Bolivian Carnival Costumes

At the Musee du Quay Branly Bill and I were most impressed by these contemporary Andean carnival costumes from Bolivia.

They seem to mix Native and Christian religious imagery.

Imagine these animated by the festival participants .

Devils and demons seem to be popular in all cultures.

We've never seen any costumes like these. They combine a mix of primordial power and play.

Centre Pompidou (Beaubourg)

In Paris, when you come to the corner of Blvd Beaubourg and Rue Rambuteau, this is your view of the Centre George Pompidou, affectionately called Beaubourg.

We come around the north side of the building looking for the entrance. This, clearly, is not the entrance. It's actually a fire exit.

After we pass that fire exit we have this view of the buildings facing the courtyard on our right.

And on our left is the side of Beaubourg facing the courtyard. That red line, snaking up the side of the building, is the escalator that all visitors must use to ascend to the contemporary collections on the fourth floor and the 20th century collections on the fifth. It's always a great ride with incredible views of the city.

At the entrance to the contemporary collections find Sasa,(2004), a piece by North African artist, El Anatsui. One of the nicest things about living in a city for a month is being able to take you time with an art gallery's collection and really get to know it. We've been to Beaubourg three times already: each time exploring a whole new area.

They have a great Peter Doig: 100 Years Ago, 2001.

Bill and I love every period of Picasso. Here's a late painting: Femmes Devant la Mer, 1956

 Bill caught this school tour, all in blue caps, in front of this radiant panel of International (Yves) Klein blue.

 We could show you so much more, but let's end with  this very unusual Francis Bacon -- Van Gogh in a Landscape, 1957.

Elmslie at Beaubourg

Standing in line to by tickets to the Beaubourg I loved these rooms under construction by the Boutique. To me they looked like an installation you might see up on the Contemporary Art floor.  Imagine these pictures side by side. Click an image to see it larger. This panel is on the left.

This panel is in the centre.

And this is on the right. Voilà.

Shakespeare and Company

Last week John and I wandered through the Latin Quarter and ended up at the Shakespeare and Company bookstore.

This is the famous literary shrine of American, Sylvia Beach, who was the original publisher of James Joyce's Ulysses, and her bookstore has been a haunt for poets and writers since the 1940's. We love bookstores and always visit as many as we can in any city.

Apparently the bookstore staff are made up of young writers who man the shop in return for free room and board in the building. Romantic, eh?

Inside it's a classic independent bookstore reminiscent of City Lights Books in San Francisco and antiquarian bookstores around the world with rabbit-warren rooms, books up to the ceiling

and comfortable old furniture for browsing.

They still have readings by current writers as well. On another evening the audience spilled out onto the street to hear James Shapiro read from his new book on Shakespeare, Contested Will. Shapiro was fascinating. This review by British novelist Hilary Mantel will give you the flavour.

We missed it on our first trips to Paris, but it is easy to find. It is just across the Seine from Notre Dame Cathedral. We love the Shakespeare and Company motto: "Be Not Inhospitable to Strangers Lest They Be Angels in Disguise". How City Lights is that?!

Problem with Blogger Software

Dear Friends of the Tomatoes From Canada

Blogger has had some problems with their software

They've rolled everyone's posts back to Wednesday

but promise the missing posts will be restored

and that we can get back to business shortly. Among the missing, look for Place des Vosges on Fire, After the Fire and Lunch with a Duck.

We have lots of posts waiting in the gate

Bill's post about Shakespeare and Company

My post about some Bolivian carnival costumes which are out of this world

A look at the Beaubourg building itself and some of its permanent collection

and our ultra chic lunch today at the ultra chic Le Dauphin.

Sweet! 2

Almond Cookies

Fruit Flan

Today's Paris Soundtrack -- Melissa NKonda

Bill and I heard this song in a Paris supermarket today. Catchy! I wrote down the English lyrics of the chorus and found it on YouTube -- Melissa NKonda's Nouveaux Horizons. Her career began in 2010 when she won first place in a French reality show called Je veux signer chez AZ (I want to sign with AZ). Please double-click to see the video full size.

Inexpensive Lunch

We went back to the mouff'TARTE today and were greeted warmly by the owner. Find it down the hill from la Place de la Contrescarpe on the Rue Mouffetard in the Latin Quarter.

We were drawn back by the memory of their delicious quiche tarts. We'd discovered this restaurant by accident after visiting the Mosque of Paris last week.

Mouff'TARTE opens at noon. Try and arrive early because they are very popular with locals and university students eating-in and taking-out.

Bill and I both had tarts based on roasted eggplant. Mine, "La mouff''tarte", featured ground beef and Bill's, "La Greque", had feta. Both were accompanied by generous green and grated carrot salads. For 7 euros you can't go wrong. And a half litre of wine is only 5.50 euros. It's all delicious!

Although they do get awfully busy, the staff are always warm and welcoming.

We only wish they were in our own neighbourhood.

Morellet at Beaubourg

The Beaubourg always has fascinating special exhibitions of contemporary artists and this visit is no exception. We were completely unfamiliar with the work of Francois Morellet. Reinstallations, showcases the work of this artist who has been active from the early 1960s.

The 25 pieces that trace his career often make use of neon installations that start with almost epilepsy-inducing flashing patterns to the elegant works of his later pieces.

The later samples of his oeuvre tend toward a more conceptual direction with works in adhesive tape, wall drawings and pieces of wood.

By far the most accessible piece for both John and I was the stunning construction in neon, Avalanche, pictured above. The concept is that the first neon tube is horizontal and the last is vertical and the others are all at separate angles in between. The result is wonderful.

Othoneil at Beaubourg

Bill and I weren't familiar with the work of Jean-Michel Othoniel until we saw this retrospective. This detail from The Popular Sphinx Moth is an early work from 1988. At the other end of the stocking is the original packaging of the stocking. That's a real Sphinx moth attached. A very successful modern surrealist work.

Post-tits from 1995 made us smile and admire it's modest achievement.

More lovely watercolour nipples on post-it notes than we could count.

In 1997 Othoniel's work becomes more substantial. Untitled, 1997, is Murano glass.

The Lagrimas (tears) of 2003 are a stunning achievement. The work consists of dozens of glass floats in sealed glass containers -- even the table is part of the work.

Othoniel's works became more and more monumental in scale once he started working in glass. That's The Great Double Lacan's Knot on the left, from 2011 -- mirror glass and metal.

Here's a close up of one the mirror glass "beads".

Dijkstra at Beaubourg

Bill and I spent a very leisurely three hours at the Pompidou Centre (affectionately called Beaubourg) this afternoon. Please click on the pictures to see them larger

We watched a stunning three screen video by Dutch artist Rineke Dijkstra called "I See a Woman Crying (Weeping Woman)". The reference is to one of Picasso's portraits of Dora Marr. 

Dijkstra developed the piece with local schoolchildren while in residence at the Tate Liverpool in 2008. The kids are talking about Picasso's Weeping Woman without having been told anything about it. They are trying to figure it out aloud. The results are fascinating.

We loved the piece and wanted to give you some idea of the experience of watching it in it's own darkened room.

The kids are intelligent and say interesting things. Bill's favourite comment was, "Maybe she just got a letter that said, 'You're next!'"

Dijkstra is one of my heroes.  

 The kids finally fall silent and stare at the painting and the film fades to an end.

Then it begins again.

Tate Liverpool Press Release

We never see Picasso's painting during Dijkstra's piece, but here it is for your interest.