OLD AND NEW LOUVRE

After our conferences at the Louvre School on the Monday or Wednesday, Marielle and I usually go off and look at the originals of the work that have been discussed - if of course they are in the Louvre. This week there were none so we decided to go and see two small - very small exhibitions. Both quite bewildering! The first had interested me as I have been reading quite a bit on the subject

New Frontier II. American Art Enters the Louvre. 
The origins of American genre painting

«This year’s theme is the development of genre painting in the United States from the first half of the 19th century to the Civil War, a period of economic and territorial expansion for the young nation. Interest in art was not yet widespread, and European academics struggled to find an audience. Some American artist met with popular success by painting scenes that depicted the daily lives of people on the fringes of society, those who ventured into the huge country’s virgin territories. Though seemingly naive in style, these images of trappers were influenced by European genre paintings, notably those from the Dutch Golden Age and contemporary British works».

This particuar painting seemed to be the only one which could be really described as American. Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait «The Life of a Hunter» I’m afraid that I found no date. 



There was one other with a scene of a black family but frankly it could have been anywhere. Then around ten paintings done by English, (Turner) Dutch (Steen) and other European painters ranging from a scene of Lady Macbeth or a sea-scape and a portrait of one of the Rothschilds. We didn’t understand the connection at all as certainly the painting that you see here could not have been influenced by Europeans - unless of course the Americans imagined that such bears wandered around our parks and gardens.

We were puzzled. 

And that puzzlement continued as I wanted to discover a contemporary artist (the Louvre does quite a few contemporary shows now) by the name of Walid Raad Lebanese and today working in New York. He works in a large spectrum of techniques, photos, videos, prints, installations....and what I had seen in the Louvre booklet impressed me. Well the installation did 

On the right with a red door leading to no-where

On the Left

but everything else was video and so badly displayed that there were few people trying to see it. Shame.



Yesterday we went to Lens. This is the new Louvre which has been built in a very poor region, slightly out of the town but going to it by train, you understand at once how poor the department  is.
in. 

There is a tiny dot on the top left of France

 Since the museum was opened in December, there has been apparently a record number of visitors. It’s in the Pas de Calais, close to the Belgium border and just over an hour from Paris if you are foruntate enough to have a direct fast train

 It’s certainly not a stunning building from the outside and it didn’t look like this to me but the space in the inside is marvelous and even if there are a lot of people, you can wander through the galleries without being disturbed. Unfortunately I had left my Iphone at home, so couldn't take photos  and those photos  Internet do not give a feeling of this space. It’s a time line wandering through Eygyptian to early 20th century art. And there are some beautiful pieces to be seen.

Liberty Leading the People -1830

 Many may have read that the Eugene Delacroix «Liberty Leading the People» had been vandalized by some womam a week ago. It’s difficult to understand how this could have happened as there is a small barrier around the painting (now a much larger one). Fortunately, the varnish saved it and the painting was cleaned in a couple of days. 



Before and after "Saint Anne" - 1517

The temporary exhibition on the Renaissance led us to many of the paintings we have talked about during our course. But what impressed me most was Leonard de Vinci’s «Saint Anne». Like the rest of Paris I would think and without counting the thousands of overeas visitors, I had seen the restored painting in the Paris Louvre last year. Seeing it meant peering over shoulders. You can’t help but be impressed but frankly the colours were too bright and the blue too blue. Anything in close vicinity looked very dirty and grey. The painting is now in Lens for the Renaissance exhibition, has space and was a joy to look at. The colours fell into place and suddenly I could see what an incredible painting it is.