Museums, Markets and Malmaison

Can't believe it's time to go to Nancy (without the laptop) so I'll recap the past week as best as I can. Saturday we finally got to Bastille market which was as good as everybody told us - lots of Salamanca style stalls as well as very good (French) food stalls. Got a great rye fruit loaf which was almost as good as the ones they used to bake at Peppermint Bay and a very aromatic Bouc Bourgogne (which we realised later was goat - quite tender but very strong).
Sunday was another stroll around the Marais - always vibrant always interesting - purchased a gateau fromage blanc from our favourite shop for afternoon tea - sort of like a really smooth cheesecake without any pastry.
Monday we finally got to visit the church St Germain du Pres (a very historic church which is often mentioned in books and song). There is a well know bookstore nearby called La Hune which I spent some time in looking for anything to do with the artists I am interested in (even though it was terribly overheated) - didn't find anything relevant.
Tuesday was the Musee d'Orsay which is mind blowing. After waiting in line for an hour (watching the black rain clouds gather - without an umbrella) we entered the huge cavernous space of this former railway station (which was the first in Paris and built for the Exhibition Universelle in 1900) and looked out over the marble floor covered with large sculptures - many of them by Rodin. The exhibition spaces rises up for six floors on either side. We headed straight for the Art Nouveau section which was fascinating then on to the impressionist (much more crowded) where there are many examples of Degas' sculptures of dancers and horses. When we left exhausted at 3pm the queue was still just as long waiting to get in (despite the fact that there had been a major downpour while we were inside).
Wednesday - to Malmaison at long last. Metro to La Defense which is a major commercial development with very modern high rise buildings outside the periphery road to the north west of Paris. The whole place is built on a massive scale and is overlooked by Le Grande Arch, a sort of oversized contemporary version of the Arch de Triomphe. Over 150,000 people work in this area and we did finally see fashionably dressed french women (and men) obviously dressed for the office. There is also a modern mall with over 300 shops, 40 restaurants and a number of cinemas. After many false starts we finally found the bus terminal and boarded the bus for our half hour trip to the village of Malmaison to visit the house that once belonged to the Empress Josephine. We did not have a map of how to get there from the bus stop (even Google maps were not too clear) but managed to find a visitors centre where we were given a map and directions as well as information about Josephine and her daughter's tomb in the local church. Having brought cheese and corned beef (from the Bastille market) with us we went in search of a baguette to eat it with before walking the kilometre or so the the "Castle". The boulangerie was in the town square across from the church and had the best looking gataeux that we had seen so we also purchased a chocolate concoction called Opera and sat in the square while we ate it - yuuuuum.
As the church was right in front of us we went in and inspected Josephine's tomb - again a rather feminine feel to the place. In the garden around the fountain oustside we discovered Callistemons and wondered whether they had been planted there because of Josephine's connection with Australian flora or just because the people liked them.
Walking via the back streets we passed a large park which used to be once part of Josephine's estate which was broken up and sold off after her death and we got some idea of just how large the estate was. The house itself was a joy - not large by french chateau standards - and very homey (that probably sounds strange when you consider all the furnishings etc but, apart from the formal areas, it was rather simple). There was evidence everywhere of Josephines love of flowers - from simple ceiling decorations to tapestries to formal porcelain plates to her dress and underwear - exactly what one would have expected.
The chateau closed at 1230 so we wandered around the garden and found a cleared space amongst the wildflowers at the rear of the building where we sat with our lunch and imagined what life must have been like here nearly 200 years ago - about Delahaye who planted the French Garden at Recherche Bay and later became the head gardener here and about discussions between him and Josephine who was a very keen amateur botanist about what should be grown where. Its all in the past of course and cannot be recovered but it is interesting to be in this space and think about what has gone before. Afterwards we scoured the grounds looking for signs of the Australian flora which had been grown here but all we found was a spindly Eucalyptus which was obviously not very old. Any Acacias, with their short life span, would of course have been long dead but I have been told by a French lady in Hobart who grew up in this area that Acacias still grow around here and she remembers them quite clearly from her childhood (were they wild offspring from those original plants carried back by the d'Entrecasteaux and Baudin expeditions and planted by Josephine and/or Delahaye?).
After so much reading about Malmaison and the plant collecting of the early explorers it was a wonderful experience to be able to have the time to actually sit here and think about these things (especially without examinations and deadlines hanging over my head).
Thursday was another museum. I had not really intended to visit the Pompidou but there is a collection of Kandinsky's work on exhibition which I really wanted to see. As usual with these things the actual work is so different to the images one has seen in books etc - some are larger, some are smaller and most are less well defined than I had expected. My favourite section is a collection of small watercolours that he worked on around 1914-15. He worked with watercolour and pen and ink and it appears that he was working through some of the ideas which came out in his later work - to me there is a lack of restraint and a freshness within these that really appealed. Also looked at the modern art while I was there and it was interesting to see so much of the stuff that we had talked about at art school.
Friday and Saturday we set out to explore some of the outskirts of Paris by riding the Periferique buses that circle the city (Paris has a large ring road called the Periferique at a radius of about 5 km with roads leading off at regualr intervals to all the major rural centres). Three buses and one tram complete the full circle and each section takes about 30-45 minutes plus another 40-60 minutes to get to and from them so we broke the trip down over two days. It is very interesting to get away from the tourist areas of Paris and see how the people really live - from the really poor sections to the east to the quite affluent areas of the north west. We also passed lots of stadiums, parks and playing fields and, down around the south east, a massive amount of redevelopment which appears to be commercial (I remember some of this from my visit to the Mitterand library last time). In the south west there is the huge Paris Expo site alongside air force and naval complexes. Just across the river there are masive high rise housing complexes and we wonder whether this was the site of the rioting a year or so back. The western edge is bordered by the Bois de Boulogne. A different but interesting view of Paris. On the way home by metro we came across a band of Russian performers in the Concorde transfer walkways. I remember them from 2005. They are still performing and still selling CDs and we wonder if they ever perform anywhere else. We made a movie and gave them some money in gratitude for their show.
Today we returned to Montparnasse to visit an artist's market. A hundred contemporary artists selling their work in stalls just like all the other markets around Paris - everything from sculpture to painting to photography and prints (interesting chat with a printmaker with good prints and very limited English). Quite stimulating and at least one can see what the current working French artist is doing (unlike the "tourist art" at Montmarte).
There has been researching and art making going on in the midst of all this but I won't bore you with all that. Now it's off to Nancy to see what we can unearth about Daum, Galle, Lalique, Baccarat and the Ecole de Nancy.

Jazz in the Garden

Big day today - marketing, research at Arts Decoratif then Jazz in Luxembourg Gardens.
Just some cheese and fruit as we intend to try the Bastille market on Sunday so its a quick trip up and back on the number 96 bus then off to the museum.
The Museum Arts Decoratif (MAD) have and interesting way of controlling how much one can do in a day. Firstly they limit requests to 5 items then they only allow you one request between 10-12, one between 12-2 and the last request between 2-4 so one has to develop a strategy to ensure that the time there is not wasted. In our case this means working out which items we are going to request before arriving by searching the catalogue online. Hopefully there will be something of interest in the things we select but often it turns out that there is little or no relevant content e.g. loads of images from the International Exhibition of 1900 but only of buildings, layout etc and nothing specific about artists/manufacturers (even though the title indicates that there could be). So we have a backup list of albums from the Maciet - the 844 volume collection that lines the bibliotheque - which we can select freely and examine while we await our turn to submit the next list (and of course there is always a quick trip to the Tuilleries gardens for a lunchtime snack to fill in some of the time).
Anyway we are off before two today so that we can get home for a quick coffee and jump on the metro for the Luxembourg Gardens where the Ensemble de Jazz de la Sorbonne are presenting a concert as Part of the Saint Germain des Pres Jazz Festival which has been on all week.
It is a bright sunny day (our first 30 degree day) and, unlike the New Yorkers who spread themselves out all over the grass, the French tend to just sit and look. Even though it is an hour and a half before the concert there are no spare seats under the trees where the rotunda is as people have taken most them off to sit in the sun however we find half of a bench seat and make ourselves comfortable - these appear to be the same back to back design that are scattered all over Paris and were designed, I read, by Hector Guimard of Metro entrance fame. It is a beautiful spot with dappled light filtering through the trees and we are happy watching the locals and tourists make their way past as the ensemble is setting up. By 4pm the area is filling up and people bringing chairs up from down by the lake. Suddenly an irate waiter appears in our midst waving his tray around and remonstrating with some of the people. He uproots them from their chairs and starts stacking them right in front of us - it appear that people have been moving chairs from the nearby restaurant and he has a long queue of people with nowhere to seat them. As he goes off to harass more chair takers other people arrive and try to take the chairs he has already stacked but we say - non non non ici pour le restaurant. Out of nowhere a gendarme appears and takes charge, guarding the stacked chairs until they can all be returned to their rightful place. It is an entertaining interlude (for us at least) and at last the ensemble is ready to play.
The concert runs for an hour and includes some old and new numbers as well as a number of singers and is most enjoyable (again I have a video but you must settle for a still image).
Wandering out of the gardens we find ourselves heading toward the Pantheon where most of the really famous people are buried. Opposite is the old Sorbonne building so we wander through as though we are students - appears to have been renovated inside and there is the usual classrooms, cafeteria, etc but at least we can say that we have been to the Sorbonne.
Around the corner is the Eglise st Ettienne du Mont an attractive gothic church which I remember from my last visit as I was staying just down the hill from here. We hang about to hear the bells ring out a carillon but it must have been later in the day when I was here before because there are only a few chimes and then they stop. We are stunned by the beauty of this church when we go inside. It is very light and feminine with beautiful spiral marble staircases winding up either side of a central arch. In a way this reflects the delicate round staircase tower that leads up to the bell chamber on the outside.
Although it is after 6.30 it is still daylight and very mild so we retrace my steps down the hill across boulevarde St Germaine, through to the river and across Ile St Louis (where there is a model pouting her way through a fashion shoot - much more stylish than New York) to home. Another perfect day.

A walk in the park

Today is another public holiday so we have decided to take a trip to the Parc de la Villette which is the NE corner of inner Paris in the 19th Arrondissment. Not sure what to expect but we do know that the canal which originates just down the river from us flows through the centre of it. (apparently the canal was a major source of supplies for the city at one time). The park is built on the site of the old abattoirs established in 1867 by Napoleon III and was designed by Bernard Tschumi after consultation with Jacques Derrida.
First impression is of something massive built on a monumental Russian scale (but with more flair). The square is immense and dwarfs the beautiful central fountain while the Grande Halle appears to be an immense 1900's railway station but was in fact the original abbatoir building (one can imagine all the comings and goings here 100 years ago when the boucheries from the city came to stock up on supplies). On the left is the Paris Conservatoire of Music and Dance and a very modern walkway leading into the park. We pass an old building which is home for the Theatre Paris - Villette and discover a wonderful play area which has so many activities for children of all ages that is bound to wear them out by the time their parents take them home (what a great idea). I also noticed a rather unique way of parking bicycles. In the park proper there are paths wandering off in all directions, some through lightly wooded areas and others through or around more open space. The cover of the walkway raises up and becomes a bridge across the canal as well as running off in either direction above the paved pathway/cycleway along the canal. From here we get a better view of the park and of the people enjoying their holiday in beautiful green surroundings (although there are many green spaces around Paris this is the largest - 35 hectares - and allows people to put the city out of their minds for a while).
From our raised walkway we spy a large silver dome which, acording to our plan, is part of the Cite des Sciences et de l'Industrie so decide to head in that direction. As we approach we realise that the building is much larger than we first thought and extends down at least three floors below the level of the park. The low visual impact on the surrounding environment keeps everything in the park in perspective. The immense dome is created from small triangular pieces of polished metal which reflects the surroundings.
A quick whip around the inside of the building reveals the immensity of the museum and, like every museum we have been to, it has a research library (bibliotheque) where people can study or just read the latest journals on the museum's oeuvre as well as a bookshop (librairie). One gets the impression that there is still a great emphasis on learning in France and both young and old can be seen all the time in these bibliotheques. We decide that we don't need to spend $30 to see the exhibits so head off back through the park taking a different route up through the woods, past a closed water slide and empty pool (obviously not warm enough yet) and come out onto another area where people are picnicing, practicing martial arts and rap dancing, playing ball and generally making the most of a sunny day after all the gloom and drizzle.
This has definitely been a great day and good to get away from the grind of the work and the hustle and bustle of the city. We will try to get back for one of the concerts that are on during June.

The Marais

A lot of artists in Belleville near where we do our marketing are having an open studio day today and we thought it would be a good opportunity to see what is happening in the local scene. Unfortunately, it is raining and, as we don't fancy wandering around in a strange neighbourhood getting wet, we have decided to stay in and work here.
After an initial rush of "finds" at the Musee des Arts Decoratif things have gone a little quiet. Most of the references that look interesting and/or directly connected to the research turn out to have little or no information. There are occasional nuggets, like finding the name of a ceramacist in a catalogue for an exhibition in Nancy and discovering that he was an Englishman who lived and worked in Paris (although there were no images in the catalogue I had previously found an image of this man's work but had no other information about him). It is the same for many of the images that I have found. Trying to locate the artists geographically and/or in time to see if there could be any connections is extremely difficult - but we press on.
By 3pm the rain appears to have pretty well cleared away and we decide to go for a walk in the Marais and track down the Musee Carnavalet (the history of Paris) which has the jeweller Fouquet's shop from Rue de Rivoli designed by Mucha tucked away in a back room.
This is the second Sunday we have walked in the Marais and are amazed to find that many of the streets are once again closed to all traffic except bicycles and pedestrians (and there are formidable wardens at each entrance to make sure everyone obeys!).
As I have said elsewhere, the Marais is a very old part of Paris (parts of the church near us apparently date back to the 13th century) and there was once a wall that encircled Paris just a few blocks away from here (most of what is now the Marais was then farmland). There are a few remaining examples of old houses and one near the Pompidou centre is said to be the oldest in Paris (these ones near us look similar). The area became popular amongst the aristocracy at one time and large mansions were built here but, after the king moved to Versailles the powerful people moved on and many of their mansions became warehouses. It was all downhill after that until the minister for culture, Malreaux, decided in the 1960's that the area was of historic significance and began the process of weeding out the rotten and restoring the restorable (this was when the Cite was established).
Musee Carnavalet is spread over three levels of a building which appears to be built over two open courtyards and is like a maze inside (entry is free unless you wish to see the special exhibiton). Areas are broken down by century starting from Roman times up to today and are filled with drawings, paintings, maps, artifacts and maquettes - all ather fascinating. The top floor is given over to the revolution and steps you through the background, the key players, the main events and the aftermath (helps to sort out the scene but I'm still a bit confused about the Jacobins).
We finally track down the Mucha display tucked away in a corner room at the end of a dead end corridor (luckily we had directions or we would never have found it). It would appear that the Art Nouveau era is of little significance in the context of Parisian history. However, it is a beautiful display - the whole of Fouquet's shop has been moved here and set up just as it was - totally Art nouveau. There is also a room from the Cafe de Paris with furniture by Majorelle (another Ecole de Nancy designer) and two cartoons by (?) done with tiles. As the attendant did not seem to care I took stacks of photos but, since it faces into a corridor it was almost impossible to get a good shot of the front of the shop. There is also a very nice little bookshop attached to the museum with heaps of stuff on the history of Paris.
Emerging back into the real world at nearly 6pm we find the streets still thronged with people and begin the ramble back to the Cite. Along the way we stumble upon a small area with all kosher shops and decide to try some of the pastries from one that looks really interesting. Hard to choose but we settle on a tarte citron which turns out to be the best we have ever eaten (crisp pastry and lemon filling that tastes just like home made lemon butter that mother used to make - we will definitely be back)

Night of the Museums

Still grey and drizzly but we are hopeful that it will clear by this afternoon as we are off on a museum run. Once every year the museums of Europe have an open evening when many of them are free or put on special shows - this is the fifth year of the event. We have opted for the Museum of the History of France - National Archives, first - partly because it starts earliest at 1630 and partly because the Hotel de Sourbise is where I was studying in 2005. This will be followed by the museum of Arts and Metiers - inventions etc, then the Baccarat Gallery Museum - hopefully I will be able to get a contact for the factory in Alsace, and last but not least, the Louvre - hopefully by arriving late we will be able to get in without a long queue.
The sky has cleared by the time we set out and it is only a short stroll through the Marais to the Hotel Sourbise. The name Hotel was given to large city residences in pre revolutionary France - they became run down over the years but most have now been restored and many house Government departments such as, in this case, the National Archives. It feels a little strange walking back through the massive doors that lead from the street into the large courtyard where we are confronted by the rear end of a large red container. Nearby on the grass is a tent where they are running a quiz, two chairs facing TV sets and, around the perimeter under the porticos there are food stalls, a book restoration workshop and interactive areas for children.
As I am explaining to Marcia about my daily schedule we enter the main building where I recieve a major shock. Gone are the lockers and the reception desk and the doors to the research area lead through into an impressive timeline mural showing the history of France alongside the history of the National Archives (which go back to the time of the Kings). Upstairs it is the same but here there are historical items displayed in vitrines and through the doors at the back (where previously people would disappear and return with your requested items) there are restored room of the old Mansion. From the windows here I can see the round room in the opposite wing where I went to study the maps from the Baudin and d'Entrecasteaux expeditions. Its all a little disorienting until I find a staff member who explains that all the archives were moved to a new building (the Caran) on the same block twenty years ago and that when I was here the information I was after had been moved back temporarily.
Back home for a coffee before setting out for Arts et Metiers which is sort of like the Power House Museum in Sydney from what we've read. What an amazing collection of old equipment - from tiny clocks to huge lathes - models of Paris, and methods of construction for medieval buildings, an early ornithopter, planes, cars etc. But most amazing is Foucault's Pendulum (I remember this from Umberto Eco's book) which hangs from the centre of the nave in the old church which forms part of the museum. Not sure how it ended up here but the story about the museum goes that during the revolution when all the priests were being done in an enterprising priest converted the church into a museum by collecting any equipment he could lay his hands on and setting it up as a display showing the ingenuity of the French people (and in the process saving his life).
Back to the metro to Place Etats Unis which is at the other end of town - here we take a wrong turn and find ourselves on the banks of the Seine looking across at the Eiffel Tower (brilliant). Retracing our steps we find the building and enter a foyer which has two fireplace made from crystal (complete with fake gas log fires) and a lit electric crystal chandelier which is half submerged in a tank of water - not sure what this is meant to prove but it looks impressive. The building was once the home of art patron Marie-Laure, Viscountess de Noailles (1920-1970) who held fabulous parties here attended by artists like Man Ray, Cocteau and Dali. The downstairs rooms contain all the current Bacarat products including large chunky pieces by their new designer (some combining crystal and ceramic). All very nice but it is the historic stuff we are really interested in and we find this in a series of rooms upstairs. Breathtakingly beautiful, mostly extremely delicate including a long stemmed glass for the Tzar made from blue and clear crystal. After we have finished drooling I find staff member who tells me that I will need to another store in Paris to get the contact details of someone in the manufactory where the archives are kept.
It is now after nine pm and the sun has not quite set so we set off for the Louvre. Whizzing through the tunnels and Marcia remarks on how efficient the Metro system is, how you never need to wait more than five minutes for a train and how nothing seems to go wrong. Alas, we are about to find out that all is not as it seems. As we pull into Concorde station there is an announcement and everybody disembarks from the train which pulls away into the tunel empty. After a short break there is another announcement and everyone heads for the exit - obviously there are no more trains on this line for now. Fortunately Concorde is not far from the Louvre and we walk along the outside of the Tullieries Gardens (strange to see them deserted) to the building which houses the Museum of Decorative Arts then through the gardens at the back to the Louvre where we are stunned to see a huge queue of people which stretches halfway around the square (either lots of people had the same idea as us about coming late or they have been queuing all night). By the look of the line it will be another hour before we even get into the Louvre (after all its not like we haven't been here before) so we decide to call it a night and head for home footsore and weary but our heads spinning with everything we have seen today.

Heavenly Food - Heavenly Sounds

Friday - market day and black clouds are threatening. Two days ago just after I got back from the JB it started to rain and turned into a tropical downpour (thunder but no lightning) and finally hail so we are a little wary about going outside at the moment.
We had decided to go to the market at Bastille today because everyone who's stayed here recommends it (there are a couple of exercise books here in which people have left comments about their stay including tips about shopping, where to go to get the best deals, etc, etc. - brilliant) but discovered that it is not on until Sunday so we will return to Belleville to day as we need to re-stock.
The skies are a little less threatening at 1030 so we are off to catch the number 96 bus. Markets are not quite so crowded and we head straight for the cheese lady where we add a couple of new cheeses to our collection then wander up and down the aisles to discover where the best bargains are. We end up back at the same stalls as last week (a noisy Arab stall where the men are constantly shouting out their wares) because they have great stock at good prices (strawberries 1kg/$4, tomatoes 2kg/$4, cherries 1kg/$6). Another has cooked food and we by a Moroccan lamb stew (to go with rice or cous cous) and also shredded spinach in a cream cheese sauce (good for pasta). The bread lady has her sons helping today and we collect another round loaf with nigella seeds because it was good for toast (unlike most French breads that we have tried). A carton of eggs (large $4.40/15) and we are back on the bus to home. We realise that we have bought too much fruit but it was so fresh that we couldn't resist and besides the fruit salads will be good for us.
The rest of the day is spent working. I realise that the layout of my research on the wall is too one dimensional and I need to include a timeline which indicates whether things were happening before or after 1900. This makes the scene much more understandable.
Late afternoon and the sky has cleared somewhat (there are even occasional patches of sun) so we decide to go for our usual afternoon walk. I grab the camera as I want to get a photo of the old organ in the Eglise St Gervaise which is nearby. It is a reasonably small organ (by the standard of most of the churches we have wandered into over the past couple of weeks) and has a very modern stained glass window behind it which I also want a photo of (hopefully with the sun coming through). I walked past this church most days on my way to the National Archives in 2005 but never went in until a couple of days ago - it is quite austere inside with new coir matting running from the alter up through the centre of the church to the back row of seats. While we were there the organist played a couple of pieces and it was so beautiful - quite unlike others with a softer more gentle sound.
As we leave the Cite the bells start to ring out the angelus and we realise that it is 6pm. On entering the church via the back door which is closest to us we find it fairly full with a group of white robed monks and nuns kneeling before the alter. As the bells finish they rise to their feet and begin to sing it sounds so beautiful that we stand at the back of the church to observe for a while (I made a short video with my camera but it is too large to upload so you'll have to settle for a still).
Actually, there was soiree for new tenants of the Cite during the week and we met a young man from Nancy who is studying at the Consevatoire de Musique and he said that he had to go look at the organ sometime during the week because it is special. He also said that getting into the Conservatoire is very difficult with four rounds of examinations before selection (and that he has an exam this week that will last for twelve hours - he is taking a chocolate cake with him to tide him over). We also met a girl from Canada (sculpture), a young lady from Japan (painter) and a couple from Slovakia who lived for 30 years in Australia ) she is a printmaker/painter and studied at the NSA in Sydney - she works mostly with collography - she is on the left of the image, then the sculptor, painter, musician (with his back turned).

More work

Monday - grey with drizzle and this afternoon I have a meeting with the curator of Art Nouveau at the Mussee des Arts Decoratif - very hard to arrange and very important - followed by another session at the Bibliotheque of the Jardin des Plantes(JB) (pre booked before I arranged the meeting with the curator and I dare not miss another booking).
This morning I am trying to assess just what I have found out at the JB so far. I know that from 1895-1928 the JB had a fairly steady supply of Acacia and Eucalypt seeds from Australia and from Thuret and Thouin (in France) as well as (once) from Alsace Lorraine (Nancy?) and Florence (were these from plants grown from the Labillardiere collection? Was it in Florence by then?). Secondly, that Eucalypts and Acacias where planted regularly by the JB during this period - I have one record of germination numbers during this time)
I am told that the JB exchanged seeds and plants with other JBs but only JBs (so no distribution to non botanical organisations such as the city of Paris for example).
Perhaps there will be more information in the records I have requested for this afternoon.
At the Musee des Art Decoratif (MAD) I am given ID and sent to the fifth floor where I am met by the curator's assistant who informs me that Evelyne has gone for a coffee but has no more English. Evelyne's English is on a par with my French but between us we have an interesting discussion about my project. After telling me that Australian flora was being used in design in the time of Napoleon III and after and informing me that the records are enormous, she gives me some references that I must look up in the Bibliotheque - especially the "Etude de la PLante" and "Encyclopedie..." by Verneuil, the works of Grasset and sections of the Albumus Maciet (the large collection of A2 sized books that line the Bibliotheque).
I am then walked down the corridor introduced to Isobelle the archiviste who is instructed to find me some examples of the use of Eucalypts and Acacia in the MAD's intranet and to show me the box of records on the Jeweller Lucien Falize. These records include corespondence between Falize and Emile Galle (the famous glass maker from Nancy) and Evelyne points to the use of Acacia on falize's letterhead and notes that it is dated 1891-92 - so here is my evidence. The artist's name is included within the drawing on the letterhead so I have a reference to follow up.
Isobelle provides me with printouts of the 12 items she has found in the database. It is interesting to note that only one of these is pre 1900 (1898) and also that there is a vase by Sevres - more information to take home and digest. I ask for a photocopy of the covering pages of the Falize/Galle correspondence (€0.20 each, although there is no charge for the stack of laser printout - again, only the French). After offering help on specific artists if I get stuck Isobelle escorts me to the lift and wishes me well with my research which for her is something unusual and interesting.
A quick dash to the JB (which thankfully is on the same metro line) and then home by 6.30 with a lot more information to digest.
Tuesday, Marcia and I arrive at the MAD to begin the research there (Marcia has offered her help which I readily accepted). After registering as users I spend some time with the lady on reception sorting out the reference codes for the books Evelyne has recommended (at this stage I don't know how the system works and have to sort of feel my way so I guess it helps that I have a piece of paper that she has written on as she is someone important in the hierarchy). The request system is basically the same as when I was at the Sourbise in 2005, you complete two copies of the request form (no more than five codes) and hand them to a person at a central desk who also checks your registration card. You then wait for the items to appear on the same desk sometime later. While waiting we start on the Albumus Maiciet - as mentioned before, these are A2 sized books with 1cm thick covers and are very heavy - and are soon rewarded with images in the Vernueil "Etudes..." and "Encyclopedie..." - some photographs and some stylised studies. I also find copies of the images used on the Falize/Galle correspondence in another book. Much of this collection is undated or has handwritten dates penciled in so it is often hard to date what you are looking at but find out that the Verneuil books are 1900 and 1908.
Quietly contented we leave the MAD and find that it has stopped drizzling so go for a stroll in the Tuilleries Gardens before heading for the Arc de Triomphe to do a little sightseeing. The Louve is a U shaped building with a very large central coutryard and the building which houses the MAD is located at the end of one of the long fingers that runs off from the Louvre toward Tuilleries as you can see in the photo of me above.
We stop off at the Printemps roof cafeteria for a very late lunch but like everyhting else it has changed and is now like a greasy spoon (we eat anyway because we are starving and enjoy the view). Also, Bun discovers a whole bunch of new friends also enjoying the view which includes Sacre Coeur.