An exhibition? A Concert? Who knows what I will want to share but whatever it is, I hope you will share it with me.
BEAUTIFUL MUSIC - Chapter 1
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I wasn’t too sure how I would react to the Chagall exhibition as I have seen so much of his work. Would it be a repeat of what I know? Up until now I had not visited The Philharmonie de Paris exhibition centre. Laurent and I were off to see Marc Chagall: "The Triumph of Music" which explores the artist’s creations for the stage, the décors and architectural works he was commissioned to produce, all somehow tied to music.
There was a marvelous video on the ceiling and music on off playing for
each one of the works shown in the monumental painting. It really is a
stunning tribute to the composers who have marked the history of music. This is not quite the one, but certainly worthwhile watching - in any language..
Maquette for the wall painting in the Metropolitan Opera - New York - 1966
As above
Final design for Garnier, Paris 1963
Final design for Garnier, Paris 1963
The show brings together some three hundred artworks (paintings, drawings, costumes, sculptures and ceramics), with multimedia installations featuring the ceiling of the Paris Opera thanks to extraordinary technology developed by Google Lab, and photographs (for the most part previously unpublished), including those of Marc Chagall’s studio taken by Izis in the 1960s.
The exhibition starts at the end of his life and finishes with the panels Chagall painted for the Jewish Theatre in Moscow in 1920, conserved at the Tretyakov Gallery, form a universal décor, encompassing the different arts (Music, Dance, Theatre and Literature)A “total” approach to art, while celebrating Yiddish culture and language through the amalgam of vernacular theatre, music, rhythm, sound and colour.
Self Portrait, 1907 (Beaubourg)
Self portrait in Green: 1914: Beaubourg
Painter at the Crucifixion, 1968 (P.C.)
Double Profile, 1964
Final design for the Synagogue, Jersualem : 1959-60
La Bete fantastique, 1952
The world in red and black, 1951
Adam and Eve with the Snake, 1965
David and Bethsabé, 1966
Profile d'arlequin au cheval vert, 1970
Cavalier soufflant dans une trompe, 1948
Le Clown au fond bleu, 1928
Later, when Chagall fled Europe for the United States, his discovery of the spaciousness and monumental scale of American architecture and landscapes inspired a new direction in his work for the stage. He created the scenery and costumes for the ballets Aleko in Mexico in 1942 and The Firebird in New York in 1945, renewing his connection to Russian music.
Costume for Aleko, 1942
Costume for Aleko, 1942
Chagall eventually returned to France, where the Paris Opera commissioned similar work for Daphnis et Chloé in 1958 (1959 for the Paris Opera premiere). His collaboration with the Paris Opera culminated in 1962 when the presiding Minister of Cultural Affairs André Malraux commissioned Chagall to paint the ceiling of the Palais Garnier Opera House.
Avant le Chevalet de ma vie,1922
The Coque, 1947 (Beaubourg)
The dancer, 1934-35 (Beaubourg)
Couple with red goat, 1970
Clown playing a violin, 1941-42
Theme on La Flute enchantée, 1966-67
Design for "Daphné et Chloé" curtain: act11, 1958
"Papageno" - a Flûte enchanté", 1967
Design for Daphné et Chloé - the Pan, 1958
Design for "L'oiseau de fer" Curtian - 1945
But how could I forget La Fonataine's Fables? And all from private collections. Lucky people!
The Cock and the Fox, 1926
The Miller, his son and the donkey, 1926
The Cat and the Two Birds, 1925-26
The two Pigeons, 1926
There were just too many people there and we were more than taken back by the crowds. I will certainly go back and see the exhibition again but before a concert. I virtually knew none of his work for the theatre. It was a complete surprise and so rich - that’s why my second visit (providing there are less people) will be so interesting…..Oh, forgot to say that no photographs allowed, so I ordered the catalogue over Internet this morning. The Beaux Arts magazine was fascinating but lacking in information and that pushed me toward the catalogue.The choice of photographs was very difficult. They are not necessarily in function of the text either - but one point: l would think that 80% of these paintings or works came from private collections - so we wont necessarily see them elsewhere. I tried not to choose the museum collections and have mentioned if they came from those.
Another point that should add, the exhibition is in two parts. Paris and « La Piscine » in Roubaix. Yes, you have guessed. I am off to see it next week and that will be the next chapter!
Over the years, I have gone on discovering Wifredo Lam. He has been mentioned in different Blog chapters but always within permanent collections. I have to admit today that in the early years, I took one of his paintings for a Picasso….and seeing certain paintings of his today, it didn’t really surprise me. Especially as I learnt that he knew Picasso…This though was a retrospective of his work at the Beaubourg. Wifredo Lam (1902-1982) was a precursor of a cross-cultural style of painting, infusing Western modernism with African and Caribbean symbolism. He must have been one of the very rare artists who was in contact with all the movements of his time …and all those that I follow. Cubism, surrealism, CoBrA…but he never lost sight of the world around him and took on the struggle to paint the drama of his own country, Cuba. The above photo plunges us at once into the exhibition. Was he an attractive man? I think there are later photos which make him look less brutal….but in my book,
After 25 years as a museum, it was time to renovate the Picasso site. The « Hotel » as we call it, has quite a history. It is probably, as Bruno Foucart wrote in 1985, (he is an art historian of 19th century architecture) “the grandest, most extraordinary, if not the most extravagant, of the Parisian houses of the 17th century”. Hotel Salé The Main stair case Another coming down "Picasso" would have liked these lights The building has seen many occupants come and go over the centuries. However, paradoxically, before the place was entrusted to the museum, it was rarely “inhabited”, but instead leased out to various private individuals, prestigious hosts and institutions. And so it became the Picasso museum. The renovations began in 2009 and quite obviously went well over budget and should have opened before the holidays started this year. The political arguments too had to be contended with not to mention the changes in Directors and the big question bei
The exhibition season is very full between January and the French holiday period. I make less and less effort to go and see the « block-busters » and there are some museums which are not easy to get around. The Jacquemart André is one of them. The rooms are so small and when a couple of groups move in, it is virtually impossible to see a picture or move at all. Still I was interested to go and see the Alicia Koplowitz collection. Now I come to think of it, there have been quite a few private collections shown to the public since the end of last year. Naturally I knew nothing about this woman. Alicia Koplowitz is very well known in her home country, Spain. Thanks to her company, the Capital Omega Group a comprehensive financial services company , she has become an important collect er Alicia is is a Spanish business magnate. When her father died, she and her sister inherited Construcciones y Contratas, S.A. (CYCSA), a company founded by her father. She sold her part of the comp
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