Work in progress...

The other day I discovered a – for me – new wall-painting by street artists Zag & Sia. The painting is named “La Villa des Arts” and is of course clearly linked to its immediate neighbour, “La Villa des Arts”, a place where artists like Renoir, Cézanne, Picabia, Signac… lived or worked for shorter or longer periods. I reported on the place here and here. On the painting we can see Sia balancing on a heart (“L'Attrape Coeur”, referring to Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye"). (Rue Etienne Jodelle, Paris 18e.)

I’m more used to seeing Zag & Sia decorating stairs in their own, original, way and remembered that a couple of days ago, when I was invited to a private concert in the 14^th arrondissement, I noticed that one of their stair-paintings was clearly losing its colours. (Stairs leading to Rue des Artistes, Paris 14e - compare with the more official photo taken when it was all newly painted.)

I got curious, as I especially remembered the stairs (Rue Lemaignan, Paris 14e) that some two years ago they had decorated to commemorate the death, 30 years earlier, of the extremely popular comedian and actor Coluche. I wrote about it here. I went back to check… and, how lucky I was, I found Zag & Sia, (see top picture) working on a modification of the portrait of Coluche and adding the portrait of his wife, Véronique, who died very recently. Since her husband’s death Véronique has played an important role in the “Restos du Coeur”, a charity launched by her husband and today involving thousands of volunteers, mainly distributing food, hot meals… to the needy. When you see Zag & Sia in action you realise how difficult their job is. 

I thought I should check some other of Zag & Sia's decorated stairs. You have to realise that much is gone, that this type of art is quite ephemeral. Here are some examples of what I couldn’t find, of what is gone…The original photos here, above and below are stolen from here and here, including Zag & Sia’s Facebook site. 

But on my way through the very street-art-friendly 13^th arrondissement, I could again admire some works by other artists…

… and I also found this quite recent work by Zag & Sia (Rue de Chevaleret, Paris 13e)….  

… and this one (Boulevard du Général Jean Simon, Paris13e)…

… and then I discovered that these stairs lead to or from an incredible street art shop. It was even written “öppet” which means “open” in Swedish, so I of course had a look inside…  and I realised how the prices of works by some of these artists are climbing.

Villa des Arts (bis)

Almost four years ago, I wrote about this amazing place on the Montmartre borders (see here). It had then just been saved from some plans to transform what used to be a home for artists to exclusive flats and lofts. Fortunately the place was saved, bought by the City of Paris. Important works have since been done to make the place easier to live in – central heating, isolation and a general freshening-up.

It’s now ready and looks of course nice. Here are some photos from the exterior and from some renovated artist studios.

The buildings which date from the latter part of the 19^th century have a very decorative element, these stairs, which obviously were made by material recuperated from a World Exhibition pavilion (or possibly from Gare Saint-Lazare). Here you can see the stairs in a comparison between now and before the renovation.

The number of artists who have lived and worked here is impressive and include Auguste Renoir, Paul Cezanne (a portrait of Ambroise Vollard, who gave financial and moral support to a number of artists), Eugène Carrière (a portrait of the poet Paul Verlaine), Francis Picabia (who went from impressionism to pointillism to cubism), Paul Signac (neo-impressionist who developed the pointillism with Georges Seurat), Henri Rousseau (the orientalist, not “Le Douanier”), Raoul Dufy (fauvist), Louis Marcoussis (cubist), Nicolas Schöffer (considered as the father of cybernetic art)… In the early 20^th century the artists had frequent neighbour visitors like Picasso, Dali, Miro … and Gertrud Stein. Furthermore, some movies have to large extent been shot on this spot, like “The Clowns” by Frederico Fellini, “Escalier C” by Jean-Jacques Tacchella, “Quartet” by James Ivory.

However, the garden may have lost part of its charm, not only because of the different seasons when my photos were taken - see my comparison of "now" and "before". The artists who live here have created an association to try to give some “life” to the place, of course including some “events”. If you want to help them, you can do as I have done – become a member of their association. You should then pay an annual fee of 15 € to the order of “Viille A des Arts”, 15 rue Hégésippe Moureau, 75018 Paris.  J

Montmartre - artists

(Later) famous artists of all kinds, maybe especially painters, were very present at Montmartre during the latter part of the 19th century and the first part of the 20th century. They lived of course a bit “everywhere”, moved often, but there are a number of spots, where you can talk about artist “colonies”.

During a short Montmartre walk, you would certainly pass by the “Bateau Lavoir”, which got its name by the building’s resemblance to the “laundry boats”, which you a century ago could find along the Seine River. The building, which offered a number of artist workshops, burnt almost completely down in the 1970’s, but a few workshops survived and new, far more comfortable ones, can now be found behind the white wall.  Among the more famous artists who lived and / or worked here you may mention painters like Picasso (the cubism – “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” – was “invented" here), Modigliani, Juan Gris, van Dongen, Braque, Matisse … and authors like Appolinaire, Max Jacob, Gertrude Stein…

Also quite centrally are the buildings which now have become the Montmartre Museum, on which I have posted a number of times (the most recent one a week ago), where Renoir, Emile Bernard, Suzanne Valadon, Maurice Utrillo, Raoul Dufy… were active.

More on the western and northern slopes of Montmartre, there are other locations with a high presence of artists, like the “Villa des Arts”, on which I already posted. Renoir, who moved a lot, was also here for some time, as well as Cézanne, Signac, Picabia… 

Another one of these more excentric artist “colonies” on which I would like to concentrate today is “Les Fusains” (which can be translated as “charcoals”). The main entrance is today on a steep street, rue Tourlaque, but it covers an area with other entrances from the parallel street. Unfortunately I could not use any of those, so I have only outside pictures. However, I found an ad about a flat to rent with some illustrations from the inner courtyards, which I “stole” ‘(see “map” below), and also a post by a fellow blogger, “BBONTHEBRINK”, which shows what I would have liked to see. From my “map” with a Google Earth picture one gets an idea of the great number of workshops, about 30. Most of these buildings were created around 1900 by using material from the 1889 World Exhibition, some were added later.

A little comparison of the street in 1875, when "Les Fusains" were not yet there, and today.

Below, you can see some of the artists who have had their workshops at "Les Fusains". Renoir – again - was obviously more or less here already before, using an old shanty as workshop. His portrait of Julie Manet (1894), Manet’s niece, dates from this period. I tried to find photos and works which correspond to the time these artists lived and /or worked here for shorter or longer periods, basically from the very beginning of the 20^th century to before WWII. The portrait of André Derain is by Vlaminck. Bonnard is a self-portrait. There are still artists around… maybe someone will post about them in a few decades. 

Walking up the street, on a corner, is a building, where Toulouse-Lautrec, now and then lived and had his workshop 1886-97 (his 22^nd to his 33^rd year), his most active Montmartre-period. You can below see his paintings of Suzanne Valadon (with a hangover), who was his mistress for about two years, and of “La Goulue”, the first cancan-dancer. I guess it was when he left this place for another workshop that he left 87 works behind, which the next owner used as wallpapers.  He died four years later, in 1901, at the age of 37. (Correction, he lived and worked for a while in the white neighbour building, not the red brick one. Sorry!)

So these places, with the exception of the Montmartre Museum are still active artist places. … and then I must mention another one, “La Cité Montmartre aux Artistes”, which still is very active with some 180 workshops, actually Europe’s most important artist workshop centre. It was created in the 1930’s by the same architect who remodeled “Moulin Rouge” to what it is today (Adolphe Thiers). If you live on the bottom floor, you may have a garden, if you live on the top floors, you have a splendid view of Sacré Coeur.

Villa des Arts

Behind this (normally closed) gate are some nice buildings; I would imagine from the latter part of the 19^th century. It’s called “Villa des Arts”. It houses some 70 apartments and studios. Obviously Cézanne, Renoir, Picabia, Signac among many others lived and worked here for shorter or longer periods.

It was rather recently supposed to be transformed into lofts and fashionable flats by some promoters, but was “saved” by the City of Paris and will fortunately after some modernisation remain a place for artists.

I was struck by the fantastic stairs in one of the buildings. They seem to have been brought here from some Exposition Universelle pavilion. If someone has better and more complete information, I would appreciate.

Addendum:

Thérèse found the confirmation of what I didn't find although I looked for it! She referred to an article in the French newspaper "Libération" (March 2006). It confirms that material from the World Fair (Exposition Universelle) 1889 (the Eiffel Tower one) has been used during renovation works 1889-90. This includes the stairs I show. They have been used as scenerey by different film makers, including by Fellini in the "The Clowns" (1970). Sincere thanks Thérèse!!