maryjanegriggs: The Last Weekend - Saturday and Sunday afternoon Part 1.

On Saturday I put my Metro know how to the test and went out to Bercy, sort of east, not so far, but not in the centre, to the Musee Cinema Francais. This part of Paris has large recent very modern architectural complexes. The museum was designed by Frank Gehry, very cool, film buff in a Cahiers du Cinema sort of a way. So the following photo is completely out of order but a wonderful find.

Mais oui, un Mischief Francais. He wouldn't turn around - un petit difficile mais bon tres bon.

I bet he likes a bit of the old bone jambon and would snuffle up some truffles given the chance. A lovely looking English (!) Springer in Paris.

The museum was fine if a bit 'old fashioned' in that you had to get an extra ticket to go into the museum display. This reminded me of the Vietnamese state-run hotel where one had to have a ticket for the pool and a ticket for a towel and a ticket for a deckchair. However I am very good at compliance since the TAE which is another story.

The museum is a comprehensive rundown of the history of cinema, not surprisingly and with heaps of fabulous old footage. Of course it would be good to have had even as a footnote the fact that the Australian cinema industry was world class before the orange trees in Los Angeles county were ever threatened. But of course the far sighted government of the day in Sydney and maybe Canberra put the kybush on any Australian cinema development by giving a monopoly to the very same French companies on show at this museum. Ahhhhh, it makes you feel so reassured that we, the people, are in such good hands.

So back into the centre and I visited the Museum Conciergerie. This is the old palace turned into a jail where the unfortunates were incarcerated then taken in a timbrel to the guillotine. Apparently this is where marie Antoinette was incarcerated until her execution. It's very medieval, very gothic and very atmospheric. The wall text is easy to follow and leaves quite a bit out.

The great surprise on the lower ground floor was an exhibition of many contemporary world class artists including Bill Viola, Mona Hatoum and even an old work by Damian Hirst. The theme of the show was waiting, incarceration and social control. There was a video by I can't remember unfortunately from the 2004 Sydney Biennale which has two screens - the old silent film of Joan D'Arc juxtaposed with poignant statements by people with mental health issues including schizophrenia. I remember seeing it in 2004. It's amazing hearing a strident Australian accent on screen - I love it.

On the way home I passed the wonderful orchid shop.

They are wonderful and very expensive, the colour really is appreciated amidst the cool restrained shades of Paris in December.

On Sunday I had brunch just opposite the Pompidou Centre and it was terrific. All places do freshly squeezed orange juice - even in the busy fast food cafe in the Musee D'Orsay you will get a freshly squeezed juice. The half baguette with real butter and strawberry jam was a nice touch as was the hot chocolate and jug of water. Then the actual breakfast was scrambled eggs with either smoked salmon or bacon, a salad of cucumber with dressing and a dear little dish of fresh yoghurt with raspberry coulis. This was very good. Then, when I paid the fellow he asked if I'd had the fruit - no I said I had the eggs - no no no no madam the fruit is included - a perfect beurre pair arrived. That was food done for the day.
So the museum - this time I thought I would take a good range of photos. On the fourth level of the contemporary collection was a large drawing exhibition of drawings donated by Florence and Daniel Guerlain. There were some great works in this show.

The technique of these two erased charcoal works by Joyce Pensato is familiar and I love the application to mpre popular subject matter.

This is a captivating personal narrative - I don't have the artist but I think South American. But it's the layout and the collective nature of the imagery that adds up to a terrific work.

This is one of 23 works done with graphite and a bit of charcoal by Marcel Bauer. It's called Fragments of 29 minutes. the drawings are small and fine and rich, only about 14 x 20 cms set into a larger A3 paper. the work is very evocative and combines figurative imagery, faces, places and movement. the blunter smudges graphite has contrasted fine line work done with a very hard very fine graphite.

This work is made up of 52 pieces. It is really fantastic. Titled Metamorphoses it is by Spanish artist Javier Perez. It is made up of a variety of techniques using red and black. the materials are basically ink and oil pastel for the darker beds over red which are then etched as in sgrafitto. The imagery is of hearts. hands, arms, trees, and figures. Some of the work is incredibly fine. It has a feel of Louise Bourgeois.

This work is by Kiki Smith - it must take years of hard work to build up such potent imagery. This is ink on crushed paper.

Francois Petrovitch b 1964 - these are gouache on lovely thick paper. What makes these stand out is the ambuguity of space created by the very slight wash on the paper onto whixh the more defined gouach imagery is painted. It's very effective. top right is pencil and gouache on a slight washed ground. Lower right is a black wash on white paper over which denser black is worked. It makes for an ambiguous effect.

Cathryn Boch is the name of this artist who made this very very large work. The effect is one of acres of creamy paper with the most delicate of wash work and then a series of jabs and lines. on closer inspection the green is stitching.

Detail of the work - the stitching is very strong but dome in a subdued colour.

This modular work based on the figure by Anne Marie Schneider. It was a great show to see with many artists mainly from Europe and the US.

On the same level are works from the contemporary collection. the work above is an oil paintng by Mario Merz.

This is by another Italian artist named Pino Pascali (1935-68). This work done in 1968 is called The Plumes of D'Esposo

Detail.

This installation is made up of plaster castes of canvases.

This is a knitted work by German contemporary artists Rosemary Trockel

This painting of an auction at Sothebys is made from the burnt carbon from a candle on canvas. How it has been made permanent is quite a question - very many cans of fixative?

This work is literally coal black but very difficult to capture the low tone using a digital camera. This work shows a composition made up of words that play on the slur 'black as coal'. it is by Glen Ligon.