Rainy Autumn in London via Pinterest
Autumn in Paris via Pinterest
As
I mentioned in my previous post, Autumn is well and truly under way and
I am starting to dream about visiting cities, for me this time of year
is the best time for going to the great cities of the Western Hemisphere
something about the cold tang in the air, strolling through leaf
littered parks and streets, huddling under an umbrella before making a
dash into cosy cafes, pubs and bars, afternoon tea in fine
establishments and the more obvious attractions of the grand department
stores, shopping, theatre, opera, galleries and museums...
I
could spend hours at the Louvre in Paris or the V&A in London but
sometimes it's worth taking a look at what's going on at smaller venues,
here are some that have caught my eye and if I am lucky enough to find
myself in Paris or London in the near future I will definitely be
checking them out...Paris up first, two exhibitions which have piqued my
curiosity.
Exhibition Interieurs Romantiques at the Musee de La Vie Romantique, Paris
exhibition organised by Daniel Marchesseau, director of the
museum, this time with Gail S. Davidson from the Cooper-Hewitt as
invited curator.
This is a
collection of ninety watercolours of interiors collected over the past
thirty years by the American dealer and collector Eugene V. Thaw and
his wife Clare E. Thaw. The whole collection has been given to the
Cooper-Hewitt museum in New York.
Edouard Petrovitch Hau (Estonie, actif en Russie, 1807-1887)
Petit
Cabinet de l’impératrice Alexandra Feodorovna, 1830-1835
© Cooper-Hewitt,
National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, photo Matt Flynn
James
Roberts (Angleterre, vers 1800-1867)
Le Cabinet de travail du roi Louis-Philippe a Neuilly 1845
©
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, photo
Matt Flynn
C.
Rath (Autriche probablement, actif dans les années 1870)
Alcôve
dans le salon de la grande duchesse Anna de
Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1877
©
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, photo
Matt Flynn
Hilaire
Thierry (actif de 1815 à 1825) Un salon dans le goût Restauration,
début des années 1820. (détail)
©
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, photo
Matt Flynn
Le Salon
de George Sand, Paris musée de la Vie romantique
© Musée
de la vie romantique / Roger-Viollet
INFORMATION:
Musée de
la Vie Romantique
16 rue
Chaptal
75009
Paris.
Telephone
: 01 55 31 95 67
www.vie-romantique.paris.fr
Open every
day from 10 am until 6 pm, except Mondays and public holidays.
Tickets at
7 Euros ( 5 Euros reduced price, 3.50 Euros half-price)
Hardbound
fully illustrated catalogue 30 Euros. (The museum has a small book
shop).
The
easiest and best choice of public transport is the 68 bus.
The exhibition runs until 13th January 2013
Meanwhile over at the Musee Quai Branly, Paris...
Why is long hair supposed to be
feminine ? Where do the beliefs about red heads come from? All these
hairy questions are explored in this terrific exhibition on hair and
their sexy mythologie.
Head for the Musée du Quai Branly to understand how hair has become an army of massive seduction.
If you don't have enough time, don't go grey overnight, the venue is open until June !
Not to be missed !
Information
Musée du quai Branly
37, quai Branly
75007 Paris
The exhibition runs until 14th July 2013
Now
lets go to London where there are no shortage of small museums, in fact
there are so many small museums in London that whatever your interests
you will find one that appeals, most of them are listed and include
details on opening hours and directions on Time Outs wonderful site here
I have already visited a few on various trips but here are a couple on my yet to visit list:
Linley Sambourne House
Linley Sambourne House is the Kensington house where from 1875 Punch cartoonist Edward Linley Sambourne lived with his wife and
two children, and provides a chance to see a late-Victorian,
middle-class home that has survived largely unchanged. Linley Sambourne
House was passed on from one generation of the family to the next and
almost all the original decoration remains intact, the rooms filled with
the furniture and personal possessions the Sambournes left behind. A
huge archive of diaries, papers, bills and letters also survived,
providing an exceptionally detailed picture of daily life in the house.
Around Christmas each year, atmospheric Victorian Twilight Encounters
tours are held, which explore the seedier side of the artist's work.
Text from Time Out
18 Stafford Terrace, W8 7BH
Sir John Soane's Museum
This
is one place where the term 'spring cleaning' has probably never once
been uttered: Sir John Soane's Museum in Holborn. The museum is actually
the townhouse of one of Georgian London's most famous architects, Sir
John Soane, the man behind the Bank of England and Dulwich Picture
Gallery - and someone who was evidently not a fan of the 'less is more'
school of interior design.
Soane was an obsessive collector of
art, furniture and architectural ornamentation, a hobby which he pursued
partly for enjoyment and partly for research. In the early nineteenth
century he turned his house into a museum to which 'amateurs and
students' should have access. The result is truly amazing.
Much of
the museum's appeal derives from its domestic setting. Rooms are
modestly sized but Soane's ingenious designs channel and direct natural
daylight and expand available space, including semi-secret doors that
swing out like cabinets to display his many paintings (works by
Canaletto, Turner and two series by Hogarth). It's only when you step
beyond into the rear of the house that the sheer oddness of the building
confronts you. Every space in this warren of rooms is filled with some
artistic object, in most cases classical, be that a bust, column or
statue. For a real 'wow' factor, search out The Monumental Court, a
multistory affair stuffed with an array of sculpted stone detailing that
was removed from ancient and medieval buildings.
At the lowest
level of the court is a sarcophagus made of alabaster that's so thin
it's almost translucent. It was discovered in a tomb in Egypt's Valley
of the Kings before being removed by nineteenth-century treasure
hunters. Soane bought it after the British Museum declined the
opportunity; he was so elated, he partied for three days.
There
are also numerous examples of Soane's eccentricity, not least the
imaginary 'cell' - a set of rooms in the basement - set aside for 'Padre
Giovanni', a fictional monk invented by Soane. The yard even contains
the 'Monk's grave' topped by a headstone engraved with the words 'Alas!
Poor Fanny!' - the grave actually contains the corpse of Mrs Soane's
lapdog, Fanny.
What you see at Soane's townhouse is just as he
intended it to be. He wangled a private act of Parliament to set up the
museum and stipulate that its contents should be left alone 'as nearly
as possible'. His wish is now even closer to perfect fulfilment thanks
to a £6 million project to move the museum shop and facilities into
neighbouring buildings, which should be completed by mid-2012.
Be
warned, though: the curator only allows a certain number of visitors
into the house at any one time, so you may have to queue briefly out on
the pavement before being admitted. It's worth the wait.
Text from Time Out
13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, WC2
Well
there's a few to be going on with, note I have only mentioned Paris and
London, I am currently fantasising of a Christmas Shopping trip to New
York, in December, it's been so long since I visited NYC...
Could this passageway lead to Bertha's rooms?
Remember, walls, have ears
So be careful who you trust!
Roman Solowiej
Ahh, Dorians secret
Do you see her?
