interior design as well as many guides (decor specialities include French country interiors). If you really have a green thumb, check out the definitive guides to different genres—from roses to Japanese maples. It’s a perfect spot to look for presents or just browse, with books in English as well as French (and in winter, a cozy retreat).

Maison Deyrolle is another Paris institution, a house of taxidermy and entomology (i.e., filled with magical stuffed animals and mounted butterflies). Established in 1831, this unique “haven for the nature lover” was almost destroyed by fire in 2008. The ex-banker Prince Louis Albert de Broglie had purchased the troubled business seven years before but had no insurance. So the artists and institutions of Paris raced to its aid, forming the Friends of Deyrolle and fund-raising via auctions, exhibits, books and (in the case of Hermès) limited-edition luxuries.

Maison Deyrolle, in the 7th Arrondissement, in Paris, is a house of taxidermy and entomology, i.e., filled with magical stuffed animals and mounted butterflies.
A house of taxidermy and entomology, Maison
Deyrolle is an urban haven for nature lovers.
Photo by Steve Sampson.

De Broglie, whose Loire château boasts 600 types of tomatoes, is also known as Le Prince Jardinier (The Garden Prince). He gave this name to a line of gardening tools, books and accessories, all sold in a Le Prince Jardinier shop at Deyrolle. These garden goodies occupy the ground floor; above are rare treats for fans of both flora and fauna. Book after beautiful book (or case) entices, as do Deyrolle’s world-famous planches (wall charts). For a gardener, it’s sheer heaven, and, as with the Parc de Bagatelle, it’s a guaranteed child pleaser.

Editor's note: Want to show off your love for Paris? Check out the Girls’ Guide’s I Love Paris store—it’s also great for gifts.

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Sunday Plans: La Promenade Plantée

Don’t let the famous gardens of Paris’s past overshadow its contemporary rivals. The city is home to renowned green design that has been setting trends around the world.

Top Anglophone Bookstores in Paris

A Comeback for Worth, the Label That Invented Couture

by Lamar C

Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 09:40 AM

Giovanni Bedin's designs for Worth include tiny waists, stiff collars and hourglass shapes that evoke high Victorian femininity.

In Paris the one fail-proof cure for summer heat and humidity is the July couture shows. These magical three days involve a marathon of taxis, exotic locations and elaborate settings—all cooled and fueled by an ocean of Evian. This year Karl Lagerfeld’s giant gold lion towered over us in the Grand Palais, a garden of Christian Dior dresses bloomed in a tent behind the Musée Rodin and, in the 1863 splendor of the Hôtel le Marois, one of fashion's most famous-ever houses staged a comeback. That house was WORTH, one of the most influential labels in the history or Paris.

Giovanni Bedin's designs for Worth include tiny waists, stiff collars and hourglass shapes that evoke high Victorian femininity.

Just like Alexander McQueen and John Galliano, its founder, Charles Frederick Worth, was born in England. But there ends the similarity for, without Worth, there might never even have been couture. After all, this was the man who, from 1858, created those traditions, which eventually defined it. (One of his sons, Gaston, also founded its governing body, the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture.) Worth père was the first to sew a “house” label in each creation, the first to show separate collections intended for different seasons and the first to create experimental previews of each design in muslin. By using live models to show his work to clients, Worth even invented what we now know as the catwalk.

Now the eminent label is back, in the second collection by Giovanni Bedin. This designer, 35, trained with both Thierry Mugler and Lagerfeld. For WORTH, Bedin has shown two looks, both with tiny waists, stiff collars and hourglass shapes that evoke high Victorian femininity. Each aspect also recalls the opulent, theatrical touches favored by WORTH’s founder. Bedin says he “wanted to emphasize the essential—which, to Monsieur Worth, was always l’élégance.”

Giovanni Bedin's designs for Worth include tiny waists, stiff collars and hourglass shapes that evoke high Victorian femininity.

Bedin pays special homage to Worth’s mastery of detailing, with delicious lace furbelows bursting out of period silhouettes, handmade enamel buttons arrayed down feminine jackets and flirty curves derived from those ladies’ riding jackets once worn throughout the Bois de Boulogne.

WORTH had another special announcement at its show: it has “remixed” Je Reviens, the maison’s signature perfume. This scent, whose name means “I’ll be back,” was once reserved for celebrity clients. Then, in 1895, Worth died and the house was taken over by his sons Gaston and Jean-Philippe. They released Je Reviens to the public, and it soon became the ultimate Paris souvenir. During both world wars, soldiers gave bottles to their sweethearts and mothers; Je Reviens became so famous that a mass-market version continued into the 1990s.

The new Je Reviens, by Worth, retains its celebrated bottle.

The new “heritage version” will be uncorked on August 28. In London, it will feature at the Harrods “Perfume Diaries” exhibition (August 28–October 2); here, in Paris, it will sell in exclusive "heritage box editions." The new Je Reviens retains its celebrated bottle, a classic blue whose ridged shape dates from its very first incarnation.

Couture-wise, there’s more to come. A WORTH prêt-à-porter collection will debut in September, followed by lingerie and fine-jewelry collections. Until then, of course, we’re free to commission from Bedin’s couture; prices are rumored to start around $8,000, and Lady Gaga is already a customer.

Editor's note: Try the Girls' Guide's downloadable DIY shopping and walking tours of Paris.

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Although Yves Saint Laurent died only two years ago, most young people equate his name with a label on lipsticks and sunglasses. When “YSL” retired from fashion in 2002, however, he boldly stated, “I am the last couturier.” His epic new retrospective at the Petit Palais makes a pretty convincing case that he was correct.

Five Trends for 2010

Another year, another declaration of polishing your style? It’s not too late to take the first step. Here are five chic ways to begin your 2010 French fashion overhaul.

Seattle's French Underground

by Sandra Ban

Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 09:45 AM

Seattlites celebrate Bastille Day with performances at Pike Place
Market./Photo by Steven Sampson.

Seattle is 5,000 miles from Paris, yet its Francophone roots run deep. Until 1849 most residents in the Seattle region spoke only one European language: French. An 1813 list of “First American Settlers” to the area contains only French names, such as Boucher, Gardepied and Montigny. Published by the Hudson’s Bay Company, a fur trader, the list gives a preview of what would happen almost two centuries later, when a combination of the aerospace, high-tech and green industries brought around 10,000 French residents to Puget Sound.

Seattle is frequently praised in France for being a city where one can have a bio (organic) lifestyle. The French magazine Geo has lauded Seattle’s “energie alternative,” Le Monde dubbed Seattle “the city with a green approach” and Le Figaro calls it a place “where capitalism meets progressive politics.” French people love Seattle, and here are some reasons why:

Air France runs daily flights between Paris and Seattle.

The Alliance Française in Seattle./Picture courtesy Paul Dorpat.

The Alliance Française’s center in Seattle is a lively one. In addition to holding language classes, the school offers cinema presentations and social events. Its electronic newsletters provide updates on local films, events and visits by French luminaries, who range from academics to Charlotte Gainsbourg. The center is located on the beautiful grounds of the landmark Good Shepherd Center.

The Ballard farmer’s market is held Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The market itself is a gorgeous mix of fresh flowers, artisan breads, cheeses, produce and fish, and you’ll find everything from salmon to squash blossoms. Location alone makes this market worth visiting, as the surrounding historic neighborhood is full of charming boutiques. There’s also Bastille, a very large French café/bar that grows its own greens on its 4,500-square-foot roof. The outside deck can be lovely, but avoid the “sexy” backroom bar.

More than 300 bédéistes live in or near Seattle, attracted by Fantagraphics Books, the world’s largest independent publisher of bandes dessinées (comic strips). Well-known in Paris, the publisher runs its own bookstore in a southern Seattle suburb, with a unique array of comic and art books. Go for the rarities, bargains and artist receptions.

With so many boulangeries, Seattle is spoiled for good bread and patisseries. Downtown, we recommend Le Panier; in West Seattle, Bakery Nouveau; and in Bellevue, Belle Pastry.

French film screenings are among the offerings at the Alliance Française.

Seattle has several French conversation groups, but French Conversation Meetup boasts 800 members. These groups meet biweekly in bars and coffeehouses, and they’re easy to join. They attract a surprising array of people, from recently returned students to newly hired French techies.

French football and French newspapers and magazines can be enjoyed with coffee, pastries and classic café food at Café Presse, in Capitol Hill.

Madison Valley calls itself Seattle’s French Quarter. This ritzy neighborhood is home to the elegant French restaurant Rover’s, a pricey gem run by chef Thierry Rautureau. He also runs Luc, which serves less-formal fare. Francophiles on more of a budget might prefer the Côte Crêperie.

The historic Pike Place Market is one of America’s oldest continuously operating farmer’s markets. At First and Pike News you’ll find French newspapers and magazines, while the lovely accessories store Fini will charm credit cards out of your wallet. For French dining you have many choices. The oldest spots are Maximilien and Place Pigalle, and the grandest is Campagne. But by far the most enjoyable is the latter’s brasserie, Café Campagne. There is also casual French fare downtown at the Virginia Inn and Le Pichet, its pricier neighbor.

Café Campagne, at Pike Place Market.

Paris fashion can be found at Lola Pop. While real fashion (as opposed to vintage or grunge) is hard to find in Seattle, the quirky neighborhood of Fremont boasts this tiny yet ultra-French boutique. Owner Muriel Monteiro makes frequent trips to Paris, and she stocks Chantal Thomass umbrellas for Seattle rain, as well as Paris labels like Claudie Pierlot, Barbara Bui, Catherine André and Repetto.

So if you are missing Paris, a quick trip to Seattle might assuage your longings.

Editor's note: Longing for Paris? Cook up a real French meal, with ingredients from France and our partner the Gourmet Food Store.

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Paris by the Bay

When San Francisco grows up, she wants to be French. Yes, I know the city has an extraordinary Asian museum, a historic Jewish community and a rich Latino heritage. But Asians, Jews and Latinos have all lived in San Francisco since it has existed, and they have large communities here today. The French, well, the French culture was imported here by locals. Take the building that houses city hall (I beg you). The 1915 architecture was inspired by Mansart’s Invalides, in Paris.

Coming to Paris in July or August? High summer in the city is one long social whirl. There are a few unfortunate Parisians who find themselves spending July and August in the city, instead of disappearing to St. Barthélemy, Île de Ré or the Riviera like everyone else. Just imagine having to spend the entire summer season in Paris, lounging in the Jardin du Luxembourg and sipping wine on terraces.

Every August, the Forum des Images gives Parisians a summer gift: free cinema under the stars. Their Cinéma au Clair de Lune moves from quartier to quartier, showing films that feature Paris in different parts of the city. This year, from August 4 to 22, you can follow the series from Montmartre to the Marais—seeing work by directors such as Renoir, Rohmer, Godard and Klapisch.

Tagged Paris, France, women, Cynthia Rose, Shopping, travel, Art/Culture, restaurants, sightseeing, Seattle in Art/Culture

A Dozen Films That Will Transport You to Paris

by Lamar C

Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 10:46 AM

Paris Plans Rained Out? Survival Tips Part Two: Culture Bender!

From August 4 to 22 in Paris, enjoy free films under the stars thanks to the Forum des Images' series Cinéma au Clair de Lune
Courtesy Forum des Images

You’re not in Paris this August? Well, no need to miss out! Among the countless films that compliment, showcase or try to explain the City of Light, here are a dozen favorites. All can transport you here for a few hours, and you’ll learn something new about the city from each of them.

Venus Beauty Institute (Vénus Beauté Institut), 1999, Tonie Marshall.
So popular it became a French TV series, this feminine tale takes you inside a Paris “beauty institute” to follow Nadine (Bulle Ogier), Marie (Audrey Tautou), Samantha (Mathilde Seigner) and Angèle (Nathalie Baye). With insights into the French cult of beauty and French women at work, plus a worldly romance.

The Lovers on the Bridge (Les Amants du Pont-Neuf), 1991, Leos Carax.
This unconventional love story set among vagrants on the Pont-Neuf—much of it the actual bridge, closed for restoration—cemented the stardom of Juliette Binoche. With amazing sequences shot during the 1989 bicentennial fireworks.

Signed Chanel (Signé Chanel), 2005, Loïc Prigent.
Prigent, famous for the Sundance Channel’s Full Frontal Fashion, follows the making of a Chanel collection. There is only one point of view: that of the women who must create the clothes. Fascinating, stylish and immensely funny. Order it online from FNAC or ARTE or watch it on YouTube.

Juliette Binoche stars in 2000's Code Unknown

Code Unknown (Code Inconnu), 2000, Michael Haneke.
Much of Haneke’s work is dark, but this film is a compassionate gem. Its subject? The sharing of lives in modern-day Paris, a city belonging equally to middle-class artists, homesick Africans and asylum seekers. The title refers to those digicodes required to enter Paris buildings.

Danton, 1983, Andrzej Wajda.
Paris seen as the French Revolution descends into the Terror, with Danton (Gérard Depardieu) fighting to save “his” revolution. Some very famous faces play the Revolution’s “stars,” including Patrice Chéreau as journalist Camille Desmoulins. Riveting and atmospheric.

Ridicule, 1996, Patrice Leconte.
A story set in the lavish Versailles of Louis XVI, Ridicule shows how a provincial noble has to emparisienner (become Parisian) in order to help the poor back home. Eventually he conquers the court (not to mention Fanny Ardant) by learning to use manners, style and wit.

The Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du Paradis), 1945, Marcel Carné.
Although filmed entirely on sets—and during the German Occupation—this 19th-century tale is the romantic Paris film. It’s long, it’s in black and white and it’s based on historical figures. At its center is the ravishing Arletty and the great Jean-Louis Barrault, playing one of her four lovers.

Full Moon in Paris (Les Nuits de la Pleine Lune), 1984, Eric Rohmer.
A bittersweet tale of one young parisienne who attempts to become truly worldly. She is played by the beautiful Pascale Ogier, who also styled the film—only to die soon after its release.

The Father of My Children (Le Père de Mes Enfants), 2009, Mia Hansen-Løve.
The seemingly idyllic life of a Paris film producer, his wife and three daughters is changed forever by the very thing—cinema—that gives it special meaning.

Three Colors: Blue (Trois Couleurs: Bleu), 1993, Krzysztof Kieslowski.
The first part of Kieslowski’s trilogy redefining the French values of liberty (Blue), equality (White) and fraternity (Red). Juliette Binoche plays the privileged parisienne for whom “liberty” starts with losing everything she loves. A film about grief, loss and generosity—much of it shot around the rue Mouffetard.

La Bûche, 1999, Danièle Thompson.
Enjoy Christmas in August! La bûche is the French yule log, and this movie concerns one very French family who face one another’s secrets over the holidays. Has everything, including Charlotte Gainsbourg and Emmanuelle Béart.

La Crime de Monsieur Lange, 1936, directed by Jean Renoir, is a black-and-white classic filmed in the Marais

The Crime of Monsieur Lange (Le Crime de Monsieur Lange),
1936, Jean Renoir.
The secret of this black-and-white classic filmed in the Marais is a script by Jacques Prévert. A warm comedy set among the working folk of Paris: laundresses and artists who publish—of all things—cowboy novels. A charmer.

Editor's note: Download our newly updated DIY walking tours of Paris. Something for the foodie, the shopper, the historian and anyone who loves beauty.

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In Paris, spring rainfall hovers around two inches per month. Should a shower derail your plans, it’s nice to have backup—especially one spot where you can spend all day. As long as it’s not a Tuesday, take my tip and head to the museum complex at Beaubourg, a.k.a. the Centre Pompidou.

You scheduled a walking tour but woke up to freezing rain? Don’t fret. There’s an alternative world to discover, one as sheltered and filled with old, exquisite treasures as any museum. I’m talking about the fabulous vintage films—from all over the world—that make Paris a mecca for every kind of movie fan.

To Be and to Have (2002)
Shot in a one-room schoolhouse in rural France, this poignant documentary portrays the magical innocence of children and the loving dedication of one teacher.

Speaking Touristically: Best Bikes and Buses

by Sandra Ban

Sunday, July 25, 2010 at 07:43 PM

New in Paris: July Edition

Vélib’, a citywide bike-rental program, is a fun and affordable way to see Paris.
© Steve Sampson

You’ve probably heard about the inventive green initiatives in Paris like Nature Capitale. One of the most popular is Vélib’, a citywide bike-rental program. In a city (a country!) where biking is extremely common, everyone in Paris has an opinion about the program. Many will tell you that Vélib’ riders are the No. 1 traffic hazard—and it can take a while to get accustomed to the heavy bikes. Britons, in particular, often ride “the wrong way.”

But if used with care, Vélib’ is a great way to save money while exploring the city. It’s also useful for getting home late at night if you can find a borne (station) that’s not empty. Joining the system requires a deposit of 150 euros; this can be placed on your credit card at any Vélib’ station. When you purchase a subscription—for one day, seven days or one year—you get a code that you use whenever you want to pick up a bike. Subscriptions entitle you to 30 free minutes at a time, with charges accruing only if you exceed that allotment: the first additional half hour is 1 euro; each one thereafter is 2 euros until the third half hour, after which the charge rises to 4 euros.

TIP: If you’re time conscious and the weather cooperates, you can get around Paris almost free with Vélib’. You can monitor your costs (your “account”) on the screen of any borne at any time. The main problem for US travelers is having a compatible credit card: European credit and debit cards are known as smart cards, which are embedded with a puce (chip); most US cards don’t have it, but American Express Blue cards work. There’s a free Vélib’ app you can download, and the Internet is rife with tips on the program in many languages. You can also download a pdf of a map showing special cycle routes closed to traffic on Sundays and holidays.

Paris buses are also a great economical way to view the city while on wheels. Just don’t ride them during rush hour, as the school day ends or when it’s broiling hot. All that’s required to use the system is a metro ticket or pass. You can buy a ticket from the driver (1.70 euros) or in the metro (1.60 euros); tickets bought on the spot are valid only for that journey. To request a stop, press the red button. Several lines are especially useful as bus tours.

TIP: The east-west route of the No. 69 runs between the Eiffel Tower (Champ de Mars) and the Père Lachaise cemetery, via the quai d’Orsay, the Louvre and the Marais. It offers as much sightseeing value as any company.

NIGHT: Under the Noctilien program, the city runs 42 lines of night buses, hourly from 30 minutes after midnight. From Monday to Friday the buses run until 5:30 a.m., and later on weekends. Buses and stops are clearly marked. Spoiler alert: on weekends and hot summer holidays, partygoers flood onto these buses in the wee hours.

For tours, two main companies run hop-on/hop-off bus jaunts. If you’re short on time but want to cram in the sights, or if you have trouble walking, you may want to try one. Be forewarned: these are tourism writ in capital letters and, as such, always a compromise. You may get great snaps or have a memorable encounter. But you may also end up hot, tired and frustrated. Make sure the weather is decent, and remember that during the off-season, buses come by less frequently. Do not expect much enlightenment from the audio commentaries, which are often worn tapes or out of synch with your route. Also don’t expect great service. Operating these buses is one of the most thankless jobs in Paris.

Your best choice is L’Open Tour, which offers four routes. The Paris Grand Tour is the longest and most comprehensive. Tickets are 29 euros per adult for a day, and 32 euros per adult for 2 days; 15 euros for children ages 4–11, for either 1 or 2 days; free for kids under 4. L’Open Tour offers one- and two-day passes that can be delivered in advance to your hotel but not to an apartment; or for a fee you can have the pass(es) sent to you before leaving home. (If you’re shy about riding bright lime-and-yellow buses with people from all over the world, don’t try this tour.)

There’s also Les Cars Rouges. An offshoot of the red bus tours in London, this competitor of L’Open offers a nine-stop pass that is valid for two days. Tickets cost 24 euros per adult, 18 euros for those in groups of 12 and 12 euros for children ages 4–11. Essentially a less expensive, miniversion of L’Open, Les Cars Rouges provides less value for your money.

Editor's note: For the Girls’ Guide’s handpicked tours of Paris, consult our Book It page.

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Located in the 19th Arrondissement, near both the Gare du Nord and the Gare de l'Est, the Hôtel le Canal has been recently renovated. This boutique hotel was designed to be sustainable, producing its own heat and hot water, thanks to solar energy.

Want to see Paris in a really special way? I recommend the ultimate in summer touring—via a Citroën Deux Chevaux, or 2CV. Engineered by Pierre-Jules Boulanger, and first produced in 1949 but last manufactured in the 1990s, these beloved cars are mythic.

Tagged Paris, France, women, Cynthia Rose, Shopping, travel, Tours, Summer, buses, bikes, Noctilien, Vélib' in Art/Culture

The Eiffel Tower: Friend or Foe?

by Lamar C

Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 11:35 PM

Speaking Touristically: Paris by Wheels or Water?

Paris's Eiffel Tower was built not just for the Exposition Universelle in 1889 but also for the centennial of the French Revolution

Before last Christmas, the Paris auction house Drouot celebrated with a sale it dubbed “Paris, Mon Amour.” The centerpiece was 25^1/2 feet of the Eiffel Tower’s staircase. This was no random stretch of iron, but part of a spiral staircase once used by Gustave Eiffel to reach his private office. Expected to fetch around $80,000, those steps sold for $154,380.

However much they mock their tower, most Parisians love it. Eiffel maintained that it was purpose-built for them and created as if “formed by the wind itself.” His mighty monument has always served to commemorate; it was built not just for the Exposition Universelle in 1889 but also for that year’s centennial of the French Revolution. Its splendiferous nightly light shows started out as part of the city’s millennium celebrations in 2000.

Still, what you want to know is, Is a trip to the top really worth it? After all, this is the most crowded, most visited, most photographed landmark in Paris. The answer is yes, provided you plan ahead. For costs and regulations, as well as reservations that can save you from the omnipresent queues, study the tower’s website carefully. Book online if possible, or buy elevator tickets at the guichet marked "restaurant." Near that ticket office is the entrance for the tower restaurants and for online ticket holders. (Note: the tower does not accept Paris Museum Passes.) If you decide to go ticketless, try to arrive before 9 a.m. in the high season; then just queue until the ticket offices open. Your only alternative for spontaneity will be to arrive just before closing time. Also, avoid Tuesdays, when many museums are closed.

Reserve ahead for the Eiffel Tower in Paris; buy tickets on the tower's website
© Steve Sampson

If you book a table at one of the tower’s two Alain Ducasse eateries, you’ll be able to avoid the lines completely. The higher-up Jules Verne is swank and überpricey but does boast its own (free of charge) elevator. Trendier, and more affordable, is 58 Tour Eiffel, an elegant version of restauration rapide (fast food). Like that of Jules Verne, its design is by Patrick Jouin, who created numerous Paris amenities, from our sanisettes (public toilets) to the Vélib’ bicycle stands. Lunch here comes partly in a steel picnic basket. A false bridge and a glass cupola help the café blend right into the landmark structure around it. (After 5:30 p.m., it becomes a bar-café.)

While the Ducasse eateries offer stylish classicism, the iconic tower itself remains eccentric. Regularly the site of stunts, performance art and even ice-skating, it is also a magnet for suicides (three or four people a year try to kill themselves at the tower) and the occasional daredevil. Historians date the first tower fatality to 1912, when a dressmaker named François Reichelt fell to his death while demonstrating a homemade parachute. Because his act was filmed by a newsreel team, Reichelt’s demise was seen by the world—a scandal as big as any later seen on YouTube.

Extreme experiments at the tower continue today. On May 29, French Rollerblading champion Taig Khris set a world record by plunging 12^1/2 meters into a giant skateboarding ramp on the tower. Cheered on by thousands, Khris landed safely. Afterward he described the tower, sounding like so many before him, as “a place that gave me crazy dreams, then made them true.”

Tip Sheet

The best places to photograph the Eiffel Tower? From directly underneath; from the top pointing down; or from Place du Trocadero, directly across the Seine. For more tips on how to take tip-top shots of the tower, visit WhyGo.

Editor's note: For handpicked Paris tours that we love, consult our Book It page.

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New in Paris: July Edition

Arthur Rimbaud: The Poet as Pop Star

by Sandra Ban

Sunday, July 04, 2010 at 01:39 AM

Top Anglophone Bookstores in Paris

A graffiti portrait on a fence, by Pedrô, evokes the poet Arthur Rimbaud.
Graffiti portrait on a fence, blvd Raspail, 2009, by Pedrô.

Paris, the capital of la vie de bohème! The city where artists love and starve together, shock the bourgeoisie, then die tragically young. These myths were set in motion in 1843 by a magazine series called “Scenes from a Bohemian Life.” They were tales from a hard-up poet named Henri Murger that revealed his own daily struggles as well as those of his friends.

Murger’s stories became a book as well as a hit play (one that later inspired Puccini’s opera La Bohème), and their popularity brought Paris a wave of would-be artists. By the mid-1800s students had flooded into the capital, each determined to become a “bohemian.” One of them, however, did more than outstrip Murger’s models—he completely redefined youthful decadence. This was Arthur Rimbaud, the subject of a trendy Marais exhibition, “Rimbaudmania: The Eternity of an Icon,” at the Galerie des Bibliothèques, in the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris.

In 1871, at the age of 17, this well-schooled Catholic boy made a beeline for Paris. He was keen to reject both family and sobriety, and his search for urban experience led to stormy affairs (most notably with the poet Paul Verlaine, who left his wife and child for Rimbaud, whom he fought with and shot at). But despite his dissolute life, Rimbaud penned sentiments that caused no less than Victor Hugo to call him “an infant Shakespeare.” Rimbaud’s volumes The Drunken Boat, A Season in Hell and Illuminations endure as cornerstones of his bad-boy philosophy: art requires a “systematic derangement of the senses.”

Coffee mugs are among the objects that evoke Rimbaud in the exhibition "Rimbaudmania," at the Galerie des Bibliothèques, in Paris.
Rimbaud mugs by CafePress.

At the age of 20 Rimbaud renounced writing forever. He spent the rest of his days traveling to Indonesia, Cyprus, Africa and the Middle East. By 37 his restless soul was gone—consumed by exotic locations, lovers of both sexes and adventures that included arms dealing.

“Rimbaudmania” begins with a clutch of manuscripts, handwritten letters and rare photos, all that remains of the man. Yet the exhibition proves his legend is truly worldwide, one that spans pop and opera, comics and fashion, painting and adverts. You can hear Rimbaud’s poetry in a dozen tongues, then see versions told as bandes dessinées (graphic novels) and Japanese manga.

One room is devoted to Rimbaud’s influence on music and film, and it’s striking to see the role he played in 1970s punk. Protopunk musician Richard Hell took his name from the poet, while guitarist Tom Verlaine baptized himself after Rimbaud’s lover. One of Rimbaud’s greatest fans has always been Patti Smith, who began her career singing “Go, Rimbaud, go!” There are many others to hear and see: the Clash, Yves Montand, Barbara Hendricks, Serge Gainsbourg, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison. Leonardo DiCaprio played Rimbaud on-screen, and there is a “Season in Hell” photo series by Robert Mapplethorpe. The exhibition features visual art from many genres, including works by Cocteau, Picasso and Giacometti, as well as graffiti portraits ripped from Paris boulevards.

This brooch is among the objects evoking Arthur Rimbaud in the exhibition "Rimbaudmania," at the Galerie des Bibliothèques, in Paris.
Among the "fetish objects" in the show is this brooch with a picture
of Rimbaud, by Jodi Bloom.

The show’s intrepid curator, Claude Jeancolas, author of 17 books on the poet, has even filled a room with “fetish objects” evoking Rimbaud. These range from key rings and pins to furniture and fashion. One contributor to the collection is Jodi Bloom, a jewelry maker, who lives in Washington, D.C. She explains, “Claude ordered a Rimbaud rosary from my website. . . . When I emailed to say thank-you and give the delivery time frame, he wrote back and said my piece would be in the show.”

Such discoveries typify the eternal rebel who is, according to Jeancolas, “omnipresent in the arts. He is everywhere and, certainly, in cyberspace—home to some of our most unexpected, poetic encounters.”

“Rimbaudmania: The Eternity of an Icon” is on view at the Galerie des Bibliothèques through August 1. From September 15 to December 15, the exhibition will be at the Musée Arthur Rimbaud, in the poet’s hometown, Charleville-Mézières (Champagne-Ardennes).

Want more?

You can watch a virtual preview of the exhibition here. To learn about the history of the French bohemian lifestyle (in English), click here.

Editor's note: To find the best hotel to suit your particular tastes and interests, click here.

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Dates for the Diary: Exhibitions

Here are a few current and upcoming exhibitions in Paris that I’m getting excited about, ranging from painting to photography to music. I hope that you’ll all feel inspired, too! The first two are closing soon, so get hopping.

It is below zero on a Wednesday morning, and the line at the Grand Palais is an hour long for ticket holders. And yet they stand. From Klimt to Picasso, from Warhol to Rodin, the French love their art—which means there are great shows to attend throughout the year.

Your Summer Couture Special: Time Travel at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs

by Sandra Ban

Saturday, July 03, 2010 at 11:30 AM

Soldes: The Bon Plan of Attack

A design by Thierry Mugler, whose work can be seen in "The Ideal History of Contemporary Fashion," at the Arts Décoratifs, in Paris.
Design by Thierry Mugler. Photo by Guy Marineau/
Courtesy the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

Just in case you can’t afford the latest haute couture (the shows run through Thursday, July 8), Paris has the perfect quick fix for any fashion fanatic. Even if you have already drooled over the YSL retrospective, you’ll find yet more vintage style at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. There, until October 10, you can view the best of European fashion from the 1970s through ’80s. "The Ideal History of Contemporary Fashion" boasts such names as Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Lacroix, Jean Paul Gaultier, Sonia Rykiel, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Kenzo, Thierry Mugler and Yohji Yamamoto.

A design by Chanel, whose couture is included in "The Ideal History of Contemporary Fashion," at the Arts Décoratifs, in Paris.
Design by Chanel. Photo by Dominique Maitre/
Courtesy the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

This show is the first installment of an ambitious “complete history” that has been curated by the expert Olivier Saillard. (Part two, covering the years 1990–2010, will open on November 25.) Saillard, head of fashion exhibitions at the Arts Décoratifs since 2002, was recently appointed director of the formidable Musée Galliera, the fashion museum of Paris. Although closed for restoration until 2011, the Musée Galliera has made cameos in films like Sex and the City and The Devil Wears Prada.

This exhibition gives us a taste of what the talented Saillard will do there. In it, to outline the progress of modern style, he mobilizes “key pieces from twenty years of creation,” augmented by 200 documents, films and video.

A design by Azzedine Alaïa, whose couture is included in "The Ideal History of Contemporary Fashion," at the Arts Décoratifs, in Paris.
Design by Azzedine Alaïa. Photo by
Dominique Maitre/Courtesy the Musée
des Arts Décoratifs.

All of it is framed by two events in couture. The first is the 1971 premiere of Yves Saint Laurent’s “Scandal” show, an event that launched platform shoes, padded shoulders and 1940s retro. The other is “Rap-Pieuses,” or “Religious Rappers,” a collection shown by Jean Paul Gaultier in 1990. Both merged a new look with a social moment, but each pointed fashion in a different way. Saillard deliberately arranged his show with these two “bad boys” to illustrate how modern couture became so involved with celebrity.

A design by Thierry Mugler, whose work can be seen in "The Ideal History of Contemporary Fashion," at the Arts Décoratifs, in Paris.
Design by Thierry Mugler. Photo by Dominique
Maitre/Courtesy the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

The show also includes triumphs by less well-remembered names like Madame Grès, Azzedine Alaïa, Dorothée Bis and Claude Montana. Special treats include early Issey Miyake, as well as archive pieces by Comme de Garçons and Ter et Bantine (a label run by Chantal Thomass between 1967 and 1975).

Above all, the exhibition puts current couture in context. Today, for instance, “Kaiser Karl” Lagerfeld seems to be everywhere. (Recently he “re-designed” an issue of the French newspaper Libération, drawing even the ads.) This show helps you see how he emerged and changed, from his early designs at Chloé to his first work at Chanel. The same is true of Christian Lacroix. He’s shown both as the designer behind the Jean Patou label, then, under his own name, as the king of late-’80s luxury.

A design by Jean Paul Gaultier, whose couture is included in "The Ideal History of Contemporary Fashion," at the Arts Décoratifs, in Paris.
Design by Jean Paul Gaultier. Photo by
Dominique Maitre/Courtesy the Musée des
Arts Décoratifs.

In 2009, before he mounted this show, Saillard published his research as a luscious book that is still available. You may not want to lug home Histoire idéale de la mode contemporaine, but this, the perfect souvenir, is easily ordered online from Amazon.ca, Amazon.fr or FNAC.

"The Ideal History of Contemporary Fashion" is at the Arts Décoratifs through October 10. There are a wide range of activities and guided visits related to the exhibition, and the museum has even created electronic postcards for you to send.

Editor's note: Try the Girls' Guide's handpicked fabulous French fashion tours.

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I’ve been through four rounds of Parisian soldes. Which is enough to have helped me learn a helpful strategy or two, but few enough that I’m still willing to go to battle in the name of French fashion. The summer sales begin Wednesday, June 30, and run until Tuesday, August 3. Here are les bons pointers so you, too, can take home some serious shopping spoils.

Dates for the Diary: Exhibitions

Edvard Munch
Pinacothèque
Through August 8
Think of Edvard Munch, and his famous Scream is likely the first image that pops up, overshadowing much of his other work.

Dates for the Diary: Exhibitions

by Sandra Ban

Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 10:38 PM

By Amy Barnard

An André Kertész retrospective will be on view this fall at the Jeu de Paume.

Here are a few current and upcoming exhibitions in Paris that I’m getting excited about, ranging from painting to photography to music. I hope that you’ll all feel inspired, too! The first two are closing soon, so get hopping.

Edvard Munch
Pinacothèque
Through August 8
Think of Edvard Munch, and his famous Scream is likely the first image that pops up, overshadowing much of his other work. This exhibition focuses on Munch’s early blurring of the lines between mediums and processes, and on his importance to modernism.

“Les Promesses du Passé”
Pompidou Center
Through July 19
This exhibition examines the former European divide as well as our understanding of art history. It spotlights some 50 artists from the former Eastern Europe, looking at their influence on a new generation of international artists.

Russia and Romanticism
Musée de la Vie Romantique
September 28, 2010–January 16, 2011
Part of the Russia-France project, this exhibition will document paintings, sculptures and objets d’art produced during the Romantic movement in 18th-century Russia.

André Kertész
Jeu de Paume
September 28, 2010–Feb 6, 2011
This will be the first European retrospective dedicated to the lengthy career of photographer André Kertész, whose images appear strikingly modern. The exhibition will present how Kertész developed “a true photographic language,” while exploring his most persistent themes of distortion and loneliness.

Music under Lenin and Stalin
Cité de la Musique
October 12, 2010–January 16, 2011
The topics of artistic freedom and the place of the artist in society are at the core of this exhibition, which looks at the role artists played during the Communist period of Lenin and Stalin. It questions whether artistic expression can coexist with political aggression.

Editor's note: For hotels and tours handpicked by the Girls' Guide, consult our Book-It page.

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Paris Plans Rained Out? Survival Tips Part Two: Culture Bender!

Unusual Museums

I have a confession—I hate emails. As a way of doing business they're tolerable, a necessary evil. Second confession—I write letters. Just tell me you aren’t twice as thrilled to open an envelope addressed to you from a friend or lover as you are to open something in your inbox.

Market Maker: Alain Ducasse

Recently I met Casanova. We were in the courtyard of the historic and opulent and very luxurious Plaza Athenée hotel, surrounded by beds of edible flowers, walls of lettuce, a seductive sparkling rosé wine, oysters, truffle butter, wild strawberries and very large morsels of raw meat.

Tagged Paris, France, women, Cynthia Rose, music, travel, exhibitions, museums, art, photography, culture, history in Art/Culture

Speaking Touristically: Paris by Wheels or Water?

by Sandra Ban

Monday, June 21, 2010 at 07:24 PM

A boat tour along the Seine lets you relax and enjoy the sights of Paris.
Photograph by Steve Sampson.

Want to see Paris in a really special way? I recommend the ultimate in summer touring—via a Citroën Deux Chevaux, or 2CV. Engineered by Pierre-Jules Boulanger, and first produced in 1949 but last manufactured in the 1990s, these beloved cars are mythic. The enterprising company 4 Roues sous 1 parapluie (Four Wheels under an Umbrella) takes its title from the car’s nickname. Seven years ago owner Florent Dargnies restored a raft of them to offer tailor-made tours with multilingual driver-guides. Most are young, all are good drivers and each will happily tell you much you’d never guess about Paris.

Tip: Drivers for 4 Roues are chatty yet authoritative. They’ll make you feel like you’re in an old French film, plus you’re free to look up at architecture, foliage, steeples, etc. You’re also in the hands of a company that has won, two years in a row, the French Tourist Authority’s Most Welcoming prize. 4 Roues offers a huge selection of tours, some based on themes—bucolic Paris, Paris by night, the Da Vinci Code, “insider” specials—others designed by arrondissement or for children. You can also have one customized.

At 54 euros for three passengers (158 euros for just one person), the Paris Eternel tour covers the city’s great landmarks in one and a half hours. But I’m certainly tempted by the sound of Paris Shopping: Tour of the Men’s Despair. The least expensive option is 19 euros per person, with three passengers to a car; or 58 euros for one person chauffeured alone. Book in advance through the 4 Roues website, and be sure to preview the weather! Their tours are a delightful experience, and one that locals, who relish seeing a Deux Chevaux, often cheer on.

Booking a car tour of Paris is a great way to see the city.
Photograph courtesy 4 Roues.

Of course the Seine is also alive with boat tours. Each lasts around an hour, and they run every 20 to 30 minutes. Prices vary by only one or two euros. If you want to join in, decide what you prefer: do you want to cruise by evening? Are you with the kids? Consider especially whether or not you want (loud) audio commentary. That may explain the sights, but it will detract from any romance. You’ll need to consult each company’s website for details about booking, departures, special offers and other options.

Tip: At 13 euros, Batobus offers an eight-stop tour without commentary, and its boats are relatively intimate in size. A Batobus ticket works as a one-day pass, allowing as many trips as you like, with hop-on, hop-off privileges at the eight main stops. Through August the boats run every 17–20 minutes. A glass safety roof can make them extremely hot in summer, but is nice to have when it’s rainy.

Tip: At 16 euros (4 euros less if booked online) are Canauxrama’s inventive Atmosphère tours, on Friday and Saturday evenings, along the Canal St.-Martin (each lasts 2.5 hours). You’ll pass briefly underground, with special projections, audio information, music and more. The cruise takes its name from Arletty’s famous “Atmosphère, atmosphère!” exclamation in the classic Marcel Carné film Hôtel du Nord, shot on sets that duplicated an area you’ll see from the boat. Canauxrama also runs Cruise of the Old Paris daily, which allows you to take in swirling locks as well as locations from Amélie and Hôtel du Nord. Tickets are 9.50–24 euros.

Savers: The least expensive, most recognizable option (bright vermilion seats) is Bateaux Mouches (basic price 10 euros), whose very large boats leave from Pont d’Alma. Lunch, dinner and children’s cruises are offered. At 11 euros, Bateaux Parisiens and Vedettes de Paris also run less expensive basic tours, plus dining and children’s cruises for higher prices. Vedettes du Pont Neuf charges 12 euros but is popular with visiting students.

Editor's note: The Girls' Guide recommends two exciting Paris tours with wheels, the Segway and the Vespa. Click here to find out more.

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Bringing Paris Home

Like many of our readers, I cannot be in Paris all the time—certainly not as much as I want. And when I’m in New York, how do I get my Paris fix? I try, in various ways, to bring Paris home. It’s not that difficult, really.

Romantic Paris

My favorite quartier remains the Marais, which boasts the largest number of listed historic mansions in all of France (more than 150), starting with the stunningly perfect Place des Vosges.

Perusing the Passages

Galerie Vivienne

If you don’t know about the passages, you must learn. I don’t mean to sound professorial, but I made the same mistake—coming to Paris for an embarrassingly long time before I finally made the discovery.

Tagged Paris, France, women, Cynthia Rose, Shopping, travel, Tours, Summer, car rental, guides, boat tours in Tours

Fête de la Musique 2010: Celebrate Women in Music

by Sandra Ban

Monday, June 14, 2010 at 11:23 AM

Parisians crowd the streets to enjoy the live performances at the annual Fête de la Musique.

If you think “feminine” French music is just Edith Piaf and Charlotte Gainsbourg, you need to experience the Fête de la Musique, on Monday, June 21. During this festival, held annually on the summer solstice, France is filled with every kind of sound from across the Francophone diaspora and beyond. Although there are many performances by professionals, the festival is really about spontaneity. Everyone strolls the streets and can join in. The title itself is a pun on the command “Faîtes de la musique!” or “Make music!”

Held each year at the summer solstice, the Fête de la Musique is a chance to enjoy all kinds of music. You’ll hear music being played everywhere, with various levels of competence. Offerings can be mediocre, and you can expect a lot of rock “homage” and terrible Euro pop. But you have to envy the Parisians and their enthusiasm. It’s a lively night, and aside from a few precautions—public transportation is overloaded and many streets too crowded for buses—you need worry only about your stamina. In simple terms, be prepared to walk home.

This year’s theme is “the feminine in music, from the nurse with her lullabies to the heroines of opera.” But no year’s theme precludes participation by anyone, so thrash guitar bands and amateur crooners will also be on the scene. If you’re jet-lagged or like to know ahead what you’re in for, choose from among the 125 concerts scheduled for Paris. You can easily search these offerings by musical genre, performance time or arrondissement on the recently updated website.

A variety of musicians perform throughout Paris during the annual Fête de la Musique.

The economic situation during which this year’s festival occurs recalls the very reason it was created, in 1982. At that time, business and employment were suffering, as were the stock markets (eventually the franc even had to be devalued). Jack Lang, who was then the French culture minister, proposed a music festival to cheer up the nation.

Like the stylish, always-tan Lang, the Fête de la Musique remained popular. Initially seen as just a way to distract worried voters, it now marks the symbolic start of summer. Among its only naysayers are the students finishing high school. The noisefest coincides with their stressful week of final exams, or le bac.

Revelers crowd the streets of Paris to enjoy the live music at the annual Fête de la Musique.

But since you’re free, here are five recommendations to sharpen your ears.

Jardins du Palais Royal. Place Colette, rue de Montpensier, in the 1st Arrondissement. 5 p.m.–midnight.
Homage to Spain’s female singers, with Madjo, Amparo Sánchez and Buika; Corsican singing and Maloya music from la Réunion.

Museum of Jewish Art and History. In the 3rd. 5:15 p.m.–10 p.m.
Free entry to the exhibition Radical Jewish Culture: New York Musical Scene, featuring John Zorn and short films he plays in or scored, and the Paris premiere of a documentary about cult guitarist Marc Ribot.

Institut du Monde Arabe. In the 5th. 5 p.m.–12:30 a.m.
A magical program leads you through Arab Andalusian music that has helped create Algeria’s world-famous raï. Culminating in raï, it includes Lebanese rap, Franco-Lebanese hip-hop, Sétifian music from Eastern Algeria and Moroccan chaâbi.

Salle Pleyel. In the 8th. 8 p.m.–midnight.
Free entry for a “Summer Night” a cappella concert by the choir of the Orchestre de Paris, with works by Kodály, Bartók, Brahms, Bruckner, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky, as well as Butterflies and Hands, by Eric Tanguy.

Place du Marché d'Aligre. In the 12th. 6:30 p.m.–12:30 a.m.
Parisian steel band Calypsociation, with 60 variously aged musicians, will keep you dancing.

Editor's note: For the Girls' Guide’s picks on hotels, tours and classes, click here.

Read more about where to enjoy music in Paris here.

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Going Out

The Rules
No, not those rules, honey, Paris club rules . . .

1. Think late. Like, 1 a.m. at least. In true French style, you will have dinner...

French Music: A Sampling

Edith Piaf

Born in Belleville, Paris, the singer who became known as the Little Sparrow had an early life most would consider not exactly rosy. More or less abandoned by her parents as an infant, she was discovered as a musician in 1935.

Tagged Paris, France, women, Cynthia Rose, music, travel, Holidays/Events, Art/Culture, festivals, Fête de la Musique in Art/Culture

Another French Revolution (With Chocolate and Champagne, of Course)

by Sandra Ban

Monday, May 17, 2010 at 09:47 AM

Eat French—Stay Slim!

Former Clicquot CEO turned best-selling food author Mireille Guiliano
Andrew French

Maybe your next trip to Paris isn’t just around the corner—but your heart and appetite have taken up permanent residence here. In that case, you will definitely want The French Women Don’t Get Fat Cookbook, recently published by Atria Books. This is the latest offering from Mireille Guiliano, everyone’s favorite expert Frenchwoman. As we might expect, the former CEO of Veuve Clicquot turned best-selling author (French Women Don’t Get Fat; French Women for All Seasons; Women, Work and the Art of Savoir Faire) has come out with a cookbook that couldn’t have been written by anybody else.

As she told GG2P, “My mother always used to tell me, ‘Never be afraid of risks. What’s the worst thing that can happen?’ That became my motto for life, and it continues to shape how I think. So, although my aim is to bridge cultures and to help women, the way I write remains frankly French—and, I am proud to say, feminine.”

Best-selling author Mireille Guiliano is back with The French Women Don't Get Fat Cookbook

Like her other works, Guiliano says, the cookbook was shaped by her upbringing and work experience. “Cookbooks usually organize themselves by theme or by ingredients. You know, ‘Here are my fish recipes, here is what you can do with eggs.' I read cookbooks like I read novels, but that style just isn’t me.” Instead, she presents her personal tips, reminiscences and suggestions loosely organized around “my three favorite pastimes—breakfast, lunch and dinner." Stuffed with stovetop secrets from her French relatives, friends and champagne-business cohorts, the book meanders freely and happily. Along the way, it takes in everything from brunches to memories, market stalls to formal cosmopolitan dinners. It also boasts more than a soupçon of female persuasion as Guiliano seeks to convince us why (and how) we should trade our cupcakes for chocolate mousse and swap our Diet Cokes for champagne.

The project came about after years of requests from fans. As a result, readers will find many more of the easy, quick and healthy recipes that contribute to all the French Women books. Guiliano wanted it to be "polycultural," she says, “because I’ve spent my working life between Paris, Manhattan and Provence and I now have wonderful online friends all over the globe. So, while the flavors and the tips in my book remain French, as always, they should be able to fit into different lives.”

Cooking, she maintains, “is above all an act of love. However, it also vindicates our intellects and abilities. Cooking holistically is every bit as challenging as what I handled as a CEO. It’s a world that should be open to any—no, every—woman.”

Editor's note: Please join us for a live Twitter chat with Mireille Guiliano this Wednesday, May 19, from noon to 2 p.m. EST.

For more on food in Paris, read our guides Foodie Haunts and Food Sources.

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That’s what Mireille Guiliano counsels, and I’m beginning to believe it. Her enthusiasm for these recipes abounds, and they don’t sound at all like the traditional diet crap. Can you feel sorry for yourself when eating Duck Breast à la Gasconne, Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe and Sausage, or Apricot Tart?

My Foodie Hero: David Lebovitz

I am a crazed foodie, I’ll admit it. I obsess over whether to buy yet another fleur du sel or that perfect pink salt from Japan. I am a follower of real foodies with more qualifications than I, and I’m a voracious researcher of what and where to eat next.

History in a Jam

At first glance, the rue de Chabrol (Métro Poissonnière, in the 9th Arrondissement) vindicates its absence from guidebooks; it’s just the sort of unremarkable area the Lonely Planets and Rough Guides of the world ignore. But what I’m searching for here is anything but ordinary.

Tagged diet, food, Paris, France, women, Cynthia Rose, books, travel, Foodie Finds, Beauty/Health, Mireille Guiliano in Foodie Finds

Top Anglophone Bookstores in Paris

by Lamar C

Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 10:11 AM

Naked Truths: Lucian Freud at the Pompidou

The Shakespeare & Company bookstore in Paris hosts its own literary festival

However comfortable you are speaking and reading French, there may be times when you long for a quiet read in English. Fret not. Since Edith Wharton’s day, Parisians have loved catching up with Anglo-Saxon writing. In addition, most of the places they do this will add a new dimension to your social life. Those listed below all offer something “individual”—author readings, festivals or just kind staff. A word of caution, however: because of tariffs, exchange rates and Paris real estate, book prices are high.

Abbey Bookshop
29, rue de la Parcheminerie, in the 5th Arrondissement. 01 46 33 16 24.
Mon–Sat, 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Canadian-run shop with Anglo-American and Canadian books, and a large secondhand section.

Galignani
224, rue de Rivoli, in the 1st. 01 42 60 76 07.
Mon–Sat, 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
This is a grand institution, the first store in Europe to offer English-language books. With dark wood walls, it retains a quiet Grand Tour ambience that Henry James would recognize. Impressive range, too: history books, guidebooks, beautiful books on the arts and art catalogues. English selections have their own section, but you’ll find translations scattered throughout. A great haven on rainy days.

I Love My Blender
36, rue du Temple, in the 3rd. 01 42 77 50 32.
Tues–Sat, 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Small, idiosyncratic shop whose owner, Christophe Persouyre, used to work in advertising. Not only books—all originally written in English, with many French translations—also Persouyre’s own choice of small and amusing gifts.

The Red Wheelbarrow
22, rue St.-Paul, in the 4th. 01 48 04 75 08.
Mon, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Tues–Sat, 10 a.m.–7 p.m.; Sun, 2 p.m.–6 p.m.
In the Marais, this bookstore is small and crowded but the staff is very friendly. It also has a children’s section.

For lit-hungry Parisians, reading is a social activity
© Cynthia Rose

San Francisco Book Company
17, rue Monsieur le Prince, in the 6th. 01 43 29 15 70.
Hours vary, so call ahead.
This bookstore has entirely secondhand stock of English-language reads in hardcover and paperback. It’s dusty and a bit haphazard, so if you’re looking for something specific, be prepared to search. It has some collectibles, plenty of mysteries, airplane fodder and more. You can also sell books here.

Shakespeare & Company
37, rue de la Bûcherie, in the 5th. 01 43 25 40 93.
Mon–Fri, 10 a.m.–11 p.m.; Sat–Sun, 11 a.m.–11 p.m.
Opinions are divided about this “legendary” bookstore, once an expat destination on a par with Jim Morrison’s grave. Not so many new books, much secondhand dust. Every book sold is specially stamped. Carries a few bilingual books, such as volumes of Prévert poems in English and French. In the last few years, the store has rebranded itself with events such as its own literary festival.

Village Voice Bookshop
6, rue Princesse, in the 6th. 01 46 33 36 47.
Mon, 2 p.m.–7:30 p.m.; Tues–Sat, 10 a.m.–7:30 p.m.; Sun, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.
A gem of a bookstore, noteworthy for great service and author events—which are very crowded, so go early. It’s also patronized by well-known expat authors who live in the area. There’s a good selection in the new fiction, arts, bios, social sciences and philosophy sections, and elsewhere. It’s perhaps the most likely place to find new US releases first, and the staff is always happy to order anything.

W. H. Smith
248, rue de Rivoli, in the 1st. 01 44 77 88 99.
Mon–Sat, 9 a.m.–7 p.m.; Sun, 12:30 p.m.–7 p.m.
The Paris branch of the ubiquitous UK chain offers a huge selection of current Anglophone magazines and British best sellers. The children’s department hosts monthly kid’s club readings. Very popular with both Brits and Americans, W. H. Smith stages its own author readings and discussions.

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The Pompidou's current show by Lucian Freud is irresistible and has had Parisians queuing right along with the tourists. The grandson of Sigmund Freud, this artist has created some of the most extreme, defiant nudes in the history of art.

Don’t fall for the “surly French waiter” stereotype. Paris has all kinds of staff. The solution to perceived service problems is 1) remain polite, 2) remain patient and 3) never tell anyone he or she is “wrong.” Remember, French battles are rarely won by Anglo-Saxon tactics.

Night at the Museum: Whatever You Fancy and All for Free!

by Lamar C

Monday, May 10, 2010 at 09:58 AM

Naked Truths: Lucian Freud at the Pompidou

Musée de la Monnaie, open during La Nuit des Musées, May 15 in Paris
Musée de la Monnaie.

On Saturday, May 15, Parisians will celebrate the sixth European Night of Museums, during which cultural sites are open for free until midnight. This EU-wide festival offers dazzling choices: wander the Louvre as darkness falls, explore unusual places (such as the Museum of Relief Maps) or try peeking into usually hidden gardens. The funkier museums offer shorter waits and enticing programs, but seeing a blockbuster show at twilight can also be amazing. All info is on the Nuit des Musées website. Search it by location or interest, but remember: you won't be alone.

On this occasion, there's really something for everyone. If you have impaired sight, there's a tactile fashion show by fashion students at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Serious about swords and sorcery? You can see how medieval sculptors worked at the Museum of the Middle Ages. A few more details and suggestions follow.

For Fashionistas

Enjoy free admission to the Yves Saint Laurent retrospective (with activities for kids and teens, plus a screening of Visconti's The Leopard) at the Musée du Petit Palais. Or see "An Ideal History of Contemporary Fashion, 1970–1980," at the Musée des Arts de la Mode et du Textile (Guided visits: 6 p.m.–midnight).

For Garden Lovers

Head to Musée Rodin, Musée Bourdelle, or the Centre Culturel Suisse and Institut Suédois. The last two boast one of Paris's most beautiful gardens. Their expos (including a homage to design star Sigvard Bernadotte) will be open until 10 p.m.

From 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., the Institut will also host performance art by Infr’action Paris. You can even make a weekend of it by meeting Infr’action Paris once again at 11:00 a.m. Sunday at the Marché d'Aligre—one of the liveliest of the city's morning markets.

Musée Rodin in Paris, open during La Nuit des Musées May 15
Musée Rodin.

For All Lovers of Paris

Musée Carnavalet
View the collection and enjoy music in the garden. But most of all see talk-of-the-town expo "Impossible Photography: Paris Prisons, 1851–2010." Whether your reference is French film noir, last year's Oscar-nominated movie Un Prophète or Vincent Cassel as Jacques Mesrine, it's a must. Only one of the prisons pictured, La Santé, remains. Plus, you'll see rarities from Charles Marville and criminologist Alphonse Bertillon. From 7 p.m. to midnight. Music: 7:30–8:00.

Museum of the Middle Ages
Free tours of the current expo "Paris, Radiant City," plus stonemason Benedict Bocciarelli's medieval carving techniques in the museum courtyard. Special opening of the museum gardens, with landscaping by contemporary masters Eric and Arnaud Ossart Maurières. 7:30–11:45 p.m.

Musée de l’Orangerie
Monet's Water Lilies, plus video art concerning water and the body (including Bill Viola's Angel's Gate), and, beginning at 8:30 p.m., a concert created for the space by Louis Dandrel.

Maison de Victor Hugo
Hugo's former home, decorated to evoke the author's fascination with the Orient (6:00–11:00 p.m.). From 8:00 to 9:15 p.m., Public Clamor will perform poetry in French and sign language. At 9:30 p.m., a half-hour for families: "The Art of Being a Grandfather."

For Something Totally Different

Visit the Musée de l'Armée for a full program of guided visits, animations, concerts and talks (last year they attracted more visitors than the Musée d'Orsay and Musée du Quai Branly combined).

Or try the Musée de l’Assistance Publique, Hôpitaux de Paris to see the exhibition "Humanizing the Hospital," with dance and choral presentations (7:30 p.m.–midnight). And from 9:30 to 11:00 you can sample a "healthy broth" devised in the 19th century by Paris hospitals.

INFO

Marché d’Aligre
Place d’Aligre, bet. ave Daumesnil and rue du Faubourg St. Antoine, in the 12th.
Mon and Sat, 8–3:30 and 5:30–8:30 p.m.

Editor’s note: After so much culture, you'll be ready for something else. Try some of our picks for interesting tours—a cooking class, shopping tour or wine tasting, perhaps?

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Tagged Paris, France, women, Cynthia Rose, travel, exhibitions, museums, Holidays/Events, Art/Culture, Night of Museums, Rodin, Monet in Art/Culture

Naked Truths: Lucian Freud at the Pompidou

by Lamar C

Thursday, May 06, 2010 at 10:08 AM

Femmes Fatales at the Musée d’Orsay: Sex, Sin and the Guillotine

Lucian Freud at the Pompidou in Paris: Leight under the Skylight, 1994
Lucian Freud, Leigh under the Skylight,
1994. Oil on canvas. © Lucian Freud
Photo © DR

In Paris the artist’s studio holds eternal fascination. Onetime workplaces turned into museums fill the city, and every week lifestyle magazines offer us peeks into new ateliers. Thus it’s no surprise that the Pompidou's current show by Lucian Freud—at 88, considered by many the world’s greatest living artist—has been organized around its subject’s studio.

Many blockbuster exhibitions have celebrated this artist’s classic yet controversial portraits. But by focusing on the intimate world in which Freud makes them, "Lucian Freud: L'Atelier," curated by Cécile Debray, helps us understand how he sees. Her decision also refreshes the fundamental story of how an artist captures what it means to be human. The show, which is on view through July 19, assumes this English eccentric belongs to Europe—and that he is equal to names such as Matisse, Velázquez, Ingres or Titian. All are masters at facing a sitter in the studio.

Lucian Freud at the Pompidou in Paris: Naked Admirer
David Dawson, Naked Admirer, 2004. Photograph.
© David Dawson, courtesy Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert, Londres

Staged with great panache, the show is irresistible and has had Parisians queuing right along with the tourists. Some of their interest, however, is in Freud’s notoriety. The grandson of Sigmund Freud, this artist has created some of the most extreme, defiant nudes in the history of art. He is also a well-known Lothario who has fathered a number of illegitimate children.

Many of these progeny are prominent in English society, but their father always enjoyed his own social connections. These have allowed him to paint Britain’s Queen Elizabeth (not, however, in the nude), as well as celebrity artists from Christian Bérard to Francis Bacon—and models including Kate Moss and Jerry Hall. The exhibition’s final room is filled with giant portraits, many of fringe personalities such as Divine and Leigh Bowery.

Lucian Freud at the Pompidou in Paris: Working at Night, 2005
David Dawson, Working at Night, 2005. Photograph.
© David Dawson, courtesy Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert, Londres

Here one also finds Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, a painting that sent shock waves through the art world. It depicts plus-size Londoner Sue Tilley at rest on a couch, her ample flesh almost like an overwhelming force of nature. Tilley—a fixture of London’s nightclub scene in the early 1990s—is well known in Paris. (For a 2006 project at the Grand Palais, photographer Jacques Bosser created stunning, Kabuki-like portraits of her.) Benefits Supervisor Sleeping is also famous for setting a record for a work by a living artist; it fetched $33.6 million at auction in New York in 2008.

Lucian Freud at the Pompidou in Paris: Painter's Garden with Eli, 2006
David Dawson, Painter’s Garden with Eli, 2006. Photograph.
© David Dawson, courtesy Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert, Londres

His fame and the hefty value of his works aside, Freud’s life has always been centered in his studio. The first work in the show, The Painter’s Room, may explain why. This 1944 piece depicts a theatrical workspace, occupied only by a couch, a plant, a drape and an old top hat. A zebra pokes its head unexpectedly through the window. The absent artist seems to be saying, “In this place, anything is possible.”

The paintings that follow challenge us to see people just as Freud does: carnal, complicated and anything but pretty. Yet the Pompidou’s wonderful lighting reveals the energy of his furious strokes and elaborate textures. At first glance, many of the bodies seem slightly grotesque—until Freud fills our eyes with just how alive they are. His portrait of Tilley sleeping already moved one critic to call it the equal of Manet’s Olympia. Since this Manet hangs in the Musée d’Orsay, why not visit both and see if you agree?

Lucian Freud at the Pompidou in Paris: Reflection with Two Children (Self-Portrait), 1965
Lucian Freud, Reflection with Two Children (Self-Portrait), 1965. Oil on canvas.
Photo © José Loren, Museo Thyssen-Bornemiska, Madrid
© Lucian Freud

Tip Sheet: Famous Parisian Ateliers to Visit

Le Bateau-Lavoir
As studio-home to Picasso and others, this former piano factory (its name means “the laundry barge”) saw the birth of Cubism—Les Demoiselles d’Avignon was painted here. The facade, on Place Emile-Goudeau, remains as it was; the rest of the building had to be reconstructed after a fire. It is a national landmark.

Musée Bourdelle
A museum, with wonderful gardens, created around the 1885 atelier of sculptor Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, who grew from Rodin’s apprentice into Giacometti’s teacher.

Musée National Eugène Delacroix
The studios, with garden, where the painter lived and worked from 1857 to 1863.

La Ruche
Nicknamed “the beehive,” this unique building was originally Gustave Eiffel’s wine pavilion for the 1900 Exposition. Rebuilt by Albert Boucher, La Ruche housed artists such as Chagall, Modigliani and Diego Rivera. With help from the likes of Sartre and Alexander Calder, it was restored for artists’ use in the 1970s.

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The Musée d’Orsay’s blockbuster show "Crime and Punishment" reveals a fixation on crime equaling that of modern TV news. At the show’s center sits the ultimate femme fatale, an actual guillotine from 1872. Fourteen feet tall, slim and draped in a steel-gray veil, the Revolution’s notorious louisette appears strangely feminine.

Tagged Paris, France, women, Cynthia Rose, travel, exhibitions, museums, Art/Culture, Centre Pompidou, Lucian Freud in Art/Culture

Let’s Go Out (and Meet Some Parisians)

by Sandra Ban

Friday, April 30, 2010 at 10:13 AM

Company on the fly: On Va Sortir can connect you with Parisians

You’re finally in Paris. The scenery almost feels familiar. Yet the rush of city life is disconcerting—plus, those famous restaurants seem a little . . . intimidating. If only, you think, I knew a Parisian.

Well, there are actually locals who would like to meet you, share a glass of wine, a movie, even a game of billiards. In fact, they’re just a mouse click away. Don’t worry, I’m not talking about online dating (a topic on which Parisians I know are best not quoted). I’m talking about the ingenious website On Va Sortir (Let’s Go Out).

This site reaches 90,000 adults in Paris, all of whom want to meet new people while exploring the city. Once you register, you can propose an event or attend anything posted. There are activities for any interest, from movies to hiking to seeing an artist’s brand-new atelier (free glass of champagne!). If you’re willing to speak French, everything is open to you. But even if you can’t, you won’t be left out.

That’s because so many locals want to practice their English. Maybe you’ve been passing Café de Flore each day but still don’t have the nerve to go in and order. On Va Sortir’s English conversation groups meet there often. Native speakers are welcome, so why not join one?

You can search the site’s offerings by date, taste or language. You can even add criteria such as “gay friendly” or “I have kids.” Event proposers post their photos so that you’ll be able to find them (or they offer clear instructions on how you will meet).

Paris's La Vénus Noire, a meeting place for On Va Sortir

Sound too good to be true? That’s what I thought when a French friend first mentioned it. A fashion buyer who visits Paris for the couture shows, she uses On Va Sortir for an impromptu social life. Months after her last visit, late one Saturday, I finally checked out the offerings near me. There were two English conversation groups, an evening aperitif and numerous movies, concerts and dinners—all of them already full. But there was also an afternoon course on wine just blocks away. It was only 36 euros and something I secretly wanted to try.

Grabbing the last of nine places, I raced to the Latin Quarter. There, outside the door of La Vénus Noire, I recognized our host-proposer, Laurent. He was chatting with Rosemarie, who told us she was there to learn about pairing wines with food. Moments later, the genial Philippe Oberti, who would present our degustation, joined us. More people arrived, and more introductions were made. Then, with lowered heads, we all crept downstairs to a warm, cozy caveau.

Soon we were listening intently, sipping and sharing opinions. Philippe taught us the basic terms used to talk about wine and explained how to size it up and what essentials to look for. He also answered all of Rosemarie’s culinary questions. For the next three hours I was intrigued and often surprised. Wine, as always, proved an international language.

A wine tasting organized by On Va Sortir

Our teacher finished by giving us each a hefty booklet reprising his mini-course, with its own listing of useful Paris addresses. After a bit more socializing, my fellow tasters checked their iPhones, wished each other bonne soirée and started drifting into the twilight. There was no pressure to exchange more than first names, yet it had been a rather special afternoon.

Later, over dinner at home, I was able to offer my own (much better informed) toast—to the inventive team behind On Va Sortir.

Tip Sheet

To register with On Va Sortir, all you need is an email address. Postings for English conversation groups, or “Practicing English,” may be in French, but native speakers are welcome and valued.

Philippe Oberti offers regular wine courses at different levels; contact him via philippeoberti@yahoo.fr.

Editor’s Note: If you’d like to experience a Parisian wine-tasting tour, book with Donna Morris of Best Friend in Paris. Donna will take you all around the 17th Arrondissement, from wine cave to wine shop, where you can sip, savor and learn a bit more about le vin.

For more on how to feed your cultured side while in Paris, click here.

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Paris as a Solo Act

My friend has a theory: London and New York are boy towns, while Paris is all about being a girl. Judging from all the fashion, pink pastries and charming men around, I think she may be onto something. Paris is the ideal destination for a girl getaway. Even if that girl is alone.

Going Out

The Rules
No, not those rules, honey, Paris club rules . . .

1. Think late. Like, 1 a.m. at least. In true French style, you will have dinner...

2. This is the one time when talking loudly in English in Paris is downright smiled upon.

Paris Plans Rained Out? Survival Tips Part Two: Culture Bender!

by Sandra Ban

Tuesday, April 13, 2010 at 10:32 AM

Strike, Rain, Cancellations? Survival Tips Part One: Go to the (Old) Movies!

At the Centre Pompidou, a.k.a Beaubourg. Photo: Steve Sampson

Pompidou queue: It's best to book online. Photo: Steve Sampson

You can buy a ticket online, but be sure to bring an umbrella for the outdoor security queue. Inside, check your brolly and enjoy a day of art, book browsing, film, tasty dining, a little shopping—then writing and even mailing some postcards.

It’s all under one roof. Beaubourg hosts around six art expositions, from mainstream blockbusters to avant-garde offerings (such as video installations of films made on mobile phones). This is all in addition to its permanent collection, the Musée National d’Art Moderne, which reopened on April 4. Housing Europe’s foremost collection of contemporary art, Beaubourg yearly rotates the works on view, culled from a trove of 50,000 pieces by more than 5,000 artists. You’ll find a feast of big names, from Matisse to Pollock, Picasso to Rothko.

Photo: Steve Sampson

There’s also the free Bibliothèque Publique d’Information. Spread over three levels, it boasts publications from around the world, CDs and DVDs—even its own language lab. If you don’t fancy watching one of several thousand animations or documentaries, settle down with a classic movie by Éric Rohmer.

Another free “library” is the Beaubourg’s giant bookstore, with gorgeous art books, guides, biographies, papeterie and zillions of postcards. As you exit, to your right there’s a tiny post office. With your postcards and stamps in hand, just head up to Café Mezzanine. Famous for its tartes salées (heated in a convection oven rather than microwaved), this is a perfect place to write, relax and people-watch. The opposite mezzanine contains the tempting Printemps Design, a boutique with designer items as well as stylish totes and jewelry. Take your time, however. There’s often an evening film, concert or talk coming up, not to mention the swanky eatery Georges on Beaubourg’s upper level. The museum complex stays open until 9 p.m. and, for special occasions, until 11.

Le Lucernaire. Photo: Steve Sampson

Great, you may be thinking, except today is a rainy Tuesday. If that’s the case, why not try funky Le Lucernaire? Known to Parisian students as “the culture garage,” the Lucernaire Forum was created in a disused factory. The space is well worn, with plenty to occupy visitors. There are eight film screens, an upstairs art gallery, two theatres—Théâtre Rouge and Théâtre Noir—a bar, a restaurant and, in the foyer, a secondhand bookstall. On a freezing day, I lucked into free wine and profiteroles from photographer Christophe Hargoues, in celebration of his recent show “Caddie Superstar”—which featured wonderful pictures of the ubiquitous shopping trolley.

Photo: Steve Sampson

I also found a screenplay I had long coveted, lunched amid a crowd of students, then faced a dilemma: watch a musical tribute to jazz legend Boris Vian or a play about Simone de Beauvoir? I ended up at neither, opting for a Michael Moore film. Afterward, the bar was filled with discussions of its merits. But, being just blocks away from convivial Le Trait d’Union, I couldn’t resist the call of that brasserie and its vin chaud. For me, it was a perfect coda to exploring Le Lucernaire.

Tip Sheet: Centre Pompidou

Don’t miss the Atelier Brancusi, a re-creation of the Montparnasse studio of sculptor Constantin Brancusi, located in the piazza outside the museum. Admission is free. Open Wednesdays to Mondays, from 2 to 6 p.m.

Do book online. Beaubourg ticket queues are always long.

Do study the website; there are different entrances for some parts of the facility.

Don't exit before you're ready—there is no reentry. And remember, though Beaubourg often stays open late, its ticket office closes at 8 p.m.

Do plan your visit. The Bibliothèque is least crowded around 6 p.m. Hours: Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from noon to 10 p.m., and on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Enter on the rue du Renard.

Tip Sheet: Le Lucernaire

Do check both film and theatre listings online or in Pariscope; the cinemas screen a mixture of French-language, subtitled and English-language films.

Do check out the children’s offerings if you have kids. There are films as well as reading, music and art activities.

Don't assume your teen will be bored. Le Lucernaire is a hugely popular student hangout during the school term. If you have teens, they may especially enjoy it.

INFO

Le Trait d’Union
122, Rue de Rennes, in the 6th Arrondissement.

Interested in more? Read a list of our favorite museums here. You can also read our guide to the top 15 must-do's in Paris here.

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It is below zero on a Wednesday morning, and the line at the Grand Palais is an hour long for ticket holders. Those without tickets will be standing in the cold even longer. And yet they stand. From Klimt to Picasso, from Warhol to Rodin, the French love their art—which means there are great shows to attend throughout the year.

Tagged film, Paris, France, rainy day, women, Cynthia Rose, travel, museums, Art/Culture, Centre Pompidou in Art/Culture

Femmes Fatales at the Musée d’Orsay: Sex, Sin and the Guillotine

by Lamar C

Tuesday, April 06, 2010 at 10:28 AM

Obsession No. 1, part of the Musée d'Orsay's Crime and Punishment exhibition
Anonymous, Obsession No. 1, ca. 1870. Photocollage, Musée d'Orsay.
© RMN (Musée d'Orsay)/Hervé Lewandowski.

“When artists turn their talent to crime . . . ” is one slogan advertising the Musée d’Orsay’s blockbuster show "Crime et Châtiment" (Crime and Punishment), on view through June 27. It’s a large exhibition (450 pieces) and a provocative one, but also fascinating. With a range of painters, from those we think of as academic—like Théodore Géricault and Edgar Degas—to Expressionists such as Edvard Munch and Egon Schiele, it reveals a fixation on crime equaling that of modern TV news. In addition to famous artists, you’ll meet famous criminals. Films have featured some of them, such as Violette Nozière (Isabelle Huppert plays the teenage poisoner) and Les Enfants du Paradis, which portrays poet-murderer Pierre-François Lacenaire—the inspiration behind Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment.

At the show’s center sits the ultimate femme fatale, an actual guillotine from 1872. Fourteen feet tall, slim and draped in a steel-gray veil, the Revolution’s notorious louisette appears strangely feminine. She is accompanied by a quote from Victor Hugo (“One can have a certain indifference to the death penalty as long as one has not seen a guillotine with one’s own eyes”). One of Andy Warhol’s famed “Electric Chair” prints also hangs nearby, a reminder that the fight against capital punishment has not been won everywhere.

A depiction of Charlotte Corday by Paul Jacques Aimé Baudry, part of the Musée d'Orsay's Crime and Punishment exhibition
Paul Jacques Aimé Baudry, Charlotte Corday, 13 juillet 1793 assassinat
de Marat, 1860. Oil on canvas. Nantes, musée des Beaux-Arts.
© RMN/Gérard Blot.

France abolished the death penalty in 1981, after a fight led by then–justice minister Robert Badinter. As a lawyer, M. Badinter witnessed his own client guillotined, a trauma that turned him into a fierce foe of capital punishment. As an adviser to the exhibition, he insisted on the guillotine: “It was impossible not to have her here. Because, at last, she is reduced to an object of curiosity, she is just another antique in a museum.”

Criminals started to feature in French art during the Revolution, when the revolutionary assembly opened trials to the public. Suddenly an artist could attend any hearing and watch the accused as the crime was being described. This experience, along with a growing tabloid press, helped transform many criminals into celebrities.

Charlotte Corday, painted by Jean-Joseph Weerts, part of the Musée d'Orsay's Crime and Punishment exhibition
Jean-Joseph Weerts, Marat assassiné! 13 juillet 1793, 8h du soir, 1880. Oil on canvas.
Roubaix, La piscine, musée d'art et d'industrie © Photographie Arnaud Loubry.

One of the first was Charlotte Corday, the 24-year-old assassin of Jean-Paul Marat. Her 1793 story has plenty of drama—while the radical revolutionary Marat was one of the most famous men in Paris, Corday was a pretty unknown. She traveled from the country specifically to commit the murder, buying a knife in Paris, then hiding it in her corset. After convincing Marat’s dubious wife to let her see him, Corday plunged her stiletto into his chest. Her sex, youth and daring gave artists a perfect subject—but the exposition shows their different views of her character. Jacques-Louis David’s classic memorial carefully ignores her presence. But, in others, Corday is the central character. Paul Jacques Aimé Baudry shows her as driven yet fragile (above, middle), Jean-Joseph Weerts as overwhelmed by what she has done (above, bottom). To Munch, she is a villainess, the ultimate faithless female.

The show covers many themes, including Romantic petty criminals, Surrealist murder and 19th-century crime scene photos. You may not want to linger over everything. But look out for Victor Hugo’s moving drawings, Cézanne’s famous Murder and Van Gogh’s stunning Prisoner’s Patrol. In each of these, the artist’s own dread adds to a scary scenario—and, voyeuristic or not, each is wonderful art.

"Crime and Punishment" is on view at the Musée d’Orsay through June 27. The museum is offering a large selection of talks, events, movies and concerts connected with the exhibition. One is a five-part crime novel for 15- to 25-year-olds, written for mobile phones by Malika Ferdjoukh. Download it from SmartNovel.

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Franco Files: A Dozen Don'ts to Remember in Paris

by Lamar C

Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 08:46 AM

Franco Files: She's Got "Le Look"

Learn your Parisian etiquette; in France, politeness can be your greatest weapon
Photo: Steve Sampson.

1. Don’t rush. Life in Paris is about making time, especially for people. Be prepared to slow down!

2. Don’t even think, “Everyone speaks English.” Whether they do or not, they are French. (What language do you speak at home?) The quality of your stay will depend directly on what French you attempt and—more important—on knowing some basic French manners.

The Basics When you enter a shop, a room—even a building foyer or elevator—acknowledge whomever you see. Say "Bonjour, Madame" or "Bonjour, Monsieur" (never just "Bonjour," and never combine the greetings as "Bonjour Madame, Monsieur"). By evening, say "Bonsoir, Madame (Monsieur)." As you leave a shop, say "Merci" or "Au revoir." Elsewhere say "Bonne journée" (Have a good day) and, at night, "Bonne soirée" (Have a good evening). Around the holidays, add a "Bonnes fêtes à vous." Also: don’t smile all the time. Say "Pardon" when you disturb anyone and "S’il vous plaît" before asking anything. You can easily practice pronunciation in advance.

3. Don’t overschedule. Leave time for discoveries. Book in advance for big museum shows (or movies), especially those that just opened. The same is true of blockbusters in their final days (derniers jours). Otherwise, you may queue for hours.

4. Don’t fail to dress neatly. Parisians assume everyone wants to be dressed well. No big white sneakers (no matter what you read), no jogging pants, no short shorts.

5. Don’t fall for the “surly French waiter” stereotype. Paris has all kinds of staff. The solution to perceived service problems is 1) remain polite, 2) remain patient and 3) never tell anyone he or she is “wrong.” (This is considered an act of incredible rudeness.) In fact, those who receive your apology—if you tell them that you misheard or that you were wrong*—may become transformed; they must demonstrate that they can be equally polite. Remember, French battles are rarely won by Anglo-Saxon tactics.

6. Don’t expect “convenience.” Paris has its own rhythms. Most museums close Mondays or Tuesdays; almost everything (except museums and movies) shuts down completely on Sundays and on holidays.

7. Don’t pack clothes that need constant dry cleaning. A “pressing” is often slow and expensive. Also, leave synthetics at home during the warm months. Paris is humid, so natural fibers are far more comfortable.

8. Don’t carry a wet umbrella, however small, around any store. If there is no stand by the door, a salesperson can tell you where to place it. Stores such as Le Bon Marché offer plastic slip-on covers at entrances.

For Paris, pack flexibly: dry cleaning is expensive and closet space rare
Photo: Steve Sampson.

9. Don’t look for bargain rates on French makeup or luxury labels. When you buy these in Paris, you also pay for the real estate. Especially if you normally buy online, prices will shock you.

10. Don’t expect closet space. That is, unless you’re in a fancy hotel or a rented flat renovated by foreigners. Pack flexibly.

11. Don’t throw away metro or RER tickets before your journey ends. Inspectors sometimes spot-check and you could be fined.

12. Don’t worry! Making a small effort to experience Paris as Parisians do should add depth, richness and warmth to your visit—as well as ensure you will want to return. It’s painless and easily done, so just go for it!

* Even expats fluent in French often balk at this point. But in Paris politeness is nonnegotiable, and sometimes there’s no better weapon than "Pardonnez-moi, j'avais tort" (Excuse me, I was wrong).

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Chic. Even in English we use the French term. It is a stereotype, to be sure, but like the best stereotypes, this one comes with a large grain of truth behind it. French women are incredibly elegant. And it is not about expensive clothing or formalwear, either. What is their secret weapon?

“Hello,” I said with a bright smile. “I am M's mom. She is so thrilled your daughter invited her to the birthday party. Oh, my name is Sylvia.” I rattled this off to the other mother in my nearly fluent French, my hand out, ready to shake. “Oh, very well” was the rather dry response.

The French are well known for their commitment to accessories and their devotion to the scarf. And it is true, after wearing a scarf daily, one feels naked without one. Naked and drafty. Which is a convenient problem for me because I happen to have something of an addiction.

Tagged Paris, France, women, Cynthia Rose, travel, French custom, etiquette, advice, Franco Files in Franco Files

The Art of Luxury: Very Special Paris Galleries

by Lamar C

Friday, March 19, 2010 at 10:14 AM

Hermès
Hermès. Photo: Steve Sampson.

In Paris, luxury fashion has always leaned on the arts. But this partnership was really forged after World War I, at the moment style changed because of jazz, fast cars and flapper fashions. Then it was Coco Chanel who truly seized the impulse for change. Amid the art boom, she started actively bankrolling artists—a gamble that helped her business gain a global profile.

Having used "functional" fabrics to create a revolution, “Mademoiselle” emerged from the war rich indeed. By 1920, she was supporting not just individuals (such as Jean Cocteau), but also funding ballet, concerts and theatre. If stage sets were by Picasso, Chanel would do the costumes, another strategy that kept her name on everyone’s lips.

Gaultier at Fondation Cartier
Gaultier. Courtesy Fondation Cartier.

These days, through everything from the Internet to gallery spaces, French luxury brands are reviving her approach. The first modern Chanel was actually Agnès Troublé, better known as Agnès B. Troublé has been backing filmmakers since the 1980s (the bunnies in her Christmas windows were put there by Jonas Mekas). Since the mid-1990s, she has also run Galerie du Jour Agnès B. Currently the space is showing “Bonjour Monsieur Boltanski!”—a lively homage to the star of this year’s Monumenta that features 11 artists who work in different mediums.

The newly relaunched website Nowness takes Troublé’s formula literally: it offers an art creation du jour—every day—online. Formerly the “e-luxury” site for Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Nowness is the latest of the many ways LVMH links its products to art. Atop their Champs-Élysées store, for example, you can visit l’Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton. There’s both a great view and a fabulous expo on Chile. When you go, however, don’t miss the elevator; it’s a “spatial installation” by art star Olafur Eliasson.

The exhibition Animal, backed by Hermès, at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs
From "Animal," on view at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs through November 30, 2011.
Photo: Jean Tholance, Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

Rival house Hermès has its own art body, the epically wealthy Fondation d’Entreprise Hermès. It sponsors everything from artists, shows and renovations to research, talks and theatre. The Fondation is behind the massive new presentation Animal at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs—featuring more than 400 objects in a totally redesigned gallery, all exploring how artists have used animal imagery to create fashion, jewelry, textiles and toys.

Luxury jewelers Cartier are veteran art sponsors. In 1984 they opened the stunning Fondation Cartier to present artists from around the world. Offered a retrospective there in 2004, Jean Paul Gaultier instead gave them Pain Couture—a French costume fantasy created entirely with bread. This spring Cartier is showing "Gosse de Peintre" (Kid Painter), which features videos, paintings and toys by art celeb Takeshi Kitano. This expo also includes specially made Venetian vases—the kind of classy touch big brands can offer.

Fondation Cartier. Photo: Steve Sampson.

When a fancy label connects you with cutting-edge art, it seems both more modern and more accessible. It also reminds you that, as Chanel always insisted, “Fashion is in the sky and in the street . . . Fashion has to do with the way we live and what is happening.”

INFO

Bonjour Monsieur Boltanski! at Galerie du Jour Agnès B through April 3.

Chile behind the Scenes, at l’Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton through May 9.

Gosse de Peintre/Kid Painter, at Fondation Cartier through September 12.

Animal, at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs through November 30, 2011.

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Tagged Paris, France, women, Cynthia Rose, fashion, travel, exhibitions, Hermès, art, Art/Culture, luxury, Gaultier, Cartier in Art/Culture

Meet Monsieur Saint Laurent

by Lamar C

Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 09:51 AM

Perfumer Francis Kurkdjian Goes Bespoke

Yves Saint Laurent's Trapeze dress, from the spring 1958 Dior collection, commemorated in the current YSL retrospective at the Petit Palais in Paris /></span><br /> <span style=
© Alexandre Guirkinger. Saint Laurent's "Trapeze" dress, from
the spring 1958 Dior collection. The year before, at age 21, Saint
Laurent took over the couture house after Dior's death.

There has been no other fashion talent like Yves Saint Laurent—yet, although he died only two years ago, most young people equate his name with a label on lipsticks and sunglasses. When “YSL” retired from fashion in 2002, however, he boldly stated, “I am the last couturier.” His epic new retrospective at the Petit Palais makes a pretty convincing case that he was correct.

On one level, it is a joyful, theatrical homage that includes audio, video, sketches and photographs. It starts you off chez Dior in 1958, just as Saint Laurent debuts his famous "Trapeze" dress—a bouffant cocktail confection shimmering in red, ivory and black. Concept after concept follows: his signature "Le Smoking" (the “woman’s tuxedo”); Saharan safari suits; sailor-suit chic; collections inspired by paintings, by the Ballets Russes, by India, by Russia, by opera.

All are displayed to highlight their immortality. Gender-bending pantsuits alight on formal gilt chairs; those sleek frocks inspired by Mondrian and Braque become art themselves, posed against the backdrop of gallery-like white walls. As you peek into muse Catherine Deneuve’s closet or gawk at Saint Laurent’s reassembled office, it seems undeniable that this is fashion history writ in capital letters.

The first tuxedo for women, Le Smoking, designed by Yves Saint Laurent in fall 1966, commemorated in the current YSL retrospective at the Petit Palais in Paris
© Fondation Pierre Bergé–Yves Saint Laurent.
The first tuxedo for women ("Le Smoking"),
designed by Saint Laurent in autumn 1966.

The spark that lit the eternal flame ignited in 1971, the year Saint Laurent was photographed nude (for a perfume ad) and the year of his famous Scandale collection. With tarty models in turbans, platform shoes and loud, short furs, it evoked both streetwalkers from the Bois de Boulogne and collaboration horizontale, or sexual relations with Nazi soldiers, during the Occupation. There was a hugely hostile reaction (comments and reviews appear blown up on the wall behind). Yet the collection proved Saint Laurent could take fashion wherever he wanted. He was unashamedly gay, the show was unabashedly camp and its retro impulse made fashion admit things had changed. Chanel had just died—after naming Yves her “heir”—and new names were transforming the arts. Picasso, Dalí and Cocteau were still alive, but the arts were now fixated on Warhol, David Hockney and Visconti.

Green fur coat from the spring 1971 Yves Saint Laurent collection—the one that became known the Scandale collection—commemorated in the current YSL retrospective at the Petit Palais in Paris
© Alexandre Guirkinger. From the spring 1971 Saint Laurent collection,
which became known the Scandale collection.

YSL seized that moment to resculpt style, creating his legendary Saint Laurent shoulder. Coco Chanel had lifted and tightened the armhole of jerseys and jackets to create a long, clean line—but Saint Laurent went dramatically wider and sharper. As his life and business partner, Pierre Bergé, puts it, “Yves gave women power by slipping menswear onto their shoulders.”

From Proustian nostalgia to the vibrancy of his native North Africa, Saint Laurent burned through, and then returned to, inspirations. All are here, including a staircase crowded with wonderful bourgeois ball gowns. But everything is framed to support a central thesis—that YSL was more than a genius; he was in fact the total embodiment of haute couture. He was that supreme artist for whom all others had paved the way.

One can certainly argue with this thesis (orchestrated, like YSL’s entire career, by the ever-resourceful Bergé). Nevertheless, Saint Laurent’s deep links with the Parisian soul support it. For Parisians, taste and discernment are fundamental to life itself. Even at his most daring, YSL paid homage to that—and the man one meets here is the perfect, the consummate Parisian.

The retrospective at the Petit Palais runs through August 29; booking ahead is essential (booking is also possible through FNAC).

Want more YSL?

In March 2004, the Saint Laurent maison reopened as the Fondation Pierre Bergé–Yves Saint Laurent, which houses 5,000 pieces, 15,000 accessories and 150,000 sketches by YSL and hosts public exhibitions. Until May 9, the Fondation is showing The Last Maharajas: splendid costumes from the courts of India in the last days of the Raj.

The film Yves Saint Laurent–Pierre Bergé, l’Amour Fou, by Pierre Thoretton, opens September 29 in Parisian cinemas.

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While on a red-eye flight home to Paris in 2001, the talented young French perfumer Francis Kurkdjian was enjoying small talk with the woman beside him about their respective lines of work.

L’Association 59 Rivoli

One of the most beloved sites for contemporary art in the French capital is not a museum or gallery but l’Association 59 Rivoli, a daring arts collective inviting you to faisez comme chez vous, or make yourself at home, in their artists' studios.

Meet the Muse Who Changed Paris: Isadora Duncan

by Lamar C

Tuesday, February 16, 2010 at 09:00 AM

“Love Gives Life”: Christian Boltanski at the Grand Palais

Courtesy Musée Bourdelle.

Isadora at the Musée Bourdelle

"Isadora Duncan: Une Sculpture Vivante" at the Musée Bourdelle is one of Paris’s most exuberant expos. But don’t plan to go unless you’ve got time to spend. From its rare costumes and photographs to wonderful paintings, films and sculptures, this show is as fascinating as its subject. Plus, if you don’t already know Isadora, this is a great way to meet one of the last century’s most notorious stars.

Step by step, you’ll participate in her rise—from humble American origins to the role of international legend. Isadora’s métier was “free,” or modern, dance, which, paired with her beauty and daring, proved her ticket to greatness. It’s utterly riveting to follow her ascent, complete with torrid love affairs, passionate politics and epic tragedies. (The dancer bore three children out of wedlock, none of whom survived, and she died when she was accidentally strangled by her scarf.)

The exhibition follows Isadora from dancing in drawing rooms to stardom, both across Europe and in Russia after the revolution. We see the Greek antiquities that first inspired her, then rare photos of her dancing on the Acropolis. More glamorous photographs by Druet and Steichen, as well as sculptures of Isadora by Bourdelle and Rodin (not to mention dresses by Paul Poiret and Fortuny), make it easy to understand just how famous she became. (Isadora inspired, among others, Russian theatre great Konstantin Stanislavsky, British playwright George Bernard Shaw and Ballets Russes stars Sergei Diaghilev, Anna Pavlova and Michel Fokine.)

Her stardom reverberates through rooms of magazine covers and features, books, love poems, letters and postcards, newspaper cuttings, watercolors, paintings, jewelry, murals and sketches—all are of Isadora or inspired by her. The toast of both Parisian art circles and high society, she is described by Colette as “a woman who would dance to her death, on naked feet.”

The museum puts Isadora-mania into context, though, by including not just photos of her famous lovers, doomed children and dance schools (in Germany, France and Moscow). It also offers a solid perspective on the world she inhabited—as well as her teachers and competition, from other “experimental” dancers to legends such as Nijinsky.

There is a brief film of Isadora actually dancing, as well as filmed performances by her students, the “Isadorables.” A special contemporary movie, Carnet d’un rêveur (A Dreamer’s Notebook) features dancers from the Centre Chorégraphique National de Grenoble.

This museum is captivating on its own merits; it has long been a secret favorite among Parisians. Perhaps that is because, wandering its gardens and studios, one can truly sense the vanished Montparnasse. Jaw-dropping as Bourdelle’s great monuments are—and they enjoy their own specially built great hall—the site’s real attraction is that quiet sense of travel through time, back to a more intimate and bohemian Paris.

"Isadora Duncan: Une Sculpture Vivante" is at the Musée Bourdelle through March 14, 2010.

A Quick Tour of Isadora’s Paris

45, rue de Villiers, in the 17th Arrondissement
Isadora lived here, where she gave her first performances in Paris, for Rodin, Bourdelle and numerous artists and socialites.

9, rue Delambre, in the 14th
Isadora moved here to join the Montparnasse art scene, telling friends she danced in the Luxembourg Gardens every day at 5 a.m.

5, rue Danton, in the 5th
Isadora took two apartments here in 1909, living on the ground floor and teaching dance above.

108, rue de la Pompe, in the 16th
Isadora’s studio here was called Salle Beethoven. Visiting in the 1920s, Janet Flanner called her “without question the most famous American living in Paris.”

Père-Lachaise Cemetery
Final resting place of Isadora, who was cremated and buried next to her children on September 19, 1927.

Watch: The 1968 biopic Isadora, starring Vanessa Redgrave, who won Best Actress at Cannes for her portrayal.

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Artist Christian Boltanski loves to shop at Paris flea markets. “I go,” he says, “I see a jacket that I like and I say, 'Take me, I’m yours!' I bring the jacket a whole new life, because love always gives life.”

The Arab World in Paris

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The Institut du Monde Arabe (Institute of the Arab World), in the 5th Arrondissement, is at once a museum, a library and a cultural center.

The Great Flood of 1910

The Great Paris Flood of 1910 in the show Paris Inondé

Tagged Paris, France, women, Cynthia Rose, travel, exhibitions, museums, dance, Isadora Duncan, Art/Culture in Art/Culture

“Love Gives Life”: Christian Boltanski at the Grand Palais

by Lamar C

Tuesday, February 09, 2010 at 11:00 AM

The Arab World in Paris

Boltanski is discussing the impulses behind "Personnes," his new installation at the Grand Palais. "Personnes," which means either “people” or “nobodies,” is this year’s offering from Paris’s annual Monumenta exhibition. Every year, Monumenta gives a single artist access to all 145,000 square feet of the nave at the Grand Palais. Boltanski’s amazing piece has utterly transformed the space—and visitors to it become part of the spectacle.

Entering the vast hall, you first confront a monster wall. It’s made out of rusted biscuit tins, the kind used to hold family photographs or children’s treasures. For Boltanski, these tins have become a signature object—a symbol of our desire to remember. Walking around the wall, you enter a dreamlike vision. The huge floor holds a colossal field of empty clothes, spread flat into 69 giant squares. At the corners of each square are audio speakers on pillars, and each square booms out a real (recorded) heartbeat, echoing through the chilly air, amplified by the concrete floor. The show’s center is a towering mountain of secondhand clothing. Periodically the scarlet claw of a crane descends, wrests a bunch of clothes from this pile, then lifts those items to the top of the grand glass ceiling.

There they are released, to float slowly down through the air and back to the heap. The squeal and whine of the crane blends with the synchronized heartbeats until their strange music (as well as the cold) envelops you. Seen over and over, the moment of random free fall is stunning—simple clothing suddenly seems like souls, falling bodies or spirits.

This is not conceptual art, where you have to “get the idea." It is an absorbing and strangely delicate experience. Someone stands beside you, listening intently to the same heartbeat, mesmerized just like you by the acres of clothes whose sleeves seem to gesture. The silent sense of sharing is powerful.

Boltanski says he wants all his art to reach everyone. “I place objects in relation to the subject—you. I also try to work with things that mean everyone knows what I’m doing," he explains. "Good art is like a machine where everything is useful. I try to be useful, not to make 'beautiful things.'”

At once truly spectacular and poetically simple, "Personnes" evokes surprising depths of feeling—thoughts about one’s family or about Haiti, the Holocaust, 9/11. Boltanski, whose own family was scarred by the occupation of France, says he strives to commemorate individual identities. “Because the big memory is already there in books. It’s the small memory that interests me: knowing the best place to get cake or knowing a certain joke. Those kinds of memory are the most easily lost. Each person is so important but, also, so fragile.”

To emphasize his point, all the elements of "Personnes" will be recycled when it concludes. The piece will be staged again this May in New York. But, says the artist, “we are sending nothing. It’s like a piece of music that must be reorchestrated.”

“For me,” he says, “exhibitions should function like musical scores. Tell your stories with light and sensations—then let the visitor finish them.”

"Personnes" is on view at the Grand Palais through February 21. Mon and Wed, 10 a.m.–7 p.m.; Thurs–Sun, 10 a.m.–10 p.m. Closed Tues. To answer questions, multilingual specialists are stationed throughout the space.

Ed. note: You can download a free Grand Palais app for your iPhone that tells you all about the landmark in either English or French. Interviewees include designer Karl Lagerfeld and artist Daniel Buren.

Other Boltanski Works to See

Après
Contemporary Art Museum of Val-de-Marne
In tandem with Monumenta, Boltanski created this version of “afterlife" at the Contemporary Art Museum of Val-de-Marne. It is accessible by metro and bus or RER; the Grand Palais also provides a shuttle service.

The Inhabitants of the Hôtel Saint-Aignan in 1939
Museum of Judaic Art and History
This fascinating museum (which includes artifacts of the Dreyfus affair as well as art by Chagall and Soutine) asked Boltanski to create its sole reference to the Holocaust. His permanent installation is in a small courtyard.

About the Artist

The son of a doctor and a novelist, Boltanski had a very strange childhood. During the Occupation, before his birth in 1944, his Jewish parents staged a quarrel, then divorced. Unbeknownst to his elder brothers—who thought their father had deserted the family—the doctor was living in a closet of their Paris apartment. Once the war ended, his parents remarried. But until Boltanski was 18, he says, his family was “ruled by a sense of instability”; every member slept in the same room (“for safety”). His mother, who had survived polio, used her sons as “canes” to walk—thus Boltanski was rarely at school. Instead he taught himself to paint and ran a small gallery. His real subject, installations that seek to rescue lost identities, emerged during the 1980s. Since then he has received many global awards and will represent France at the 2011 Venice Biennale. He is married to the French artist Annette Messager.

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The Institut du Monde Arabe (Institute of the Arab World), in the 5th Arrondissement, is at once a museum, a library and a cultural center.

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Tagged Paris, France, women, Cynthia Rose, travel, exhibitions, Christian Boltanski, art, Grand Palais in Art/Culture

The Great Flood of 1910

by Lamar C

Monday, January 25, 2010 at 10:58 AM

If you saw the film Camille Claudel, with Isabelle Adjani, you know a flood almost drowned the artist in her studio—and Claudel was indeed rescued from her atelier (it was at 19, Quai Bourbon on the Île St.-Louis; the year was 1910). But the Great Paris Flood affected not only Rodin’s ex-mistress—it rendered more than 150,000 Parisians homeless. A quarter of the buildings in Paris were inundated, turning daily life in the city upside down for months. Now, the exhibition "Paris Inondé 1910" offers a fascinating portrait of how the citizens coped.

Those turn-of-the-century Parisians relished their city’s modernity. They were proud of their telephones, elevators, electricity, busy metros and train stations. Plus, they loved la poste pneumatique (an early instant-messaging system able to rocket paper notes through subterranean tubes).

It was all this progress, however, that created catastrophe. A wet summer was followed by heavy snows, saturating the ground itself. When it started raining on January 18, 1910, the Seine rose with unusual speed. Via the city's system of underground improvements, the water was able to infiltrate sewers, tunnels and underground caves. Soon it was rampaging through the metro and deluging railway stations. Within days, Paris turned into Venice.

Yet this grande crue (great flood) provoked an unexpected unity, and the exhibition shows us how Parisians struggled, improvised—and laughed—together. Amazingly, it’s clear they decided to enjoy the spectacle: “People go to see the floods,” writes one grand lady, “as if they were a revue.”

The early newsreels on view are especially dazzling (during my visit, a gang of French children was camped in front of them, pointing and exclaiming). But the whole show features photos of improbable charm. Determined to shop, for instance, women in furs descend homemade ladders into rowboats and gentlemen ogle ladies raising their skirts to totter on makeshift bridges. A crowd in the Jardin des Plantes gawks at a bear—named Martin—escaped from the zoo; a dog refuses to step on a raft and join his fleeing family. Things are desperate, but many in the photos are laughing.

Of course, there are also stunning vistas of half-submerged landmarks. The poet Apollinaire steps out into the street where he lives and compares his neighborhood to “a charming little village in Holland.” Proust is caught grousing about repairs to his parquet floor. Paul Cambon, then French ambassador to London, fumes by letter that he cannot bear to “miss the fun.”

“Say what one will about this Parisian population,” he writes, observing that “nothing can please them but the extraordinary!” Even small ads from newspapers prove he was right. In one, a “gentleman philanthropist” offers “situations for girls and young female victims—all discretion assured.” Even Paris real estate agents refused to admit defeat. (“Ruined by the floods, our vendor sells at a massive reduction and, unlike him, his maison remains untouched by the waters!”)

Of course, Paris inundated was also Paris freezing and Paris paralyzed. “It’s like going back twenty years in time,” sniffs one resident to her neighbor. “No electricity, no elevators, no telephones!” (No public clocks, either; all of them failed at the same moment: 10:50 a.m. on January 21.) Yet, as "Paris Inondé" demonstrates, this was one disaster people faced with panache. Why? Because they were Parisians and they were modern! This irresistible exhibition gives us a real peek at their world.

"Paris Inondé 1910" runs from January 8 to March 28, at Galerie des Bibliothèques:

22, rue Malher, in the 4th Arrondissement, near the St.-Paul metro stop.
Mon–Sun, 1–7 p.m.; Thurs until 9.
Admission: 4 euros (reduced rate: 2 euros).

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