Premier Jour à Paris!

Thursday October 17 was a travel day.  We took the Tube to King's Cross St. Pancras Railway Station and boarded the Eurostar for Paris.

It was a wonderful train ride.  We left at 9:22 a.m. (on the dot) and arrived at Gare du Nord in Paris at 12:50 ( Paris is one hour ahead of London time).  Only 2 1/2 hours in a very fast train.  We were in the Chunnel for only 19 minutes at 100 miles an hour!  We passed through some lovely countryside in France, with a number of wind farms.

We took the Metro for seven quick stops to the Bastille station, which is only about a 5 minute walk from our Airbnb.  We are very pleased with our Airbnb in the Marais (4th arrondissement).  We are on Rue Tournelles.  There is a small courtyard and our apartment is on the first floor (2nd floor in Canada).

Courtyarrd

It is a large, bright airy apartment with lots of good lighting (both natural and lamps).  The bathroom has been upgraded and the kitchen is well equipped.  Our host is a journalist/travel/guidebook and wine writer who lived here when she was a student.  She has moved now and travels a lot in France.

One view of the apartment

Well equipped kitchen

Modern bathroom

Alain outside building- we face the courtyard and it is very quiet

We rushed over to the large Bastille market that takes place on Thursdays and Sundays.  Unfortunately, it was largely packed up by 2:00 p.m.   We got some provisions nearby and then Alain (yes, he's Alain again), had a double butter pain au chocolate at Maison Parisienne de Gourmandises just a few minutes away.

Alain waiting for his treat

Chocolate everywhere

Yum!

It looked like there had been rain in the morning, but the afternoon turned sunny and warm with a high of 17C.  The light was beautiful as we walked along Rue Saint-Antoine and St. Paul.

The beautiful Hotel de Sully

The always wonderful Haussmann buildings in Paris

Our first stop was the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP).   We had heard about the current exhibit from a number of Paris newsletters that I get.  It was the first retrospective in France devoted to the British-Morrocan photographer, designer and filmmaker, Hassan Hajjaj, who was given carte blanche to take over the entirety of MEP's exhibition spaces.

Signage outside museum -- as he took over the museum- it was called "Maison Maroccane de la Photographie" for the duration of the exhibit

Hassan Hajjaj was born in Larache, Morocco in 1961 and moved to London as a teenager.  Heavily influenced by the club, hip-hop and reggae scenes of London as well as by his North African heritage, Hajjaj set up his own fashion label, R.A.P. (Real Artistic People) in the 1980s.  He turned to photography a few years later and has recently added videos to his portfolio.

He currently lives and works in London and Marrakech and has been called the "Andy Warhol of Marrrakech".  His work is in the collection of a number of International museums and he has won numerous awards.  He has been influenced by the London cultural and music scene and his North African heritage and his practice builds bridges between the two.  His photographs blend contemporary fashion photography and Pop Art, with Moroccan references.  He also takes on issues like the wearing of the veil.  He often pictures young veiled women engaging with pop art and fashion that often ignores them.

Hajjaj has said "I know it can make people uncomfortable that some of the women in my photographs are veiled, but look at how modern and defiant they are!  They blend tradition with pop fashion, and I find them so strong, so powerful, and totally gorgeous."

Hajjaj's picture frames are often made using products from Moroccan consumer culture (tin cans, tubes of harissa etc) which become an integral part of the artwork.   The exhibit rooms also had  decorative wallpaper often with Moroccan images.

The exhibit presents eight photographic series developed since the 1990s.  It was a wonderful  exhibit-- the colours and creativity in raising issues of identity are fabulous.

One of the series was Vogue: The Arab Issue, in which Hajjaj proposes an imaginary version of the magazine.  While working on a fashion shoot in Marrakesh, Hajjaj, seeing the city reduced to an exotic backdrop for European models and clothing, responded with his own fashion shoot posing Moroccan women in the city streets.  Covered in candy-coloured polka dots, leopard prints or re-appropriated brand logos (Chanel, Versace, Vuitton) these women challenge the Western ideal of beauty.

Malicious Look 2000

Dior 2012

White Dotted Stance 2002

Purple Sun 2002

The third floor galley had his  "My Rock Stars", a series of vibrant portraits taken in a pop-up studio he often sets up in different cities.  The series is a vibrant tribute to the personalities that form the backdrop for Hajjaj's cultural life from London, North Africa and elsewhere: not only internationally famous artists, but also friends and aquaintances of Hajjaj. His models are set in front of the kinds of brightly coloured plastic mats his uncle used to weave in Marrakesh.

Khalid's Back 2016. Khalid Hoummas is a Moroccan composer, singer and musician

Hindi on Da Roof 2009- Hindi Zahra is a French-Moroccan singer, painter, writer, actress and composer based in Brussels.

Amine Messaoudi 2018.  A Moroccan street dancer who also works as a fashion model.

Sarah Peries 2015.  A Moroccan-Portuguese actress.

El Seed 2016.  French-Tunisian artist who lives in Dubai- his wall painting distinctive style is called 'Calligraffiti' a fusion of graffiti and Arabic calligraphy.

MissMe 2018.  A Swiss artist based in Montreal

Lynette Yiadom-Boakaye 2017.  A British painter who makes fictive portraits.

Alo Wala 2015.  Stagename of the Inso-American vocalist Shivani Ahlowalia, based in Copenhagen

Meryem Benm'Barek 2017.  A French-Morroccan director, screenwriter and actress based in Paris.  

There was a video Naabz (2011) in the exhibit, which was shot in Paris just hours before the Hajib was banned.  A woman in a polka dot dress and veil is shown putting up brightly-coloured images of women in veils around Paris.

From the video Naabz

There was a small room with some of Hajjaj's own fashion collections

In the series, Kesh Angels, henna-tattoo artists from Marrakesh proudly straddle motorbikes, dressed in tradition veils and abayas fashioned by Hajjaj in bright, modern fabrics. These women wear traditional veils or other coverings that contrast sharply with the vividly coloured fabrics, leopard prints, sunglasses or shoes imitating high-end luxury brands.  The title of "Kesh Angels" takes its inspiration from Hells Angels gangs and references the abbreviated nickname of Marrakesh ("Kesh").

Meriem Rider 2010

Marcella 2013

Gypzee Bikin' 2018

Another series was "Legs" which photographed only the legs of his sitters.

Kawkab Legs 2015

Photo taken from the Museum

We thought the exhibit was excellent and the whole idea of giving an artist carte blanche to use all the space in the Museum was terrific.  He even decorated the gift shop and sitting area.   The colours and the frames of the photographs and the wallpapers were very innovative and creative.   It was great discovering an artist we had not heard of before.

We walked by a beautiful garden near the museum.

It was finally time for a coffee at La Caféothèque on Rue de l'Hôtel de Ville, one of the first places with good coffee in Paris (founded in 2005).

Alain with his macchiato and my espresso

After a short break we went over to the Memorial de la Shoah museum to see the exhibit: Le marché de l"art sous l'occupation, 1940-44 (The Art Market under the Occupation).

Poster for the exhibit

In the summer of 1941, the French government began confiscating businesses, real estate, financial assets and art works from Jews across the country.  Their bank accounts were frozen.  Arrested Jews had their belongings confiscated as they entered French internment camps.  Victims of both Nazi and Vichy laws, French Jews were stripped of their property and excluded from every sphere of political, social and economic life.

Meanwhile, France's art market was thriving.  Over two million items changed hands between 1941-42.  

Discriminatory laws also targeted Jewish art dealers, whose shops or galleries were "aryanized."  Looting art works was an integral part of Nazi ideology.  From the Nazi perspective, "Aryan" art had to replace modern, "degenerate" art, stigmatised as "Jewish art".  Art works were looted from occupied countries not only for financial gain but also to impose the Nazis' ideological and racial outlook.  In Occupied Paris, the Germans seized the most famous collections of Jewish art dealers and collectors for "safekeeping", first in the German Embassy's cellars, then in 3-6 rooms at the Louvre and finally at the Jeu de Paume museum.

The intro had some photographs and posters from the "Degenerate Art" exhibition of 1937.  Many modern artists had art presented in that exhibit.

The exhibit then dealt with the fate of a number of Jewish art gallery owners during the occupation.

Dots represent modern art galleries Aryanized or despoiled in 1943

There were a number of small display enclosures in the exhibit that had artefacts, correspondence and the story of a number of these gallerists.  The first was Berthe Weill (1865-1951), one of the first female art dealers who opened the Galerie B. Weill in 1901.  She was the first gallery owner to represent Picasso in France.  She published her memoirs in 1933.  She was attacked in the anti-Semitic press.  To avoid being taken over by an "Aryan administrator", she placed one of her friends at the head of the gallery which would remain open until 1941.  She survived the war, living in poverty in her apartment.  In 1946, a number of artists donated work for an auction and the entire proceeds went to her as thanks for her unselfish support during their early careers.

Portrait of Berthe Weill- Picasso 1933- used in her memoire

Memoire

Details of exhibitions at her gallery

There was another enclosure dealing with René Gimpel (1881-1945) an international art dealer and collector.  He was one of the greatest dealers in Impressionist art.  He closed his gallery in Place Vandôme in 1939.  He was arrested in 1942 by local police and then released in January 1943. He was again imprisoned in May 1944, after being denounced by a colleague.  He was deported on July 2, 1944 to Neuengamme concentration camp in the north of Germany, where he died on January 3, 1945.

Correspondence during his first imprisonment

Picture of Florence Gimpel (his wife) byMarie Laurencin 1938

Photo of René Gimpel

Another part of the exhibit dealt with Paul Rosenberg (1881-1959), another famous art dealer.  Rosenberg managed to get to the United States, where he set up a gallery in New York City.  Over 160 paintings were taken by occupying authorise from a safe in a bank in 1941.  Today around 50 works remain unclaimed.

Record dispossessing Paul Rosenberg following the decree stripping him of French nationality in February 1942

Gallery in NYC

Another trailblazer, Pierre Loeb (1897-1964) showed works by avant-garde artists including Miro, Picasso, Matisse, and Giacometti at his gallery in the 5th arrondissement.  In 1941, in accordance with the law he transferred ownership of the gallery to an Aryan colleague, Georges Aubry.  In January 1942, he and his family left France for Havana.  After returning to Paris, Aubry did not want to honour their agreement.  Picasso stepped in and called Aubry, telling him to return the gallery.  Loeb's gallery was returned to him in July 1945.

Pierre Loeb presenting paintings by Picasso, Léger and Bonnard on the first floor of the gallery in 1932

Invitation by Joan Miro for the exhibition "The Adventure of Pierre Loeb, Galerie Pierre. 1924-64", organised at musée d'Art moderne del la Ville de Paris, 1979.

Another part of the exhibit dealt with both Nazi and Vichy legislation dealing with the confiscation of  Jewish property and art.

Finally, a fascinating section dealt with the art auctions that took place at the Hotel Drouot in Paris.   Jews were forbidden from entering the Auction House.  Many pieces of confiscated art found their way to this auction house.

Auction brochure

Entry of Jews to the auction house was prohibited

The exhibit was a fascinating piece of history with remarkable artefacts, photos and correspondence.  It was very well presented.

After our visit to the Museum, we wandered around the Marais and bought some provisions for dinner at the apartment.   So many choices in Paris.

A nice piece of poached salmon, salad, a goat cheese tart,
and a lovely red wine that was recommended in the wine store

We can tell it is going to be a busy week in Paris.