Toby and Allan in Morocco and France 2014: Musee Rodin (more Mapplethorpe) and Rain

Saturday June 28 started as the cloudiest and coolest day of our visit to Paris (all good things must come to an end). At around 2:00 p.m. it started to rain and continued throughout the day and into the evening. High of only 18C. Luckily we had umbrellas.

Before it started to rain, we met my cousin Laure, an architect living in Paris, and one of the two daughters of my cousins Karen and Daniel, whom we visited in Sete. We had brunch at Les Petits Plats de Marc, a small restaurant Laure had picked not too far from us. I had a lovely salad and Alain and Laure had tartes. All fresh ingredients.

My salade du jour

Alain's tarte with zucchini

Alain and Laure

Moi et Laure

After lunch, we headed to the Rodin Museum to see the Mapplethorpe-Rodin show. On Rue Saint-Michel we passed the beginning of the Gay Pride parade in Paris, just before it started to rain. Lots of signs protesting the austerity moves of unpopular President Francois Hollande

Start of the parade

Gearing up for the Parade

At 53 Rue Varenne, we passed a plaque for Edith Wharton who lived at that address from 1910-20.

We then went to see the Mapplethorpe- Rodin exhibit at the Musee Rodin, one of our favourite Museums. The Museum was created in 1916, on the initiative of Auguste Rodin himself (1840-1917). Rodin also made a number of gifts to the French State, including his sculptures, and his library and archive of letters and manuscripts. The Museum is housed in the Hotel Biron, where Rodin lived and worked as a tenant from 1908 to 1917. The Museum opened to the public in 1919.

Poster for show-- picture of Michael Reed 1987 by Mapplethorpe and The Walking Man 1907 by Rodin

The exhibit is amazing- dealing with the two art forms of photography and sculpture. It really worked because Mapplethorpe continually sought to sculpt the body through photographs. In fact, in a quote in the Grand Palais exhibit, he stated that "If I had been born one hundred or two hundred years ago, I might have been a sculptor, but photography is a very quick way to make a sculpture."

There were differences as Mapplethorpe sought the perfect form, whereas Rodin attempted to capture a sense of movement and left traces of his touch in his sculptures. Mapplethorpe did not leave any room for spontaneity. Both had relationships with their models (Rodin- lots of women and Mapplethorpe- lots of men).

The exhibit grouped the works of both men under a number of themes including: Black and White/Shade and Line; Material and Abstraction; Movement and Tension; Drapery; Assemblages and Compositions; Eroticism and Damnation; and A Taste for Detail. Due to a lot of glare, I had to get some pictures from the internet, which are interspersed with the ones I took.

Lisa Lyon- 1982 and Torso Feminin (1910-14)

Jevier 1985

Patti Smith 1979 and The Burghers of Calais: Jean de Fiennes 1885

Ken Moody and Robert Sherman 1984 and Tete de la Douleur (1901-02)

Bill T. Jones 1985

White Gauze 1984

Rodin- Torso of the Age of Bronze, Draped vera 1895

Examples of the attention to detail by both artists.

Mapplethorpe- Ken Moody 1984

Rodin- Victor Hugo- Left Arm 1891-94

After the exhibit, we went to Coutume for a coffee. There are a number of new coffee shops in Paris, where one can find good coffee! This place had been recommended by the Paris by Mouth website.

Outside of coffee shop

Inside with lots of great coffee machines

Barista awards

Alain with his noisette

We then went to the Bon Marche department store. There was a small exhibit of knitted pastries based on two books: Gourmandises au tricot et au crochet and Pierre Herme et moi (cookbook for Herme pastries).

Knitting pastries!

Cookbook for famous Pierre Herme pastries and macarons

Knitted sweets

Le Meilleur Kugelhopf (delicious looking!)

We walked all the way back to the apartment and then rested before dinner. We ate just a few doors away at a lovely bistro Le Refuge Du Passe-- furnished with wonderful old posters, paintings and pots and pans.