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| Entrance to exhibit space |
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| Poster for exhibit |
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| Gathering after declaration of mobilization- August 1, 1914 |
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| Map of Belgium |
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| Day five of mobilization- a toast |
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| Arrival of Belgium refugees August 26, 1914 |
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In the trenches- getting chocolate November 1914
Arrival of Russian troops in Marseille April 21, 1916
The photographs detailed the new work for women in munitions factories and even as automobile mechanics.
June 1917- new work for women
Rally on July 14, 1917
There were a number of pictures showing the destruction from the war.
Ruins of Ypres, Belgium - December 1918
Marshall Petain entering Metz on November 19, 1918
Arrival of Clemenceau to sign the Treaty of Versailles June 28,1919
There was a huge price that the French paid in lives lost during World War I. The exhibit contained many photos that we had not seen about the course of the War in France.
We then went out into the sun and the beautiful Luxembourg Gardens, which are in full bloom. We discovered a few statutes in the vicinity of the exhibit.
Edge of the gardens near exhibit
There was an impressive small bust of Stefan Zweig, the writer ( inspiration for the recent movie, The Grand Budapest Hotel). He was born in Vienna in 1881, fled the Nazis in 1934 and settled in Brazil. His works were banned by the Nazis. He and his wife committed suicide in 1942.
Stefan Zweig (Vienna 1881-Petropolis, Brazil 1942)
  We then started to walk down Rue Bonaparte and saw a sign for an exhibit of the work of a Hungarian avant-garde editor and artist.  The poster inside the building caught our eye. The exhibit was about Lajos Kassak and the avant-garde movement in the 1920s. It focussed on Kassak's work on a number of magazines including MA ( translated as "Today") as editor and then as illustrator.  Lajos Kassak was born in 1887 in Slovakia and moved to Budapest in 1904. After supporting Bela Kun's failed regime in 1919, he left Budapest for Vienna, where he continued to edit MA, an avant-garde magazine (Budapest 1916-1919 and Vienna 1920-25). He died in 1967. Kassak was a poet, novelist, painter and editor. He is said to be one of the first working class writers and he always remained on the left politically. Kassak was later critical of the Communist Party and for the last ten years of his life, was not able to publish or travel. His wife, Jolan Simon committed suicide in 1938.  The following are pictures of the covers and illustrations for the magazine MA, which Kassak edited. There is a Kassak Musseum in Budapest.   
It was an interesting exhibit and an artist that we had not been aware of previously.
We continued our walk through the 6th arrondissement (Saint Germain) and stopped for the best apple tartlets in Paris-- at Poilaine. We had lunch at La Cuisine de Bar next door.
 We then walked to the Musee Maillol, one of our favourite small museums that always has interesting exhibits. The Musee was established by Dina Vierny (1919-2009) who was the muse to the sculptor Aristide Maillol (1861-1944) during the last ten years of his life. Vierny (nee Aibinder) was Jewish, born in what is now Moldova. She met Maillol when she was 15 and their relationship was purely artistic (her father thought she was the perfect model for Maillol's style). During the time she modelled for Maillol, she was a member of the French Resistance and helped bring refugees from Spain to France through the mountains near Marseille. Vierny opened the museum in 1995 to showcase Maillol's work. Today, the museum is run by the Fondation Dina Vierny (her two sons are the director and curator).   The main exhibit was Le Tresor de Naples: Les Joyaux de San Gennaro (The Treasure of Naples, the Jewels of San Gennaro). 
The first few rooms gave the background to the amassing of the treasure. There were a number of paintings of Vesuvius erupting throughout the centuries (the last eruption was in 1944). The history of Naples is inked with Vesuvius, a constant threat to the city and its inhabitants. Over time, the citizens have placed their survival in their patron saint San Gennaro, who they believe also protected them from the plague and foreign invasions.
San Gennaro was born near Naples in 270 and was beheaded in 305 during Emperor Diocletian's prosecution of Christians. The remains of the Saint and vials of his blood were collected and in 1497 they were transferred to the Cathedral of Naples. Faced with the plague and war of 1527, the residents of Naples implored their patron Saint, San Gennaro, to protect them. They promised to build a chapel and to assemble a treasure in return for his protection. In 1601, a group was created to take charge of the new chapel's construction. There were ten aristocrats and two commoners on the oversight group. Their successors have overseen the treasury for four centuries, ensuring the protection of the ampoules of blood and the sacred relics.
The new Chapel was inaugurated in 1647. The best artists of the time (not just from Naples) created incredible silver statutes, furniture, jewels and other objects. The treasury continued to be enriched by popes, foreign rulers of Naples and others. The silver statutes are amazing- the folds of the robes and incredible detail of the faces are very realistic.
Today, the Treaure has over 21,000 works, and includes one of the world's largest collection of jewels. Among them are the mitre of the Saint, made in 1713 by Matteo Treglia, covered in 3,326 diamonds, 198 emeralds ad 168 rubies, and the necklace of San Gennaro, which contains gifts from kings and queens from the 17-19th centuries. Truly awe inspiring.
Every May, there is a procession celebrating the miracle of San Gennaro (his blood apparently liquefies). There was a film from 1948 in the exhibit, showing the liquefaction of the vial of San Gennaro's blood.
They were very strict about taking pictures of the treasure. I had to upload a few images from the internet.
    The exhibit makes one want to jump on a plane and visit Naples-- what a treasure. The other exhibit included a few installation pieces by Russian artists. One was an installation piece by Ilya Kabakov (in honour of his Monumenta 2014 work, which we saw yesterday). The piece was entitled La Cuisine Communautaire (Community Kitchen) from 1982. It focused on the community kitchens in the Soviet Union from the 1920s to the 80s that were the source of harsh community life with the by-product of constant bickering amongst the residents. The installation includes pots and plans and other utensils hanging from the walls and ceiling and a folding screen with pictures and dialogue (in Russian) of typical conversations. There was also an audio of kitchen bickering.   The last installation piece was by Vladimir Yanilevsky (b. 1938), called La Porte: Dedicated to the Parents of my Parents (1972). It was an "existential box" of a Soviet apartment containing a man walking from the real world into infinity. There were pictures of the artist's grandparents on the door and other features of Soviet life. The story of how the door came to be in Dina Vierny's collection was amazing. Vierny had travelled to the Soviet Union in the late 1960s and met many of the non-conforming artists. In order to get La Porte to Paris, in 1974, a friend of Yanilevsky drove to Moscow with a cupboard in his van, which he declared to the authorities. He then left the cupboard in Moscow and returned with Yanilevsky's installation. It was only shown for the first time in 1995, when Vierny opened the museum. Amazing story!!   After our visit to the museum, we wandered down to the Lenox Hotel for an apero. This Hotel has the most wonderful wood inlays of jazz artists. A wonderful place for a glass of wine.   We walked back to the apartment- still brilliant blue sky until 10:00 p.m. We had a late dinner of chicken, beans, salad and wine. |
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