As I mentioned in a recent post, I’m off to Paris again for a good chunk of the summer. When I have time off from my job as the Director of a study abroad program, I want to have plans in place for places to go and things to see.
First up today is an exhibit at the Petit Palais, Georges Desvallières: La peinture corps et âme that is on until July 17. Desvallières is considered to be a master of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, yet I have never heard of him before (that’s a reflection on me, not him!). The exhibit features 90 paintings, drawings, stained glass pieces, tapestries and other works drawn from French museums and private collections. Desvallières’s work was first inspired by classical antiquity and then shaped by his experience of the First World War.
Perhaps my favorite museum in Paris is the Jacquemart André. The permanent collection is great and the tea room is sublime. From now until July 25, they are presenting L’atelier en plein-air: Les impressionistes en Normandie. Plein-air (plen air) refers to the trend for outdoor landscape painting that came to France via England and gave birth to the Impressionist movement. Normandy was the preferred spot, perched half-way between the two great art capitals of the era. This exhibit presents fifty master works of the Impressionist period. Since I’m going to spend a few days in Normandy before my job in Paris starts, I think I’ll particularly enjoy this one – as well as the tea room.
The fashion exhibits at the musée des Arts décoratifs are always top quality. This summer, Fashion Forward: 3 siècles de mode (1715 – 2016) is on until August 14. To celebrate its thirtieth anniversary, the museum has culled its vast permanent collection for three hundred pieces of men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing that represent the best of three hundred years of fashion. And the museum restaurant, Le Saut de loup, is a great place for lunch, too. Fashion and food – a great combination.
One quality, the finest. 