Art “Hors Les Murs” in the Tuileries

FIAC, which stands for Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain (International Fair of Contemporary Art) is the most important art fair in France. The first FIAC took place in 1974, and the thirty-ninth art fair took place on the third weekend of October, 2012.The venue was the Grand Palais, which becomes a giant art emporium. This year, 182 galleries participated in the event, which is designed to attract contemporary art collectors, museum curators and international dealers. Prior to this year’s FIAC, Madame Jennifer Flay, FIAC Director, pointed out that “many of the 65,000 visitors who are expected to attend the fair this year won’t come with the expectation of buying anything; they will just be there to browse, experience and absorb. There are many different kinds of acquisition of art,” she said. “Monetary exchange at the level of acquisition — that is, purchasing works of art — is only one of the forms of exchange that is possible. For most people there are two kinds that are more accessible — emotional and intellectual acquisition.”

 

For the seventh consecutive year, FIAC staged exhibitions of art which are “hors les murs,” literally “outside the walls.” One venue was the Tuileries Garden, where sculptures and installations are set up in the garden's fountains, basins, lawns, lanes and groves. I first saw FIAC art installations in 2011 in the Jardin des Plantes. I wasn’t familiar with FIAC and thought it was odd to find such elaborate art installations scattered throughout a garden; some of the art installations were a little odd, too, and had no particular relationship to a garden setting. When I visited the Tuileries shortly afterward, there was FIAC artwork there, also. In 2012, I made a point of visiting the Tuileries during FIAC because I enjoyed seeing the outdoor art. In the photo description, I’ve included only the name of the work and the artist. If you want more information, including an explanation of the artist‘s work, go to the FIAC web site: www.fiac.com (In some cases, neither the French description of the artwork nor the English translation made a lot of sense, but in some cases, neither did the artwork.)

 

The Glass Pyramid in the Cour Napoleon, the Louvre and the sculpture of Louis XIV
 

 

 

Sculpture of Louis XIV

In 1665, Louis XIV commissioned Bernini to sculpt an equestrian statue of himself. Bernini’s sculpture portrayed the king as a Roman emperor. This typically Baroque sculpture, with its appearance of movement rather than a controlled pose like those of the Renaissance, was sent to Versailles in 1685. Louis disliked it and had it exiled to the far end of the gardens. The American architect I.M. Pei, who was in charge of the grand renovation project of the Louvre, persuaded the officials at Versailles to make a copy of this statue, which he placed in front of his famous Glass Pyramid entrance to the Louvre. This copy, cast in lead, is the only sculpture in the courtyard of the Glass Pyramid. The marble original remains at Versailles.

 

 

Close-up of Louis XIV, depicted as a Roman emperor

 

FIAC Sign (Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain)

Parce qu’il y a notre pouvoir qui ne l’est pas encore (Because there is our power that is no more, 2012) by Emmanuel Lagarrigue

 

Parce qu’il y a notre pouvoir qui ne l’est pas encore

The striations in the wood are not a random design--they are Morse Code for a lengthy philosophical quotation engraved in the wood.

Sleep and Echo (2012) by Matthias Bitzer

Sleep and Echo
The sculpture is composed of colored metal rings that overlap and swivel.

 

Fontaine

 

(Fountain, 2012) by Elsa Sahal

 

 

Fontaine

The sculpture is structured in two parts, or columns, surmounted by a central feminine figure which sends out a continuous stream of water from a height of nearly 10 feet.

 

 

Colorful sailboats are at the ready to go into the basin

 

Deux mêmes choses ne peuvent être pareilles

(No two things can be the same, 2012) by gerlach en coup
 

 

Deux memes choses ne peuvent être pareilles

The sculpture involves two rubbish bins, with one of the bins discarded into another.

 I had to check to be sure this was really an art installation. It was.

 

 

The Origin of the World (2012)

 by Marc Quinn
 

 

Origin of the World

A realistic shell cast in bronze and nearly 10 feet tall. It is meant to symbolize a woman’s sexuality.

Modified Social Benches (2012)

 by Jeppe Hein

Four different styles of benches were placed around the basin. I would have been happy to take any or all home with me.

Modified Social Bench

 

Modified Social Bench

 

Modified Social Bench

 

 

Blue Candle (2010)

 by Mark Handforth

 

 

Blue Candle

The artist re-envisions an everyday object and creates a sculpture from it.

 

 

Sans titre (Untitled, 2012)

by Vincent Mauger

 

 

 

The sculpture is made of stainless steel plates and stainless aluminum tubes. It is the third sculpture by this artist that I’ve seen--last year his work was in the Jardin des Plantes and the Tuileries, and this year again in the Tuileries. Once I knew who sculpted it, I recognized the artist’s precise, symmetrical, totally abstract style.

BBZ (2012)

by Aaron Curry

 

 

BBZ

The painted aluminum sculpture is built according to a wooden model carved out by the artist with a jigsaw. The model is then scanned, blown up and reproduced on a larger scale.

 

 

Bateau (2011)  by Dominique Ghesquiere

 

In “boat,” the artist questions the precise status of reality: is it really all that exists and is there nothing else? Perhaps this is the bow of a boat, a flat barge that conceals the depths and that floats on the surface ? Or is it a boat at the end of its life, almost fully submerged? Everything happens on the surface.

 

Chromosaturation (1965)

 by Carlos Cruz-Diez

 

 

Chromosaturation

 An artificial environment consisting of three chambers—one red, one green, one blue— that immerse the visitor in an absolute monochromatic situation.

Colonne Pascale (2010)

 by Pascale Marthine Tayou

 

 

Colonne Pascale is composed of 18 enamel pots piled on top of each other. Reaching a height of nearly 20 feet, the result is a totem of everyday objects, which transcends the prosaic nature of its materials.

 

Meurtrière

(Arrowslit, 2012) by Nicolas Milhe

 

 

 Arrowslit, from the opposite side of the mirror 

 

 

The medieval military architecture of fortified castles is the inspiration for this sculpture. Meurtières allow archers to see and shoot arrows at the enemy without being seen. This work echoes the ancient fortifications of the Louvre palace and is placed in the famous Historical Axis.

The continuation of the Historical Axis may be seen through the “arrowslit” in the sculpture. (I tried to get a photo of the axis through the arrowslit, but there were too many people around to get a clear shot.) The imaginary line of the Historical Axis starts in the Cour Napoléon and passes through the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and the gardens of the Tuileries. Just beyond, the axis crosses the Place de la Concorde and its Egyptian obelisk before it runs down the Champs-Elysées and reaches the Arc de Triomphe. In modern times, the axis was extended past the city boundary to the Grande Arche de La Defense, a business district with high-rise office buildings. The Grande Arche is a twentieth century version of the Arc de Triomphe, but dedicated to humanitarian ideals rather than military victories.

Threshold Resign (2012)

 by Mircea Cantor

 

 

For this piece, one of Romania’s typical small wooden houses was dismantled and rebuilt, and a typical rope motif, symbolizing the life-line--or enslavement--was carved into the wooden facade. With the roof removed, the house is no longer functional: the result is a construction midway between cultural heritage and contemporary sculpture.

 

Threshhold Resign

 

 

Untitled (2012)

  by Philippe Ramette
This sculpture consists of a pole with road signs attached to it. However, the signs only suggest potential directions, since nothing is written on them – there is no indication of the distance to be covered in order to reach one’s destination. Placed in the Tuileries Garden, the work seems to be inviting visitors to continue their stroll.

 

 

The Exchange Library (2011)

 by Tadashi Kawamata

My first thought was, “What is a bookmobile doing in the Tuileries?” I had to check the list of art installations just to be sure it really was one. It was, and the books on the chair were real--people picked them up, looked them over and put them back on the chair. I’m not sure they realized that it wasn’t really a lending library.

 

 

Bookmobile book exchange information

 

 

The Exchange Library

 

    Debris clôturé  (Fenced in Debris, 2012)

I didn’t know if this was an art installation or not, but I took a couple of pics just in case. What do you think?

Debris

I had to check to be sure this was an art installation. It wasn‘t --it’s only debris, nothing else.

Blatantly Bronze Landscape (2011)

 by Tom Burr

 Blatantly Bronze Landscape is part of an ongoing series of mirrored folding screens. It maintains the aspect of a personal dressing room, but reflects both the viewer and the environment. The work blurs the boundary that exists between the personal space of dressing and undressing and the outside world.

 

 

Maison bulle à six coques

(The Bubble House, 1968) by Jean Maneval

The Bubble House was constructed of six interlocking, reinforced polyester shells that could be easily transported to and set up at the chosen home site. It is 36m² or a little less than 400 square feet. Maneval's houses came in white, green, and brown—colors that would blend easily into the landscape. This design was used to equip an experimental holiday village in Gripp, in the Pyrenees Mountains. The production of these bubbles stopped around 1970 and remained limited to approximately thirty models.

 

 

The Bubble House was a very clever-looking little house, but there was nothing inside, so I couldn’t get an idea of how it would be equipped or furnished. Also, I don’t think the Pyrenees Mountains was the right environment for this little house.

On Patrol

Holding their formidable-looking weapons, French infantry soldiers walked three abreast along the main pathway of the garden. It was a sobering sight, as if they were doing a sweep of the garden.

 Look over the right shoulder of this soldier. You can see two points on the Historical Axis--the obelisk on the Place de la Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysees. They look close together, but there is actually more than a mile between the obelisk and the arch.

 

Fire Walker (2010) by William Kentridge

The sculpture is based on a drawing of a street vendor, known locally as a “fire walker” because of the brazier of hot coals they carry in order to sell roasted corn or meat to passers-by. The sculpture consists of steel plates composed in a 3-dimensional collage. When viewed from the front, there is a coherent image, but becomes disjointed and unrecognizable as the viewer moves around it.

 

 

Fire Walker, viewed from the side

 

 

A manicured garden is in the foreground, the “horseshoe terrace” is in the background to the left, and the art installation, “Sinfonietta of Light” is in the octagonal basin on the right. The Tuileries end here, adjacent to the Place de la Concorde.

 

Sinfonietta of Light (2012) by Susumu Shingu
A ‘sinfonietta’ can be a small symphony orchestra, especially one consisting of stringed instruments only.

 

This installation consists of ten pairs of wings mounted on a vertical axis and attached to floating cones placed on the surface of the water. The white wings dance with the wind, as if they were delicately fluttering birds. Absolutely charming and mesmerizing as you watch the “birds” bob up and down in the breeze.

 

 

Close-up of a ‘bird’

 

 

'Birds' with a view of the Orangerie Museum

The boundary of the Tuileries is marked by a terrace on each side. Two famous museums stand on either side, the Musée de l’Orangerie (overlooking the Seine) and the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume (bordering Rue de Rivoli). The Orangerie houses the famous Nymphéas from Monet, a series of eight water-lily murals displayed in two oval rooms of the museum.

 
 
'Birds' in the basin with the Eiffel Tower in the background

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Along Rue d’Assas in Montparnasse

Musee Zadkine

This museum really is in a “secret garden,” but it is easy to find if you know what you are looking for. Exit at metro Vavin in Montparnasse in the 6^th arrondissement. Take Rue Vavin to Rue d’Assas and turn right. It is a short walk to the museum at 100 bis Rue d’Assas. The only sign for the museum is mounted long-ways on the side of a building. I expected something a little more elaborate, so I missed it on my first pass down Rue d’Assas. Once you’ve found the passageway, head down the narrow lane between garden walls that leads to a small house. You know you are in the right place when you see a bronze sculpture, Girouette, at the end of the lane.

 

 

Musee Zadkine sign

 

Lane off Rue d’Assas

 

 

Girouette (Weathervane, 1965)

 

Jewish sculptor Ossip Zadkine (1890-1967) spent his boyhood in Belarus, part of the Russian Empire at the time. He attended art school in London and settled in France in 1910, where he became part of the Cubist Movement (1914-1925.) During World War I, he served on the front lines as a stretcher-bearer in the French army. Zadkine lived and created in his atelier in Paris from 1928 until his death in 1967. Thanks to a bequest to the City of Paris by Zadkine’s wife, the painter Valentine Prax, all of Zadkine’s works have been preserved and are on display in his house, his atelier and in the small garden adjoining the house. Zadkine’s early work was inspired by Auguste Rodin as well as by the cubists, whose principles he translated into sculpture. As of about 1920, he rejected cubist use of forms and acquired a softer style. Many of Zadkine's works cover musical, mythological and religious subjects, and his style varies with his materials. I wasn’t allowed to take photos inside the museum, but the sculptures in the garden were so stunning, it really didn’t matter.

 

 

Projet de Monument Guillaume Apollinaire

(Project for a Monument to Guillaume Apollinaire, 1948)

Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1919) was a French poet and among the foremost poets of the early 20th century. He was a very influential part of the artistic community in Paris, and his friends included many of the cubist artists, including Zadkine. He died during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 and was buried in Pere Lachaise Cemetery.

 

 

Two Zadkine sculptures in the garden

 

 

La Foret Humaine (The Human Forest, 1957-58)

 

Statue pour une montagne ou Coeur Venteux

(A Statue for a Mountain or Windy Heart, 1958)

The best I can translate “windy heart“ is someone who is fickle in romance--he/she changes with the weather. In the upper cavity, of this sculpture, there should be a heart-like figure hanging down, which would explain the "heart" reference. It's not there, maybe for restoration purposes.

 

Projet pour le monument aux Freres Van Gogh

(Project for a Monument to the Van Gogh brothers, 1963)

 

Theodorus "Theo" van Gogh (1857-1891) was a Dutch art dealer and the younger brother of Vincent van Gogh. Theo supported his brother Vincent financially and emotionally throughout both of their lives. Theo died at the age of 33, six months after Vincent died at the age of 37.

 

La Melancolie (The Melancholy Woman, 1929-1937)

 

 

Orphee (Orpheus, 1956)

In mythology, Orpheus was a legendary musician who went to the underworld to get his wife Eurydice back. He wasn’t supposed to look at her until they were out of Hades, but he did, and she vanished for good.

 

Rebecca ou La Grande Porteuse d’eau

(Rebecca or the Tall Water Carrier, 1927)

In the Old Testament, after Rebecca kindly drew water from a well, she was chosen to be the wife of Isaac, a Jewish patriarch.

Rebecca

 

 

Statue pour Jardin (Statue for the Garden, 1943)

 

 

Promethee (Prometheus, 1954)

Prometheus was a mythological character who stole fire from the gods for human use. This sculpture was in Zadkine's atelier.

 

Promethee was carved out of a nine-foot tall tree trunk. A copy is at Place Saint-Germain des Pres in the 6^th arrondissement.

The garden is filled with Zadkine’s life-sized sculptures, including the model for his masterpiece, the Rotterdam war memorial. The dramatic bronze figure has its arms stretched upward, and its torso is pierced with a jagged hole, symbolizing the damage done to the heart of Rotterdam after the Germans bombed the city in 1940.

Torse de la Ville Detruite  and Maquette pour le Monument La Ville Detruite

(Torso of the Destroyed City, 1951-63) and

Scale model for the Monument of the Destroyed City (1947)

 

 

Maquette pour le Monument in Rotterdam

 

 

Torse de la Ville Detruite

 

 

 

 

Torse de la Ville Detruite

 

Tarnier Monument

 

I was walking down Rue d’Assas in order to find the Jardin du Luxembourg, which is quite near the Zadkine Museum. I came across the Tarnier Monument at the corner of Rue d’Assas and Avenue de l’Observatoire. I didn’t know who Tarnier was, but it looked as if it might be a scene from a hospital. As it turned out, Stéphane Tarnier (1828–1897) was a distinguished and highly regarded French obstetrician who practiced medicine in Paris during the second half of the nineteenth century.

 

 

 

The large bas-relief, which was erected in 1905, depicts Tarnier and his incubator with a mother and her new-born child, who was saved by the use of the incubator.

The Maternité de Paris was the "lying-in" hospital for the poor women of Paris. The obstetrician Stéphane Tarnier pioneered use of incubators for premature infants at the Maternité at the end of the 19th century. Inspired by a device used to incubate poultry, Tarnier introduced prototypes of infant incubators to the Paris Maternité in 1881. These devices were basically wooden boxes with glass lids and compartments that contained hot-water bottles. He called his "baby-warming device" a "couveuse", and through it Tarnier was responsible for a 28% decrease in infant mortality over a three-year period at the Paris Maternité. Tarnier was not the inventor of the infant incubator, but was the first to apply it for regular care of the premature. Interestingly, Elizabeth Blackwell, America's first woman M.D., trained at the Maternité. She considered the training in women's and children's diseases, as well as midwifery, to be excellent.

 

 

 

Tarnier Monument

Tarnier, Mother and newborn baby, with incubator in the foreground

 

 

Fountain of the Observatory

La Fontaine de l’Observatoire (The Fountain of the Observatory)

La Fontaine de l'Observatoire is situated where Rue d’Assas, Avenue de l’Observatoire & Boulevard Saint Michel converge. The fountain is known by several names, including the Fontaine des Quatre Parties du Monde (Fountain of the Four Parts of the World), the Fontaine de l'Observatoire or the Fontaine Carpeaux, after the main sculptor.

Designed in 1873, the bronze masterpiece represents Asia, Africa, Europe, and America. Asia is depicted by the figure of a Chinese woman with a long pigtail; Europe is represented by the figure of a white woman, and she scarcely touches the ground; Africa is represented by the figure of a black woman in a three-quarter view; and America is depicted by a female figure of an American Indian wearing a feather headdress. In this photo, Africa is facing us, and America is on her right.

 

 

Jardin Marco Polo

 

There are two gardens, Jardin Marco Polo and Jardin Robert Cavelier de la Salle, which form one elongated park, le Jardin de l’Observatoire. The lawns are expansive and each garden is planted with four rows of chestnut trees. Both gardens contain sculptures of allegorical figures meant to commemorate the adventurous journeys undertaken by the explorers. The Robert Cavelier de la Salle garden pays homage to the 17th century French explorer who explored the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mississippi River. It was de la Salle who claimed the Mississippi basin as French territory. The Marco Polo garden occupies the southern half of the Jardin de l'Observatoire. It is about 3 acres in size and honors the great explorer of the same name.

 

 

 

　
 In the Marco Polo Garden is the sculpture L’Aurore (The Dawn by Francois Jouffroy, 1870-75) with the Palais du Luxembourg in the background. “Dawn” was much lovelier when the rest of her arms were there and gracefully stretched upward.

 The other statue in this garden is Le Jour (The Day by Jean-Joseph Perraud ,1870-75) The woman’s back is to us. She has a jug of water on her shoulder and is offering water to a man who is drinking it thirstily.

Four sculptors created the fountain: Louis Vuillemot carved the garlands and festoons around the pedestal, Pierre Legrain carved the armillary with interior globe decorated with zodiac signs; the

animalier Emmanuel Fremiet designed the eight prancing horses, marine turtles and spouting fish. Most importantly Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux sculpted the four nude women supporting the globe, representing the Four Continents. In this photo, China is facing us.

 

 

Side view of fountain
In this photo, Europe is on the left, and China is on the right.

 

 

 

Horses and spouting fish by Emmanuel Fremiet

 

 

 

Spouting turtles

 

 

Fontaine Carpeaux