The French

[andyfox]

A light post: Reading about the painter, Manet, I came across this in a letter he wrote about the French war with Prussia in 1870:

“Yesterday we were with Degas and [my brother] Eugene at a public meeting at the Folies-Bergere where we heard General Cluseret speak."

As good a place for a war meeting as any, no?

[elwoodblues]

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General Cluseret

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The cartoon bubble in my brain immediately popped up with Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau --- don't know why, but it did. Also don't know why I decided to share that cartoon bubble, but I did.

[andyfox]

It seems even we liberals like to laugh at the apparent vanity of the French. Sellers' Clouseau ("That ees not my dohg.") is exhibit A.

[Zeno]

This is interesting: (scroll down to the map) Folies-Bergere 'Location'

The street layout is very poetic.

Your post inspired me to check out some quotes about the French in 'The Book of Poisonous Quotes' that I always keep handy.

Paris is a disease; sometimes several diseases. - Honore de Balzac.

Paris is a great city of gaieties and pleasures, where four-fifths of the inhabitants die of grief. - Nicholas de Chamfort

The largest country in Europe, a great boon for drunks who need room to fall. - Alan Coren, "The Sanity Inspector".

There has always been something fishy about the French. - Noel Coward


The only country where the money falls apart and you can't tear the toilet paper. - Billy Wilder

You are reading about 'ART'? Are you that bored? [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]


-Zeno

[andyfox]

Who said I was reading about art? Manet. New four-part biography by Jeffrey Meyers called "Impressionist Quartet: The Intimate Genius of Manet and Morisot, Degas and Cassatt"

Manet was not actually an Impressionist, but he was close. You should have seen Millet's "Man With a Hoe" at the Getty. Google that and Millet's "The Gleaners" to see a true artist's work.

[Zeno]

I do distinctly remember 'The Man with a Hoe' at the Getty. A very poignant painting and well done.

I think I’ve seen ‘The Gleaners’ in some art book about my fathers place.

There is also a Degas at the Getty (I was hoping for one about Dancers), subject of woman hat makers I think.

Then there is the Jackson Pollock dribble painting. The farther away you view it, the better it becomes, until finally, when you can't see it all you realize what a masterpiece it really is.

-Zeno

[andyfox]

"The farther away you view it, the better it becomes, until finally, when you can't see it all you realize what a masterpiece it really is."

One is reminded of the definition of an expert: someone knows more and more about less and less until he finally knows everything about nothing.

[Rick Nebiolo]

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You should have seen Millet's "Man With a Hoe" at the Getty. Google that and Millet's "The Gleaners" to see a true artist's work.

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Comes up on the second and first hit on Google keyed just by title. Great thread guys.

~ Rick

[hetron]

I though 'Man with a 'ho" was the name of a Shaft movie back in the...


Oh you said 'Man with a Hoe '? Ooops!

Sorry, corny, but couldn't resist [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Cyrus]

Man with a Hoe
Jean-François Millet
French, Barbizon, 1860 - 1862

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"As I have never seen anything but fields since I was born, I try to say as best I can what I saw and felt when I was at work," wrote Jean-François Millet. At the Salon of 1863, Man with a Hoe caused a storm of controversy. The man in the picture was considered brutish and frightening by Parisian bourgeoisie. The Industrial Revolution had caused a steady exodus from French farms, and Man with a Hoe was interpreted as a socialist protest about the peasant's plight. Though his paintings were judged in political terms, Millet declared that he was neither a socialist nor an agitator.

<font color="white"> . </font>
A religious fatalist, Millet believed that man was condemned to bear his burdens. This farmer is Everyman. His face is lit, yet composed of blots of color that give him no individuality. He is big and dirty and utterly exhausted by the back-breaking work of turning this rocky, thistle-ridden earth into a productive field like the one being worked in the distance. A tribute to dignity and courage in the face of a life of unremitting exertion, Man with a Hoe was long considered a symbol of the laboring class.


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