Mapplethorpe and Monumenta 2014

Wednesday June 18 was a beautiful day in Paris.  Sunny, warm (but not hot) and lots of blue sky with a high of around 23C.  We took the Metro to the Champs-Elysees stop to see two exhibits at the Grand Palais.

A bit of history in the Metro- Georges Clemenceau

The first exhibit we saw was the Robert Mapplethorpe Retrospective.  Mapplethorpe was born in New York in 1946 and died tragically of AIDS in 1989.  The exhibit featured about 250 images, exploring a range of themes.  The photos cover every aspect of Mapplethorpe's career- pictures of classical art; beautiful bodies; bodies as flowers and flowers as bodies; portraits of well-known artists, musicians, etc. from the 1970s and 1980s; portraits of Patti Smith and Lisa Lyon (first World Women's Bodybuilding Champion and one of his muses); eroticism (soft and hard-core), self-portraiture and a series of his first Polaroids from the 1970s.

Poster for show- self portrait in 1988 (already ill with AIDS)

Fabrice 1978

Sleeping Cupid 1989

Mercury 1988

Cactus (87), Leg (83). Legs/Melody (87), Eggplant (85)

Jack in the Pulpit (88)

Flowers

 There were some beautiful pictures of Patti Smith in the mid 1970s. [As an aside, I highly recommend Just Kids by Patti Smith, which details her relationship with Mapplethorpe and captures the 1970s and 80s scene in New York City].

There was a great quote from Mapplethorpe, which summed up his approach to photography:  "If I had been born a hundred or 200 years ago, I might have been a sculptor but photography is a vey quick way to see, to make sculpture."  He also stated that he was looking for perfection in form.  His technical ability and eye was amazing.

The following are few of the images in the show that I took from the internet.   

Self-portrait

There was one wall of portraits which included Andy Warhol (in the centre); Louise Bourgeois, David Hockney,  Grace Jones, Yoko Ono, Annie Leibovitz; Susan Sontag; William Burroughs and Isabella Rossolini, among others.

Wall of Photos from the 1970s and 1980s

There was also a separate room with some hard-core sado-maschochistic photos.

The exhibit was excellent and one saw how Mapplethorpe developed his style from his early polaroids to his work of the late 1980s.  Such a tragic early death.

We then went to see Monumenta 2014 in the nave of the Grand Palais (a huge open space (13,500 m square) with glass dome).  Since 2007, artists have been invited to create an installation for this space.  This year, Russian born, now American based (now living in Long Island) artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov presented L'Etrange Cite (Strange City).  It was an installation of seven closed buildings, a gate and a dome which encompassed a utopian and mysterious city.

Ilya Kabakov was born in 1933 in Dnipropetrovsk (now in Ukraine).  He illlustrated children's books for part of each year, and then focused on his own work.  He was a member of the prestigious Union of Soviet Artists when he lived in the Soviet Union.  He is considered the father of Russian conceptual art. In 1965, a group of Italian Communists showed some of his drawings entitled "Shower".  One drawing had a man under a shower, with no water coming out.  Kabakov had meant the drawing to signify an individual waiting for something that never happens.  Unfortunately, the Soviet authorities and others took it as an attack on the Soviet Union and Kabakov couldn't work as an illustrator for four years (he did work under an assumed name).  He left the Soviet Union in 1988 and moved to New York.

Emilia Kabakov (nee Kanevsky), also from Dnipropetrovsk was born in 1945.  She left the Soviet Union in 1973 and moved initially to Israel and then New York in 1975, where she became a curator and art dealer.  They started working together in 1989 and were married in 1992.  According to interviews they have given, they are cousins.

Poster for Monumenta 2014

Ah, "no selfies"

The first part of the city was a large dome (looking like an old gramaphone).  The dome is to evoke the theory of a Russian musician Alexander Scriabin, who linked colours and sounds.

The Dome

Next was an  entrance to the city- a vestige of a triumphant entrance.

The first enclosed building was the Empty Museum.  Instead of paintings, there were oval pools of light and Bach's Passacaglia filled the room with music.  This room really works, as one has the feeling one is in a grandiose museum hall with real pictures.

The Empty Museum

The next room was entitled Manas and is the construction of an imaginary city that once existed north of Tibet-- existing on two levels- terrestrial and celestial.  There are eight mountains surrounding the city.  The room contains Ilya's drawings of the mountains and their wooden counterparts.  The drawings and models are near the walls and in the centre is a display of the eight mountains and the celestial counterpart.

Drawing of one of the mountains- Two Antennae

Wooden model

Garden of Eden and Waterfall was another mountain.

Garden of Eden and Waterfall

Drawing of Garden of Eden and Waterfall

The following two photos are of the eight mountains and the celestial counterpart.

The next room was the Centre of Cosmic Energy--elaborate structures for getting cosmic energy. There were three buildings including a laboratory for communicating with the "noosphere."

Drawing for camera obscura

Model

Centre for Cosmic Energy

The above section was reminiscent of Vladimir Tatlin's 1920 model for the Monument to the Third International, which was never built.

The next building was The Gates representing images of the rift between the interior and exterior, private domain and social sphere and individual and collective.  There were a number of paintings of gates going from dark to light.  Ilya plays on the effects of light and atmosphere-- referring to impressionism and Paul Cezanne.

Room with gate and pictures on the wall

A darker gate

A lighter gate

The next building was entitled "How to Meet an Angel".  Angels are omnipresent in Kabakov's work- this angel is an allegory for the aspiration to happiness and wisdom.  There was text explaining that one usually has to be at a high elevation in the mountains before encountering angels.  Thus, the construction to reach the proper height to meet an angel.

Detail of man reaching for an angel

Structure with man reaching for angel

Drawing

Finally, there were two chapels- the first was the White Chapel, which represented the modern equivalent of a church with faded frescos,  some of which are only fragments.  Many of the paintings are of past images of Soviet propaganda.  Very evocative and interesting concept.

Detail of some images on the wall

The final building was the Dark Chapel- again with the proportions of a Renaissance church, but with lighting that more resembled an artist's workshop.  These pictures were hung on their sides and contained scenes of the Kabakovs receiving the Imperial Prize in Tokyo.

The Dark Chapel 

I rotated one of the pictures- the Kabakovs receiving the Imperial Prize in Tokyo

One final picture of the Strange City from the top of a stairway.

View of Strange City from above

There was also a video interview with the Kabakovs.  The photo below is of them being interviewed.

The Strange City dealt with a theme of the Kabakovs-- the failure of utopia and aspirations that nonetheless survive.

Both shows at the Grand Palais were really worth seeing.  It was then time to walk in the sun.

We lheaded back towards the Tuilleries and Rue Rivoli.  I always take a photo of the obelisk at Place de la Concorde.

We happened to be near Rue Royale, which runs off Rue Rivoli so we stopped at Laduree and Alain picked up two of his favourite treats in Paris- pain au chocolate pistache.

Laduree- plate of pain au chocolat pistache

Alain with his treat

We stopped for a late lunch at Brasserie Relais Madeleine and shared a chicken salad with roast potatoes.

Brasserie Relais Madeleine

We walked along Rue St. Honore and then checked out Marche Saint Honore, a small square with a number of shops, cafes and restaurants.  We stopped for an apero at Tres Honore.  There was also an outdoor market on Wednesdays and we picked up some homemade tempenade to take back to the apartment.

Apero at Tres Honore

We walked through the Tuilleries Garden and crossed a bridge to the left bank.

Picnics at the Tuilleries near the Louvre- about 8:00 p.m. and bright sun

Rudolf Noureev (1938-93) lived here (on Quai Voltaire)

We continued our walk to Blvd. Saint Germain.

Passing Les Deux Magots on Blvd. Saint Germain

We continued our walk back to the apartment.  The sun didn't set here until almost 10:00 p.m.  We had a late steak dinner.  Allan's cold seems to be getting better and we had a good night sleep.  It is very quiet in the apartment as we are far away from any street noise.  A wonderful day in Paris.