Paris and art

We went to the Louvre, the Orangerie, the Pinacothèque and  Galerie w in rue Lepic.  For a lengthier appreciation you can't do better than read Harry's Café blog entry.

Here are a few extras -

Venus en armes - I was quite taken by the little one trying on the helmet.

Lion - "I'm just a pussycat"

El greco - St Louis

Madame Récamier - Jean Louis David

Paris and Helen - Jean Louis David - the faces are very delicate and fine

From the Orangerie - Chaim Soutine - Arbre Couché

and the occasional facetiousness, such as my seeing Karl Marx's portrait in the Nymphéas,  takes nothing away from the sheer brilliance and beauty.

Montmartre - Valadon and Utrillo

My first reaction is "That was some dinner!"    Suzanne Valadon was the daughter of a laundress, and began work as a circus acrobat.  She was injured in a fall from a trapeze and turned to work as an artists' model, and then became a painter herself.  She was the first woman to be admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1894.  Some of her paintings are exhibited in the Centre Georges Pompidou.

 She had affairs with several painters and the musician Erik Satie.

Her son Maurice was born when she was 18. He later took the surname Utrillo.  Reproductions of his paintings of Montmartre were everywhere in the 1960s - we saw some of the originals in the Orangerie.

Ashby de la Zouch

I used to drive through Ashby once every couple of months or so, on my way to Burton-on-Trent.  That's a while ago, there was no by-pass, we had to go right through the town centre - vivid memories of the Christmas tree at the bottom end of Market Street, and a butcher's shop that had dead turkeys and rabbits hanging outside too.

Today's different - we're stopping in Ashby for a few hours, and going to an exhibition of paintings by Jay Dubya - John William Smith. one of Harry's cyber-painter-friends.

The exhibition is lively and varied, from landscapes, with wide skies and glorious colours, to portraits and pub and café scenes, along with a few of the preparatory sketches.   

The serious business of art criticism

Harry, Tony and John - you can see a café scene on the wall to the right

I like the little explanatory notes with some of the paintings too - and John's refusal to take himself too seriously. 

Hunger drives us out to forage and explore. After a stroll in the Bath Grounds, where we learn that Ashby was a spa manqué, we find a little café in the shade.

We go back for a final look at the exhibition, then say our farewells.  Here are a few shots of the town - there are a lot of interesting buildings.

Our Lady of Lourdes - art sale in basement

The Mews

Older shops

Loudun memorial to  to Edith, Lady Maud Hastings, Countess of Loudoun. The design, by Gilbert Scott, is based on the Eleanor Crosses

For Harry's review - see Harry's cafe .

Ashby Arts Festival continues until June 8th