A Love Story
Copyright Vladimir Kagan, February 6, 2012
It rained every day… but what else can you expect of Paris in January? A soft gentle rain, good for farmers – bad for tourists, but great for attendance at Maison & Objet.
Now that we've got the tourist trappings out of our system, let's visit Paris
A week in Paris is not enough, but neither is a month... As anticipated, I spent most of my time nurturing my exhibit at Maison & Objet and had virtually no time embracing this great city.
To keep me company, I had my son Illya as my companion. While I toiled at the show, Illya had time to do two amazing paintings on the Seine.
Top: Sein in the Rain - Bottom: Sein at Dusk - oil on canvas by Illya Kagan
As beautiful as the city of Paris is, the outskirts are ugly, ugly, ugly; soulless high-rises looking like slums, interspersed with bleak office structures emblazoned with massive in-you-face neon signs reminding you that the electronic world belongs to Korea. 10 lane highways, most past their prime, move traffic in each direction at a snails’ pace.
Enter the city, and you are swept into a fairytale landscape of Châteaus, Palaces, grand old apartment houses adorned with elegant architectural details and heroic sculptures. Gilt abounds. The city’s strict adherence to its six-story height limitation guarantees that nothing dominates the skyline except the gilded domes of historic buildings, quaint slated roofs, the spires of the multitude of churches and of course, the Eiffel Tower.
With forty-two million tourists annually, Paris is the most visited city in the world.
The architecture is magnificent, a tribute to its past wealth and good taste.
Thanks to the advent of the French window, Paris IS the city of balconies! These gracious windows open inward like a giant door, exposing a floor to ceiling vista, Paris apartment houses are adorned with balconies; some tiny with enough space only for a flowerpot, others generous enough to hold delicate wrought iron furniture. Each balcony boasts its own opulent iron grill, beautifully endowed with scrolls, flora and fauna - a tribute to the craft of the ironsmith.
Balconies abound everywhere...All you need to do is look up - instead of looking into shop windows!
A “Les Must de Paris” is a visit to the new Hermes Flagship store on the Rive Gauche, at 17 Rue de Sèvres, designed by Denis Montel, he used steam-bent wood strips like the ribs of a sailboat, to fashion huge cocoon-like tents to create a unique buying experience. The merchandise is sparse and almost secondary to the space. The store was resurrected out of an old 1935 swimming pool, keeping much of the original architectural details in place.
Like the ribs of an ancient wooden galleon, the store's interior is created our of delicately steam-bent wood strips
Walk or drive along any street and I am mesmerized by the originality of French pharmacy signs easily recognized by their green pulsating neon lights. Never two-alike. Each contained within the confines of a 30” bold green flashing cross… they are true collectible street art.
Parisian pharmacy signs that flash and pulsate in ever changing patterns
Hotels in Paris are defined by their stars: five stars are the Luxe of deluxe - expect to be pampered at every step. Go down the line and service and amenities drop off. Three-stars could denote anything short of a fleabag, but alas, it harbors some of Paris’ most enchanting, often historical hostelries, located on narrow streets on the Rive Gauche, one of my favorite is the Hotel D’Angleterre, once the home of the British embassy before the French Revolution. It was ostensibly where the final peace between the fledgling American States and England was drawn up to end the Revolutionary War! Beautiful plaster moldings define the once glamorous sitting rooms; a tiny two-passenger elevator is crammed into the space once housing a dumbwaiter. The charming internal garden was less so in the drab winter. Flowers abound in the summer and afternoon tea is served with great style. We had the rafted attic room that looked out on the same views that inspired Hemingway to write his “A Moveable Feast” from the same hotel.
Our Attic room overlooking the rooftops of Paris in the same hotel that inspired Hemmingway back in the 20's
A festive farewell to Paris was given us at a Dinner in the elegant Italian Embassy with the Ambassador hosting our Fendi, Kenzo, Kagan entourage. The building has a glorious history. It was originally called the Hotel de la Rochefoucault-Doudeauville, also known as the Hotel de Boisgelin, named after the family that lived there at the end of the 18th century. France gave it to the Italian government in 1937 in exchange for the Farnese Palace in Rome. Today, it stands as a reminder of the glory and opulence that was 18th Century France.
The elegant Italian Embassy where we were given a festive farewell banquet.
At the banquet, I met one of my great fans, French actress Carol Bouquet, who avidly collects my furniture
Paris abounds with museums, but my favorite is the Musee D’Orsay. A magnificent Beaux-Arts abandoned Railway Station, destined for demolition but saved and recycled into a museum under auspices of George Pompidou, then president of France. In 1978 a competition was organized and won by the young team of French architects: Pierre Colboc, Renaud Bardon and Jean-Paul Phillippon and uncharacteristically, the amazing interior was designed by a foreigner (in a country where pride of homegrown artists is almost messianic.) An Italian woman architect: Gae Aulenti was selected to design the interior space. Her respectful treatment of historic details integrated seamlessly into a modern museum, has allowed the art to dominate, but you are never far away from the building’s origin. The collections cover a relatively brief period of French Art – (though the largest in the world) - Impressionist and post-impressionist from 1848 to 1915. We were enthralled by the sheer productivity of artists such as Monet, Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh and Seurat. Our time was regrettably limited as we needed to catch our train to Geneva… but no visit is complete without seeing the enchanting Café Campana on the 5th floor, built into the enormous clock tower – we sipped a quick cup of hot chocolate and watch the minute hand slip perceptibly around its trajectory, reminding us that it’s time to go!
The Musee D'Orsay (obviously NOT photographed by me in the rain) created out of an old abandoned train station
The great arch of the train station sensitively converted into a museum for impressionist art
The cavernous Clock tower space recycled into a fun restaurant
Illya enjoying a hot chocolate in the Café Campana located in the Clock tower
Some quick miscellanea before we say good by to Paris
Fortuitously, my daughter Jessica was in Paris at the same time as we, showing her jewelry and accessories at the Premier Classe Fashion Show at the Porte de Versailles,,, here we are enjoying dinner at Paris' newest hip eatery - L'Eclaireure
And finally... a parting shot... if you missed my Blog on Maison & Objet, you will have missed this gem!
I kid you not... this was a daily event at Maison & Objet... body painting a model to match the marble wall...the exhibit must have sold tons of marble
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And finally, a smooth train ride on the TGV took us from Paris to Geneva… Read the Gstaad Blog as a farewell to Europe… (until April's Salone di Mobile in Milan).
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