This is a detective story which investigates the use of Australian flora in French design at the turn of the 20th century. It is about explorers, gardeners, artisans, artists, Art Nouveau and Art Deco. About plants and people and cultural cannibalism.
Bun, the intrepid traveller, bids farewell to Mt Wellington before setting off on her latest adventure knowing that she may never see this view again as they are building a two storey house opposite us after demolishing the old one. Nevertheless she is brave and looking forward to seeing old and new places. For the past 25 years Bun has travelled with friends in Europe and Asia but has not visited the Americas before. New York will be quite different from Paris, London, Rome or Moscow but she is excited about seeing all the art galleries and places that she is so familiar with from the movies and such - in fact she has made a special note of Robert De Niro's restaurant in Tribeca where he has hung all his father's artwork (he studied at Black Mountain with all the famous American abstract expressionists). Staying at the Algonquin Hotel will also be exciting as it was home to the writer and critic Dorothy Parker and her "Round Table" group in the early 1900's. They were the ones who helped to get "The New Yorker" magazine going and now the hotel's walls are papered with specially commissioned wallpaper featuring cartoons from the magazine. Maybe she will even get to see a show on Broadway or the Radio City music hall. Anyway it's another adventure and Bun will handle it with her usual aplomb.
Iv'e heard from the director of the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle de Nice regarding my work. He apologises that they do not have anywhere to exhibit it but is very impressed and has passed the information along to the Parc Phoenix, a floral park with which he is in regular contact and which possess the necessary buildings. A tantalising response and, one hopes, one that augers well for the other museums/galleries which I have contacted.
Big day of sorting out documents - tickets, accomodation (in New York and Shanghai) transfers, tours, insurance (E-tickets come attached to the intinerary so are in fact much bulkier than the old style airline tickets) and collating all the emails received from France so that they can be transferred to laptop and thumb drive (belt and braces). Then a review of baggage - have we got everything we need ? are we taking things we don't need? have we left room for things we might want to bring back with us? All very exciting but it will be a relief to just get on the plane and go.
Well it is spring in France and I'm sure there are, "...lark's on the wing" and "...snail's on the thorn' all over the place. The smile on the face is because all things French are starting to come together. I have just heard from the Cite that all is well for us to arrive on May 1 although they had originally said they were not expecting us until May 4. No one had told me when I was awarded the studio that I would not be able to move in on the first of the month (or on Saturday or Sunday) and I had booked flights months ago. Anyway a phone call yesterday appears to have sorted that out and I am extremely grateful to the staff at the Cite for being flexible. (here's a link to the Cite's English version and you can search for it on the Google map below http://pagesperso-orange.fr/citedesarts/cite-internationale-des-arts-english-presentation.html ) Also heard back yesterday from the Musee des Arts Decoratif in Paris with information and a contact there, and from the curator of the Musée de L'Impression sur Etoffes in Mulhouse (lots of references in Stafford Cliff's 'French Style and Decoration') . Still nothing from the Musee de l'ecole de Nancy but I'm sure it can't be far away and I'm hoping they will have contacts for me at Daum, Lalique and Baccarat as I've not been successful contacting them using the internet. I already have an appointment for May 4 with the librarian at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris (who has in fact invited us around for dinner on the weekend we arrive) so will be able to determine plantings of Australian flora there at the time I'm targetting (1895-1925). With this I can start to construct a plan of attack for my other research which will include time in Alsace Lorraine where I also hope to visit Zuber Cie who still print wallpaper using 300 year old engraved woodblocks (now that's amazing). Thought I'd better include some images of the type of work I will be looking for in France.
Lalique perfume bottle (Power House Museum, Sydney) Stopper is in the form of drooping eucalyptus leaves surmounted by a group of seed pods
Baccart crystal tumbler (Power House Museum, Sydney) Acid etched on very fine crystal.
I'll try to include more images as I go along
Only one flight change by Swissair so far but we really expect more over the next couple of months as the airlines try to deal with the implications of the economic downturn - but then that's just adds flavour to the adventure.
Napoleon Bonaparte was a man of the enlightenment – he may have paid lip service to democracy BUT as well as overhauling the financial system and creating the Bank of France, the introduction of his Code Civil de Francais in 1804 replaced a mish mash of Roman, Customary and Canon laws which applied across France and brought about a major change in the legal status of individuals. As the Encyclopedia Britannica says, “Under the code all citizens are equal: primogeniture, hereditary nobility, and class privileges are extinguished; civilian institutions are emancipated from ecclesiastical control; freedom of person, freedom of contract, and inviolability of private property are fundamental principles.” and, “…it has been the main influence in the 19th-century civil codes of most countries of continental Europe and Latin America”[1]
He also began a program of public works and sowed the seeds for universal education with the implementation of the Lycée system in 1801.
Napoleon was a man of science and encouraged the development of studies in all areas of the sciences. He even developed a mathematical theorem about equilateral triangles which is known as Napoleon’s Theorem. His expedition to Egypt in 1798 included 300 men of science and letters and resulted in the publication of the scientific treatise known as Description de L'Égypte. In his enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge he overburdened Baudin’s two small ships with 20 savants – scientists and artists - many of whom jumped ship in Ile de France wrongly blaming Baudin for their exodus.[2]
Although some critics of Napoleon write off this period as a time of waste, death and destruction and the beginning of the end for France as an international force[3]there is no doubt that his rule marked a turning point for Europe and many parts of the globe including Australasia. And, lest we forget, it was France under Napoleon who set about establishing the first Musee de L’Homme (museum of man) and gave Baudin specific instructions regarding the collection of ethnographic material during his voyage.
Napoleon’s first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais formerly of Martinique was a gifted amateur naturalist who, perhaps because she had grown up amongst exotic species, being fascinated by the newly discovered species from Australasia, began establishing them along with every other variety of plant that she could obtain at her chateau Malmaison which was on the outskirts of Paris.
Although many plants were sourced from the Labillardiere collection and despite ongoing war with England, Josephine was able to procure a steady supply of plant material from her English contacts. On his appointment as head gardener at Malmaison Delahaye would probably also have contributed specimens from his own extensive collection[4]
Not content with growing these plants for her own amusement Josephine wanted to spread them all over France. Jill Duchess of Hamilton quotes her as saying, ‘…I wish that Malmaison may soon become the source of riches for all the départements…I have planted…trees and shrubs from Australia’[5]. It was her intention to create botanical gardens all over France along the lines of her gardens in Malmaison.[6]To promote her ideas Josephine commissioned a book about these exotic plants with illustrations provided by the best and most expensive botanical illustrator of the time Pierre-Joseph Redoute.
Almost 30% of the images in this publication portrayed Australian flora. While not devaluing the line drawings in Labillardiere’s book or Redoute’s earlier prints it should be noted that the images in Jardin de la Malmaison are probably the first published artistic impressions of these plants. Executed originally as brilliantly coloured paintings they were subsequently produced as prints, engraved under Redoute’s direction, by François Noël Sellier using a method called stipple engraving which, for the first time allowed for the subtle tones of the paintings to be reproduced by the printer. It would be a long time before the unusual forms of the Australian flora made another appearance in the art of France.
Little is known of the fate of the plants at Malmaison after Josephine’s death but the extensive parks and gardens were eventually subdivided and sold off. I have been told that Acacia continues to grow easily in the forests around the area that was Malmaison and it is reported that escaped kangaroos from Josephine’s garden have now become a problem in that area.
The dearth of information about these plants and those at the Jardin de Plantes and of Joséphine’s plans to distribute plants to every Département in France could be taken to indicate that their novelty value disappeared along with the Empress. However, one can say with certainty that the acacia which, along with the rose, was so favoured by Joséphine did have a major impact on French culture. Both it and the Eucalypt were to become important in the perfume industry and as an essential oil respectively. They were to reappear in the designs of La Belle Epoque through to Art Nouveau.
Josephine’s fascination with new and exotic plant species was to have unforseen consequences for the local environment. As we are now discovering, all plants naturally exist in surroundings which control their existence in balance with other local species. Once removed from this situation to another environment their future becomes unpredictable.
Known to the French as Mimosa, the delicatephyllodes and fragrant perfume of the Acacia was to become even more popular than it was with the English. It became an essential part of the perfume industry and was widely planted in the south along the Riviera.
The first mimosa to be planted in the south of France was Acacia farnesiana, which is a native of Central America. It reached the Alpes-Maritimes in the 18th century but, although this type of Mimosa is especially suited for perfumes, it is not frost hardy and was replaced by the Australian species Acacia dealbata (70%), Acacia retinoides (20%), hybrides (8%) and Acacia podalyriifolia (2%).[1] Having found a suitable environment, the mimosa extended throughout the Massif des Maures and progressively replaced the local vegetation: cork oaks, l`arbousier and the heather.
One might draw similar comparisons with the transplanting of European culture to the environs of the Pacific or other non-European countries.If one disregards the politics behind the European expansion of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and considers the environmental impact of the process of cultural transportation one is left with a great sadness for the loss of biological diversity. Not only the loss of plant and animal species but also that of human cultural diversity.
Baudin’s previously noted comments to Governor King regarding the ‘…transporting on a soil where the crimes and diseases of Europeans were unknown all that could retard the progress of civilisation…’ show an understanding that, no matter where one stands on issues such as the “Black Wars”, can only be seen as prophetic. Not only has the aboriginal population been decimated but much of our flora and fauna have likewise been depleted.
Today boulevards along the Coted’Azure are planted with acacia comprising up to 20 different Australian species, including hybrids[1]and the “The Mimosa Trail” has become an important part of the local tourist calendar in a manner not dissimilar to the way we reclaim the past and our transported aliens in the name of tourism.
[1]Napoleonic Code, Britannica 2001 Standard Edition CD-ROM, 1994-2000. Britannica.com Inc. 120307
[2] Anthony J Brown, Ill-starred Captains: Flinders and Baudin, op cit. p26 Burdened with twenty two more officers, midshipmen and scientists than requested, many through patronage and many of whom were unsuited to a long sea voyage Baudin was to find this a much more troublesome voyage than his previous missions. Like his second in command Emmanuel Hamelin the captain of his sister ship the Naturaliste Baudin had earned his promotion under the Republic and several of his officers and a number of the scientific staff were to show little respect for a self made man and a self taught naturalist; despite his obvious talent proven though his previous exploits during the war with England and as a leader of botanising missions. Difficulties provisioning in Tenerife and Mauritius led to a number of these disaffected people, including the appointed artists, deserting in Mauritius and, to protect themselves from reprisals, these people began to spread rumours about Baudin’s incompetence.
Bun, the intrepid traveller, bids farewell to Mt Wellington before setting off on her latest adventure knowing that she may never see this view again as they are building a two storey house opposite us after demolishing the old one.
