Page 62 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Paris

60  INTRODUCING P ARIS

artifacts from the French Revo- Paris’s last surviving vineyard,
Asian, African lution. Although closed until holds exhibitions on the history
and Oceanian Art 2019, it occupies two handsome of Montmartre.
The major collection of Asian Marais hôtels. Also in the Marais,
art in France is housed at the the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du
Musée National des Arts Judaïsme explores the culture Architecture and Design
Asiatiques Guimet, covering of French Jewry. The Musée The Cité de l’Architecture
China, Tibet, Japan, Korea, de l’Armée, in the Hôtel des et du Patrimoine charts the
Indochina, Indonesia, Invalides, recounts French history of French architecture
India and Central Asia. military history, and the with scale models of its most
It includes Chinese Musée de l’Histoire de iconic buildings. Superb scale
bronzes and lacquerware France, in the Rococo models of fort resses built for
and some of the best Hôtel de Soubise, Louis XIV and later are on show
Khmer art outside has historical at the Musée des Plans-Reliefs.
Cambodia. documents The work of the celebrated
The Musée from the Franco-Swiss architect forms the
Cernuschi has a national archives basis of the Fondation Le
smaller but well- on display. Famous Corbusier.The showpiece is his
chosen Chinese Sri Lankan tableaux vivants and 1920s villa for his friend, art
collection, noted for theatrical mask characters, both current collector Raoul La Roche. Some
its ancient bronzes and and historical, await of his furniture is also on display.
reliefs. France’s premier the visitor at the Grévin wax The Pavillon de l’Arsenal is
showcase for African, Asian, museum. The charming Musée devoted to the architectural
Native American and Oceanian de Montmartre, overlooking development of Paris itself.
arts and cultures is the Musée
du quai Branly, which The French Impressionists
displays 3,500 objects in truly
breathtaking surroundings. everyday life by Manet and
The Musée Dapper also houses Courbet often offended the
African art and is part of an academicians who legislated
important ethnographic artistic taste. In 1863 Manet’s
research centre, housed in an Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe (see p147)
elegant 1901 hôtel particulier was exhibited at the Salon des
with an “African” garden. Its Refusés, an exhibition set up
collection of tribal masks is for paintings rejected by the
particularly dazzling. official Paris Salon of that year.
The first time the term
Impression: Sunrise by Monet
“Impressionist” was used to
Impressionism, the great describe this new artistic
art revolution of the 19th movement was at another
century, began in Paris in unofficial exhibition, in 1874.
the 1860s, when young The name came from a
painters, influenced in painting by Claude
part by the new art of Monet, Impression:
photography, started Sunrise, a view of
to break with the Le Havre in the
academic values of mist from 1872.
the past. They aimed Monet was almost
to capture the exclusively a
“impression” of what the landscape artist,
eye sees at a given Monet’s influenced by the works
moment and used sketchbooks of the English artists
brushwork designed Constable and Turner.
to capture the fleeting He always liked to paint
effects of light falling on a
Café in the Musée de Montmartre scene. Their favourite subjects
were landscapes and scenes
from contemporary urban life.
History and Social History The movement had no
founder, though Edouard
The Musée Carnavalet is Manet (1832–83) and the
devoted to the history of Paris, radical Realist painter Gustave
with some intriguing exhibits Courbet (1819–77) both
exploring daily and domestic life inspired many of the younger
in the city. Another fascinating artists. Paintings of scenes of Harvesting (1876) by Pissarro
section covers events and

060-061_EW_Paris.indd 60 03/04/17 10:49 am
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Flashmap follow-on template “UK” LAYER
(Source v1.2)
Date 17th October 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm