Picasso Mania and Jazz - Last Post from Paris

Wednesday October 7 was a mix of sun and cloud with a high of 17C.  We headed off for a coffee at Strada Cafe, our morning coffee spot.  We got to know the baristas there, an interesting mix of young people from Holland, Poland and France.  We walked over to the Marais to the Metro line that would take us to the Grand Palais.  We first stopped briefly to see a small photo exhibit in a salon in the 4th arrondissement City Hall building entitled: Les Juifs dans La Resistance.  The photographer, Amal Buziarsist, took pictures of surviving Jewish WWII resistance fighters living in Paris.  There were also interviews with some of the subjects of the photographs.

Poster for Exhibit

Claude Lanzmann, the filmmaker, the only name we recognized

The photographs were very beautiful as these men and women are getting old and memories are fading.

Lydia Salmona nee Behar and Jacques Salmona

We then went to the opening day of the exhibit Picasso Mania at the Grand Palais.  While we had been worried about a Picasso overload-- the exhibit turned out to be excellent.  It was really a homage to the artist and while there were a number of Picasso works from the various periods of his life, each room also included works from artists from the 1960s onward, who were influenced by Picasso.  The introductory room contained 18 videos of contemporary artists.  Each spoke in turn for about a minute about the influence of Picasso on their work.

Poster for Exhibit

Live interviews in opening room; Jeff Koons, Frank Gehry, Agnes Varda and many more

As the artist spoke, the photo turned from black and white to colour and the remarks were translated into either French or English.  I took some photos as the images turned to colour and the artist spoke.

Jeff Koons

Frank Gehry

The first room had a number of paintings by contemporary artists with images of Picasso and his works.   It is amazing what an influence one artist has had on the history of modern art.

Erro (Gudmundsson Gudmundur, Dit) Hommage a Picasso, 1982

Equipo Cronica, Homenage a Picasso: Serie "Ver y Hacer Pintura" 1966-75

Zeng Fanzhi, Picasso, 2011

There was a wonderful oil painting of Picasso done by Rudolf Stingel in 2012-- his portrait is just like the photograph it is based upon.

                                                           Rudolf Stingel (b. 1956), Untitled, 2012

Cheri Samba, a Congolese painter we saw the work of a few days ago had a homage picture to Picasso.

Cheri Samba, Picasso, 2000

Maurizio Cattelan created this figure of Picasso for an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in 1998- Picasso is as big in the art world as any Disney figure.  Here he is in his sailor shirt.

Maurizio Cattelan, Untitled (Picasso), 1998

There were two rooms dedicated to the drawings and studies that preceded Picasso's famous work Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) as well as works by contemporary artists in tribute to this famous painting.

Picasso- wall of studies and influences for Les Demoiselles d'Avignon

Some of the tribute pieces were almost copies of the original, while other artists reflected on Picasso's African art influences.

Picasso- Etude pour les Demoiselles D'Avignon 1907

Mike Bidlo, Not Picasso (Les Demoiselles D'Avignon 1907) 1984

Faith Ringgold, Picasso's Studio, 1991     

There were also tributes to Picasso's Guernica.

Leon Golub, Vietnam, 1973

There were a number of pictures by Picasso of Dora Maar (1907-89) (his lover in the late 1930s-early 1940s) and Jacqueline Roque (1927-86), his second wife who was with Picasso when he died in 1973.

Picasso, Portrait of Dora Maar, 1937  (Picasso referred to her as a crying woman)

Picasso, Grande Tete de Jacqueline au Chapeau, 1962

Andy Warhol, Head (After Picasso) No. V, 1985

Roy Lichtenstein, Woman with Flowered Hat, 1963

There was a small room containing Jasper John's (b. 1930) Four Seasons pictures done in 1985-86.  The first picture, "Summer", was based on a 1936 painting done by Picasso entitled Minotaure a la Carriole.  The Picasso painting was done after he moved houses following his marriage to Olga Khoklova.  The minotaur, a favourite Picasso image, has a carriage with all his belongings including some paintings.  It also includes a horse giving birth.  Jasper John's homage has a cart with his famous flag pictures.  It also has a etched shadow of Johns on the left side of the painting.

Picasso, Minotaure a la Carriole, 1936

Jasper Johns, Summer, 1985

One of the rooms in the exhibit had a photo montage of Picasso in the press during the last ten years of his life. He managed his image long before publicists and the media industry of today.

Film montage of Picasso in the press

Photo from an earlier Picasso exhibit

A modern take on Dora Maar---I didn't get the artists name.  

There was a room with a number of drawings and paintings by the German artist Martin Kippenberger (1953-1997).  Kippenberger had been taken with a photo of Picasso shot by David Douglas Duncan, showing Picasso outside his house in Cannes wearing a large pair of underwear.  Kippenberger painted a picture of himself wearing similar large briefs.  He later did a series of pictures as a tribute to Jacqueline, Picasso's last wife, who committed suicide in 1986.

 Photo of Picasso by David Duncan Douglas 1957 (not in exhibit)- but the one Kippenberger paid homage to

Martin Kippenberger 1988

Martin Kippenberger, Serie Jacqueline- The Paintings Pablo couldn't Paint Anymore, 1996

There was a wall of a number of the last paintings that Picasso did in the early 1970s, just prior to his death in 1973.

Again, modern takes on Picasso and his works.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Pablo Picasso), 1984

Antonio Saura, Dora Maar, 1983

It was an excellent exhibit.  After spending a few hours at the Grand Palais, we headed back through the Tuileries Gardens.  Sad to see the leaves turning, but nice for us to experience a different season in Paris.

Changing leaves at the Tuileries

We wandered for a few hours and then went to Duc des Lombards, one of our favourite jazz clubs to hear the Justin Kauflin Trio, which we had reserved from Toronto.  We got to the Duc des Lombards at around 7:00 p.m. for our 7:30 set.  The club is very intimate and we ended up sitting only about six feet from the band.

Alain outside of Duc des Lombards

Justin Kauflin  (b. 1986) is a young blind pianist from Virginia who was mentored by the late trumpeter Clark Terry and is featured in a documentary about their relationship called "Keep On Keepin' On", which we saw at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema earlier this year.  They had been introduced by another musician who brought Kauflin to meet Clark Terry, when Terry's eyesight started to deteriorate due to diabetes. Kauflin had lost his sight at 11.  It was a wonderful film, well worth seeing.

At Duc des Lombards, Kauflin played with Christopher Smith on bass and Billy Williams on drums.  Most of his pieces were originals.  It was a great set---the three part piece Dedication is excellent.  He also played the piece that is featured in the documentary, as well as a tribute to Clark Terry.

Justin Kauflin

Close- up

With the band

We talked to Kauflin outside of the club after the set.  He is on a European tour- Sweden next, then Italy.  Very nice guy-- we told him we had seen the film and that we were from Toronto. He had played at one of the screenings of the film in Toronto.  Very talented and original.

After the jazz set, we went to Miznon, an Israeli restaurant in the Marais.  Alain and I shared the roasted head of cauliflower and a pita with lamb kababs.  Lots of buzz and a perfect quick dinner before we headed back to the apartment.

Blackboard and vegetables at Miznon

With roasted cauliflower 

It is now Friday October 9 as I post our last entry for this blog.  We had a long, but uneventful flight from Paris to Detroit and then on to Toronto.  Got in at around 5:00 p.m.  We had a wonderful trip, lots of adventures and memories.  

French poet Baudelaire wrote about Paris: "We are enveloped and steeped as though in an atmosphere of the marvellous; but we do not notice it."  We do notice and enjoy Paris so much!  

We will return.  Thank you for following our adventures.