Dear PML's Friends

Claudel, Giverny, Okusai, restaurants with terraces

Claudel picked up inspiration from Hokusai to sculpt "LaVague" (The Wave) an onyx statue depicting 3 girls playing and about to be submerged by a gigantic wave.  This is one of the masterpieces of the exhibition at the Paris Rodin museum (see below).

Monet was one of the first occidentals to raise a collection of Japanese artists (a collection of major interest, visible in the main cottage of his property in Giverny), amid them we still find many works of major interest of Hokusai.

Today recognized as one of the most brilliant Japanese painters, Hokusai is the object of exhibition specialists and certainly something non-specialists should see.

Claudel.  www.musee-rodin.fr

1. Finally, after 17 years, the major sculptor Camille Claudel is back at the Rodin Museum in Paris, one opportunity to (re)discover this "tragic destiny marked original artist."

2. How to be a woman and an artist in the 19th century? How to get free from the master to overpass him in expressionist intensity? How to live a modern radicalism, with the risk of getting crazy and to be rejected by all?

3. Through drawings, engravings, pictures and letters between Rodin and Claudel, this very "complete" retrospective exhibition tries to answer these delicate questions while showing the side of the most familiar ones; "La Valse", " l'Age Mur" "La Vague", others, not as known (Clotho or "Les Causeuses"), and even some works never exhibited in the past.

4. Even more revealing of the mutual influence of the artists is the recent re-attribution of several terracotta studies to Camille, which had been credited to Auguste, finally some justice!

5. This lady who has been the muse and mistress of the master for 15 years has been deceived, betrayed, and deprived; she has even lost her "sense" from that, and the support of her brother, Paul Claudel.  Her days ended abandoned by everyone, but now is finally finding a way back thanks to this major artistic event, the honors due to such a courageous artist with unparalleled talent, to a free and unsubdued woman: well in advance of her times.

-. PML's bonus comments on evening visits upon request :

Also, since the exhibition is presenting mostly small pieces and is receiving much success it will be important to organize your visit at the very less crowded time of the day. I will suggest you buy your ticket on line at the website of the Rodin Museum and to enjoy this visit around 19.30. Even so be prepared for queuing an average of 20 minutes or so.

Giverny.

Monet,

The Normandy located Foundation in Giverny has recently reopened. Many of us already know the changing beauty of this garden. It keeps changing, first the trees are, and I am amazed when I look at the pictures I took 20 years ago... The poplars growing in the backyard meadow were long poles then, now they offer a haven of coolness and shadows to our eyes. Perennial, annual, semi annual flowers are changed seasons after season and years after year. The garden looks the same but we look at it, carefully; we see that the landscaper and gardeners have been introducing changes in many places and that the nuances are never exactly the same. So we may have seen the Monet masterpiece dozens of time, we still know that the next time will be an enchantment again with a different experience. The Master house with its bright wall colors, its 19th century furnishing, is a perfect setting for Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utamaro and others Japanese artists’ works. The house, the gardens are, let's say, some thing like the magic key to feel how and why the Japanese artists were of such a great importance to western artists 19th and early 20th century. And it's only 75 minutes away in the back of one of our comfortable cars and minibus!!!

The Hokusai exhibition at the Guimet museum.

Katsushika Hokusai was born under the Dragon sign. It is under this zodiacal sign that, at the age of 36,  the famous engraver turns himself to the popular novel, often humoristic, integrating, one after the other, the European figuration approaches  (perspective and light and shade). It is, again under the Dragon sign that, at the age of 61 years, switching his approach again, he will offer us, some of the nicest landscapes of the Japanese paintings translating to us the furor and serenity of the nature. Paintings exhibited are coming from the Guimet museum itself, some extraordinarily restored from the Louvre museum. You will see "The thirty sight of the Fuji Mountain", and something rare. Two paintings representing one a Tiger, the second a dragon. The first one belonging to the Ota Museum of Tokyo and the second one to Guimet since 2001 have been recently recognized as a pair of two and had never been exhibited together.

Restaurants. There are all sorts of restaurants with terraces in Paris. Here are some of my favorites for the summer.

Minipalais, below the outdoor columns of the Grand Palais, the food is pleasant, the wine list a little too short and the service a little confused when it gets busy, even with all these last negative remarks, it is still a good bet for your buck. Even if you are in hurry take a quick stroll on Alexander the third after your meal, it's fabulous!

Table of the Saint James Club, located on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne. Nothing revolutionary on the table but pleasant and reasonably priced. The fun of feeling like a member of the exclusive club "Saint James".

The Grande Cascade, Bois de Boulogne, an elegant 19th century hide about, a mile away from the ring road.  Pricey, excellent service, tasty food and very nice wine list with pleasant curiosities at attractive prices. In the same idea and the same area, and with even better food and higher prices : "Le Pré Catelan".

To see and to be seen: "L'Avenue" on the corner of Montaigne and Francois 1er, the Haute Couture shops are a block away. If you had to eat there everyday, you soon will know the menu by heart, since you will probably go there once or twice, you should not hesitate. You will find the classics of international modern cooking and the service is always efficient.

The table of the Lancaster, in a refreshing garden, a block from champs Elysees, pleasant, inventive, discreet and not too harsh on your Visa account.

The Royce, there you will find only a few tables in the outside garden of this trendy, oriental style place,  located a block away from  the Bristol or the Elysee Palace. Light and tasty food, perfect for a snack while shopping on the Faubourg.
 
I hope you will have found this gazette interesting, I thank you for reading it; do no hesitate to pass it over to Friends and Colleagues.

For more information and rates, please email us, we are always pleased to help : pml@limousine-international.com and, if you’d like to find our most recent gazette: simply click here: www.uk.limousine-international.com

With the hope to serve you and your guests for a wonderful journey anywhere in the world.

Best regards,

Pierre-Marc Lambert
President
1st Paris Major Limousines
pmarclambert@yahoo.fr
cell phone 33 (0) 686 085 339
info /resa 33 (0) 144 525 000,
pml@limousine-international.com
www.1st-limousine-services.com