HOLLYWOOD'S TAKE

FRED ASTAIRE SEEKS AUDREY HEBBURN IN SAINT-GERMAIN*

*Funny Face by Stanley Donen, 1957

He finds her in a "cave" that is shady and sexy...

  

"This must be the place."

• He finds Audrey thinking she engaged in an intellectual discussion with two men who in fact are drunk. The scene is in the first half of the movie, which is gone from YouTube, but a critic for the London Times writes:   

"There is that in the film's attitude towards the 'intellectual' which offends. It is not amiable parody and it is not telling satire; it has its roots in the ill-based instinct to jeer, and its jeers are offensive."

• She performs modern dance 
  to evoke intellectuality, the opposite of the ebullient boogie that was danced in fact. 

Video, Existentialisme à Saint-Germain-des-Prés, 1951 / zoom

•  When the elegant philosopher who fascinates Audrey turns out to be a wolf, she chooses homespun Fred.

Subtext: Rough-edged, moral America wins out over sophisticated, decadent France.

Involuntary avowal:

Americans proud of their anti-intellectualism

cheer Fred's triumph because

Saint-Germain intimidates them.

*     *     *

Next,

Lasting change: Europe's capital of movies and jazz

LASTING CHANGE: EUROPE'S CAPITAL OF MOVIES AND JAZZ

A DOZEN SMALL MOVIE-HOUSES SHOW A NUMBER OF FILMS AT THE SAME TIME

That is how Paris presents 200 different films each day.

For more, please click and scroll down.

# # #

Jazz was thought a music of savages, too gripping to be serious. Or too sensual: "to jazz" meant "to fornicate." By admiring its intellectuality and rigor the prestigious philosophers of Saint-Germain gave it its letters of nobility.

   L'Histoire de la France par bd [comic strips] (Larousse, 1978)

Among the many movies, Round Midnight

By Bertrand Tavernier with Dexter Gordon, 1986 / zoom

Saint-Germain hosts a jazz festival each year...

"Unique concerts in exceptional sites"

And in this "cave"* the jitterbug has been danced every night since 1946.

*A medieval cellar, where music did not disturb neighbors (though the youthful crowds did).

Le Caveau de la Huchette / Claude Abron

# # #

"I always wanted to visit Saint-Germain. I came, and brought my trumpet."

Pamela Spurdon

*    *    * 

Next,

Brands attack, tradition holds on

BRANDS ATTACK, TRADITION HOLDS ON

AT HEART OF THE PLANET'S MOST INTELLECTUAL NEIGHBORHOOD A RENOWNED BOOKSTORE OCCUPIED THIS SITE UNTIL 2016

59 rue de Seine

Then this chain store replaced it.

But places away from the main arteries still define the area:

Adapted from Mappy

 

Such as...

• Place de Furstenberg, where the last scene of a movie about the 19th-century elite is set:

               -- The Age of Innocence by Martin Scorsese with

          Daniel Day Lewis, Michèle Pfeiffer and Winona Ryder, 1997

•  Costume jewelry at the same address for 50 years:

Fabrice

 33 and 54 rue Bonaparte 

• A  café where art from the 1930's line the walls:

La Palette

43 rue de Seine

• A shop for antique dolls, facing the Senate:

La Maison de la Poupée

40 rue de Vaugirard (the Senate is reflected in the window).

#  #  #

Editors, printers, bookbinders and rare-book dealers remain:  

A family specialized in rare books has lived in this house for five generations. 

Rue Visconti (also site of Balzac's publishing house)

"Rare book purchase and expertise"

#  #  #

 "Saint-Germain managed to be both high-class and subversive" 

"The old stomping grounds of Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, Richard Wright and Gertrude Stein and on and on and on [...] were now those of stars of the media, of the intelligentsia, of creative entrepreneurs, of impassioned socialists with a taste of luxury, who lived in the center of town, just south of the Seine." 

 -- Rendezvous Eighteenth

by Jake Lamarr, an American writer living in Paris, 2001

Real estate in Saint-Germain is the most expensive in Paris, and  stars of French culture live there.

 That intellectual elite obstructs

multinationals' sweep.

*    *    *

Next,

Art galleries' riches and traps

ART GALLERIES' RICHES AND TRAPS

SAINT-GERMAIN IS FAMOUS FOR ITS CONTEMPORARY ART —

BUT WATCH OUT

The late Pierre Brissot, critic for L'Œuil, said,

"The great merchants of the past promoted art in which they believed, and might make fortunes while influencing art history.

But that's rare today, because ignorant investors skew the market."

In Oliver Stone's Wall Street a decorator bedecks a trader's apartment with a fake crumbling wall and a painting that is gratuitously macabre 

Notice the pink pompoms hanging from the decorator's hat.

"In that degraded context," Monsieur Brissot continued,

"many merchants are there for money only:

They choose artists for easy sales, for their connections,

make them finance part of the show or simply rent their walls." 

• A gallery thought worthy of respect takes a commission on sales, usually 50%, and asks nothing more of the artist: But one needs inside information to know if that's the case, or whether the artist contributed.

• Auction sales are corrupt when seller and friend agree to arrange the amount bid. If there is no superior offer the friend must buy the work, which the seller reimburses —  having artificially raised the artists' rating. (Fees of 3-20% on sales do not stop the practice.)

• "The public thinks a gallery owner just presents works of art. The reality is infinitely more complex..."  

Ivana Dimitrie, galerie Ivana Dimitrie, Palais-Royal gardens (please click and scroll down.)

# # #

An example of the galeries behind Saint-Germain's prestige: that of Jeanne Bucher-Jaeger. 

(Founded  in 1925, mentioned earlier; at 53 rue de Seine)

• "Art was like a battlefield to which she gave the best of her forces."

-- Christian Zervos

•  "I will exhibit at Jeanne Bucher's, because her life is hard and she needs it."

-- Jules Pascin

A recently-founded gallery that one can trust: Galerie de Buci.

(Since 2012 at 73 rue de Seine)

Exhibit The Doves of Peace by Dominique Rivaux, 2022

I recommend it because a knowledgeable collector* suggested it and because sculptress Dominique Rivaux, whom I know well, would never accept an occult arrangement.

*Pascal Payen Appenzeller

# # #

 

When I asked Monsieur Brissot's advice on acquiring art,

he thought for a minute then said,

• "The work must have a philosophy. Otherwise it is just decoration.

•  If you fall in love with a work, don't buy it immediately: it may be only seductive.

• Beware of art magazine write-ups, which may be an exchange for advertising.

• Avoid merchants who say that a work is 'magnificent,' or concentrate on how it is made. 

• Start by relatively inexpensive purchases like drawings, to let your eye evolve."

# # #

Other memories

• Another well-known critic: "This work is awful, but I have to say nice things about it."

• A gallery owner: "See that little flag on the horizon? It gives the painting its energy." Merchants who give keys to understanding a work are sharing their passion: trust them. 

An art collector on the need to train one's eye: 

"If I wanted to buy a condo in New York, I'd know what I was doing because I own one and am a member of the building's board.

But for a condo in Hong Kong, I'd be winging it."

# # #

My opinion: Buy art because you love it and invest in something else. Better yet forget investing, and donate the funds to encourage positive change.

You win twice:

The work enriches your life

and being useful makes you happy.

*     *     *  

Next,

Other galleries that one can trust

OTHER GALLERIES THAT ONE CAN TRUST

RUE DE SEINE GOES ON TO THE RIVER, WITH ART GALLERIES ON BOTH SIDES

Walk down it, turn back, and take the rue des Beaux Arts (Street of Fine Arts).

       Zoom

The yellow arrow shows the way to the river, the red one shows our walk.

Adapted from Mappy

Exhibiting this work by Bram van Velde lets passers-by view a painting that could be in a museum...

 Galerie Applicat-Prazan

16 rue de Seine

And by presenting an unknown artist* this merchant takes a risk as in former times:

*Gérard Stricher

Galerie Protée

38 rue de Seine

Turn left for primal arts.

(On rue des Beaux Arts)

Galerie Monbrison

2 rue des Beaux-Arts

Galerie Flak

8 rue des Beaux Arts

At the School of Fine Arts turn right... 

(On rue Bonaparte)

Pass more art galeries, come to the Seine

and turn left toward the land of nobles and antiquarians.

(On quai Voltaire, shown on the map above)

End of this section.

*    *    *

Next section:

2.1.3.

Lords step out from the shadows