TYCOONS ALMOST EQUAL TO AN EMPEROR

ROTUNDA AND VOIDS OF THE SAME IMPORTANCE SURROUND ENTRANCES OF EMPEROR AND ABONNÉS

 

Except for announcing Napoleon III on the facade, the edifice suggests that he and they are similar. 

      Claude Abron

One combination is for the Emperor, the other for the abonnés, on the city's most expensive land. 

The voids:

• A ramp for horses highlights that of the Empereur, a colonnade the abonnés'.   

• Caryatides emphasize both entries. A pair clothed in drapery flank that of the  Emperor...

And 14 nude statues surround that of the abonnés. Before their restauration in 2016 they radiated a discreet sensuality... please read on.

 Félix Sinpraseuth

     Alex Varenne

"Coming, honey?" 

In official art gods with their idealized bodies represent the Republic, Justice etc. and as cold abstractions do not incite desire. The other example of sensual nudes on buildings of the time is Carpeaux's realistic female reveler in The Dance, on the Opéra's facade. There are no more.

The figures allude to the ballerinas and emphasize the void's immensity. 

Roland Halbe-Yatzer

Lit by the caryatids' lanterns 

the magnates would leave their carriages

in the giant parking lot 

and feeling themselves masters of the universe,

stroll toward their entrance, business contacts

 and meetings with the girls.

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Next,

Ignoring the obvious and getting away with it