Okay, so Tuesday. We went to the cemetery in the morning and then worked our way to the Biblioteque National du France where they have an entire collection of original prints from pretty much every artist you can think of that did printmaking. The lady who was showing us the prints showed us relief prints from the 1500s, Duer engravings from around the same time (which were so wonderfully detailed that even an inch from them they looked unreal) as well as showing us original Goya prints (also engravings). It was such a wonderful thing to see, I wouldn’t have given I up for anything. I find it so interesting to see the things of history here that I’ve only seen in reproduction. After that we went shopping at H&M, Zara and Promede. I had bought new boots before we went to the BNF and the blisters on my feet were quite sizable because I wasn’t wearing socks with them (my socks were soaking wet). I finally got new socks but my feet were definitely ruined for the week. Wednesday was the beginning of the required museum days for anyone taking a history class this quarter, which I’m not, but since I wanted to see the places anyway as well as the fact that all of my friends would be going, I tagged along. We started at the Louvre which is ohmygoodness amazingly huge. We headed to the painting section first, seeing so many of the classic art pieces that I’ve seen in my textbooks during Survey of Western Art II, but in real life they are so stunning. I know that sounds like an idiotic comment, but the sheer size of the paintings is what astounded me. I have seen some of them on a screen that makes them about 4x6 feet, but it’s nothing compared to the paintings that are the size of the wall. I was with Bridget for most of the time at the Louvre, and we met up with some other people for lunch after we had been there for a few hours. It was so overwhelming to be there with all of the people. So many people don’t even look at the art, they just take a picture of it and move on to the next one, or run up to it and have someone take a picture of them standing next to the piece. It was really frustrating, especially because I know so much about art, and I feel like none of it was even being appreciated at all. But anyway. So we went to lunch and got ripped off on water (we asked for glasses and the snooty French waiter brought us Evian bottles) which left us all a tad bit bitter at the French. My friends had to be at the next museum at 2:30, so we headed over to the d’Orsay Museum to move ahead in time a little bit. Every museum we attended was in chronological order, which was a really good way to view it (highly recommended to anyone wanting to do the museums in Paris. It shows how art changes through the jump of centuries). At the d’Orsay they had an entire section of Picasso paintings that I loved, though not really any of the typical ones that (normal non art history taking) people would know. I fell in love with one that is a café during the day; the paint was so thick and textured that it seemed so much more sculptural than like a painting. There were some Impressionist and Post Impressionist paintings, but they aren’t necessarily things that I loved. I was so exhausted by the time I was seeing all of those things though that I probably am not giving them the credit they deserve. I decided to rest my feet with Eleanor (the student director) and in the midst of our rest she got a phone call to say that the president of our school was going to be joining us soon. She grabbed my arm and we headed down to meet the one and only Paula Wallace. She’s very nice in person, though she has no reason to not be to the students. I know that she gets almost a hundred thousand dollars from just me while I’m attending SCAD, and a lot of people resent her for how much money she takes from us, but she did truly seem interested in the things that I was talking about, and we joined a few other people for tea, and she loved listening to them as well. I do admire the way that she knows how to run a business, she has built an empire of an art school and no matter what people say about her, SCAD is internationally recognized and admired. Anyway. So that was a bit of a frazzled moment for Eleanor, but it was nice to be the student she chose to help her. After the d’Orsay we went out to dinner and then out to a British pub that was having Ladies Night (yay cheap drinks!). We ended up home around one in the morning and planned for an early morning the next day (as usual).
Thursday morning I went with two of my suitemates from Lacoste to the Luxembourg Gardens (which were only a few minute walk from our hotel) and we photographed there for about 45 minutes before we had to head back to the hotel to meet up with the history classes. The first museum of the day was the Pompedieu Center, which houses some of the more well known art of the 20th century. There was a feminist exhibit going on as well, which was interesting, but as I’m not a feminist it didn’t interest me as much. Even by the time I was getting to the Matisse sculptures, I was so burnt out on art. It’s so overwhelming to see so much, and again things that I’ve only seen in textbooks. I left a little bit early with Becca, and we walked back toward our hotel, stopping in at Notre Dame on the way. The cathedral was truly amazing, though so full of people just taking pictures and not actually taking in the beauty of where they were. I took a few pictures of course, but nothing does it justice. We were hoping to go up to the top of the towers, but the line was so long and Becca had to be at the Musee de Art Modern at 3, so we decided we would try later. I went and found Charbonelle, the French ink store for printmaking. I bought two inks (cobalt blue and black), and wanted to buy everything in the entire store. The inks smell wonderful (which is an odd comment, but if you smell like ink as much as I do, it makes a difference) and every color they make is so beautiful. I met Becca back at the hotel and we took the metro to end up at the Modern Art Museum, but we managed to get a little lost along the way and got there a little bit later than intended. When we were at the Louvre the day before I had missed an exhibit of engravings that I really wanted to go back and see, so I left everyone there and took the metro to the Louvre. It was such a different experience the second time around, especially because I was in a section that wasn’t as popular or on the main path of the monumental paintings. The exhibit was by Watteau, and every engraving I saw was so beautiful. The details in each one were amazing, they must have taken so much time, and there were more than thirty of them. Most weren’t printed by him, but printed by a master printer after he died with the original plates and some minor modifications. I was there for about 2 hours, and I wandered through the gift store, but everything was so overpriced and crowded. There is a small mall (with an Apple store) connected to the Louvre now, and I was in there for a little bit, but I wanted to meet my friends back at the hotel for dinner. I went to dinner with Becca, Sunni, Lauren and Cedric (he runs the boutique in Lacoste, but was in Paris for the SCAD Fundraiser Gala that was on Friday night. He was the main translator) and we went out to sushi by our hotel ( I know…. Paris. And I ate sushi, Chinese and even McDonalds… but remember how secluded Lacoste is). We decided to go to see the Arch de Triumph and then walk back to the Eiffel Tower. We weren't able to go up to the top of either because we got there after 10:00, but just seeing the sheer size of them was amazing, and they were so beautiful at night. The Eiffel Tower glitters at 10 and 11:00, and we got there right at 11. It was so cool to see, and even though it was so touristy to go, it's such a different thing in person. It really is awe inspiring. I went to bed as soon as we got back to prepare for Friday; a meeting with an art consultant and volunteering at the gala!
Friday morning came all to early, and I went out photographing by myself before I had to meet up with my photo class for the art consultant. For our class, each person was assigned a specific section of Paris (I got the 6th arrondismont (section) which is where Saint Germaine is located, as well as the Luxembourg Gardens) and we have to take photographs that show the life of that section, not just the touristy section. I went back to the hotel to make myself look nice to meet Melissa Unger, and walked with Liz and the rest of our class to a gallery where she was giving us a lecture. She didn’t really lecture on anything specific, more just talk about her experiences and how she came to be the person she is through art, and how the contemporary art market is. Even though it wasn’t right up my alley, it was still interesting, especially learning about the market. A lot of the things that she deals with is more based in fine art, and though my photographs are a little bit fine art, they certainly cross the line into commercial far easier. She took us around to a few galleries after her lecture, the most important, largest and most controversial in Paris (definitely interesting). A few of us had to leave early to get to the gala, so we didn’t’ get to go to the last two galleries. We were all starving so we rode the metro over to the George V Four Seasons Hotel(where the gala was being held) (by the Arch de Triumph) and grabbed lovely French fast food. We had no idea how long it would be until we would eat, so it was definitely a good idea. I’m pretty sure that all of our food was gone in less than five minutes. We got to the hotel a little bit earlier than the rest of the group of volunteers and got to look at some of the items up for the silent auction. When Eleanor finally got there with the rest of the volunteers (there were about 15 of us) we were led into a back room that had 6 tables set almost exactly like they were in the dining hall. Since we volunteered we got to have our own five star dinner before everyone else in this beautiful room. Everyone was so thrilled. The food was amazing! We started with and wine and bread, of course, and then moved to asparagus risotto (the most delicious ever), then the main course was a delicious fish with leeks, and then a raspberry torte type thing for desert with a sorbet next to it, as well as a plate full of chocolates and truffles. After dinner we started on our tasks for the gala. I was helping promote the work for the silent auction, and I got to just stand and talk about the work in the section that I was given. I had mostly photographs and printmaking (convenient because I know the most about those), but it was really interesting to just people watch, see the fashion and talk to a lot of the people that were there. After the auction was over, all the guests went in to dinner, and we packaged everything as well as wrote up tickets for the attendees. Eleanor let us leave around ten o’clock, so we all rode the metro back to the hotel. Everyone else decided to go out, but I fell asleep so fast. My body really needed it (definitely getting a cold) and most of my friends didn’t actually get home until five or six am, so I was really happy that I didn’t go out.
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