How right Marielle was. This was like traveling into another time zone, another world. A new world next to Paris which had taken 14 years to build. Know what I am talking about? The Louis Vuitton Foundation which was opened in October 2014.
Photos taken while we were waiting and when we left.
Of course we could have chosen a better day to go. It was drizzling and cold - very cold - and we had to wait for 30 minutes before going in. Fortunately my ICOM card go us both in at the same time without Marielle having to wait in line. It was warm and cosy inside despite the huge open area and a single rose to welcome us.
This new space will be devoted to contemporary art. We all know that the Foundation is private and was made possible by the patronage of LVMH and the group’s companies, notably Louis Vuitton. Bernard Arnault, who is the President of the group and of the Foundation, has a personal passion for artistic creation and this is what fueled his decision to build the Foundation Louis Vuitton. He chose Frank Gehry, one of the greatest architects of our time to meet the challenge of designing this extraordinary monument. Marielle and I had seen his exhibition at the Beaubourg which had left us rather flat. As I said in my Blog chapter, his buildings need to be seen in situ. However, there was one gallery dedicated to the models and the building which was extraordinary, bringing everything into perspective and letting us live all those years of construction.
Photos taken of the different maquettes
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| The set up of the café |
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Arnault’s personal collection will be displayed in the permanent collection. For the moment this is not altogether the case but will be later on. Temporary exhibitions will be organized in conjunction with other public and private institutions and add to that, private collections. I have no doubt at all that Mr Arnault can open many « expensive » doors in order to share with us some very exciting works.
Arnault quotes Picasso in his opening words. « Art wipes the soul clean of the dust of everyday life. A cleansed soul should restore enthusiasm and enthusiasm is what we, and future generations - need most » - I couldn’t agree with those words more. My enthusiasm was perhaps contagious and Marielle and I spent nearly two hours « oohing and ahhing » at the incredible space. Finally huge pictures, sculptures could breathe and even if there were people around, they disappeared quickly and let us resume our pleasure.
There were supervisors everywhere. People were pleasant and helpful. Our first contact suggested that we start at the top floor and worked our way down - like that we would cross those going up.
So we did.
This is a boat, a ship, which you look down into the depths of its hull. I felt a little giddy gazing down and certainly we would not tempt to go out onto the top deck. The wind was howling. By the look of things too, we would not be eating in the café at lunchtime. The queue was long already.
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| Looking partly down |
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| The café |
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| The sun that didn't stay out |
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| A "boule" which turned |
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| Too cold to go outside |
But Na June Pail greeted us with his Rodin, (Le Penseur) 1976. In case you didn’t know, June Pail is considered to be one of the founding fathers of video art. Something that I am not really too keen on. This is a strange piece. « Le penseur » seems to be gazing into the television set, looking for his identity. Marielle pointed out that this was the first T.V. set she had. Mine was small and square too.
The next gallery only had three pieces in it. A couple of people went in - and came out. Giuseppe Penone is someone I follow. His love of nature and trees and expression of art using organic and ordinary materials, is admirable. This particular piece Foglia di Zucca (1982), explores the ideas of veins as the structure of life in a reduced style. Looking at it closely, I saw that it wasn’t a tree trunk as I thought at first, but in actual fact, the structure was made out of bronze and steel. Practically camouflage?
I couldn’t get excited about Mona Haltom’s Straw Hat (2013). She comes from Lebanon and is of Palestinian origin. Does this mean a relationship between two people and peacefully so? I am sure that my professor at the Ecole du Louvre would be able to talk about this piece for hours - it didn’t really « talk to me ».
Thomas Schüte’s « Weeping Woman » 2009, did. But there was no story told, so I imagined my own. Frankly, I think she is weeping for joy as when we look at her face close up, it doesn’t really look unhappy.
And then into the next gallery. Look at this……SPACE. I watched Marielle go over to read about the Tree. There we were in this wonderful area which breathed creation. Tacit Dean is English (born in 1965) and although she was originally a painter, she turned to photography and film in the early 1990’s. « Majesty » (2006) is the largest oak tree still intact in the South East of England and Majesty is its nickname. I said to Marielle that such a picture makes me want to discover the real tree. I suppose I will have to find out where it is on Internet.
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| Photographs of "lightening" |
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| Majesty |
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This is another of her photographs which I find equally exciting.
Turning into the next gallery we discover huge painting of Sigmar Polke who you may remember I enjoy. His cloud paintings (1992-2009) comprise four large nearly monochromatic paintings of identical size on semi transparent silk fabric that reveals the structure of the frames and a meteorite. This four billion year old meteorite is the third biggest discovered in Sikhote Alin in Siberia. The relationship ship between the paintings and this extraordinary stone in such a wide space is unforgettable. The question is though, how was Polke permitted to remove the meteorite and keep it?
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| The meteorite |
There were other meteorites too.....
Of course it was a pleasure to see Alberto Giacometti. More so for me were the Henri Cartier Breton photographs. I wonder how many artists today work in a tie and shirt?
His minimalist drawing too of Caroline is very touching.
From not so far off we heard a whistling sound which would have driven me mad if I had had to put up with it all day. A young man informed us that the noise came from flutes. Cerrito Wyn Evans. He is foremost a film maker and a video artist. This sound is certainly heard before it is seen. Each flute plays only one note from a composition created by the artist. It maybe a magical structure but I would have appreciated it more without the whistling music.
Behind it we discovered Thomas Schütte’s « Man in Mud » 2009. It needed this space, in fact from my point of view, it could have had a bit more. This is certainly a timeless piece. It’s a strange sculpture as whatever he is holding, it seems to be unidentifiable. (Anne and Pierrette updated me on this. He is holding a dowser, a water diviner. I loved Anne's comment...."we used one in our garden and found old stone walls corners buried. The experience is fabulous as that baguette turns in your hands without you moving, apart from walking slowly. Amazing indeed") He looks thoughtful, but worried. I’m not too sure which. One of the watercolors next to this « creature » was called Lillies. Lovely.
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Now down to the depths of the ship to see the final temporary exhibition. Olafur Eliasson.(Danish-Icelandic artist born in 1967) « Inside Horizon », 2014. A commission for the opening. But as we walked into a darkened area the discovery of ourselves in mirrors and reflections was exciting, funny and eery at the same time. Just to show you. Here is a series of photo of us…….
I suggest you look at this page
www.olafureliasson.netwww.olafureliasson.net
if only to get an idea of the immensity of his work.
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| Inside Horizon |
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| Inside Horizon |
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| Inside Horizon |
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| Going from one room to the next |
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| Not as interesting as below |
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| Weird |
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| You can see us in the background |
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| As we left...... |
What a wonderful morning. I’ll be back in March to see the next temporary exhibition. Then I hope the sun will shine and « this remarkable ship » will be dazzling in a new light.
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