January at Art Museums in Paris

January is a rather gray and rainy time in France.  Not a time for wandering around outside, and visiting parks, gardens or other outdoor places.  So I have been visiting museums, mostly art museums, though I plan to catch up with a few that are more history focused.  I have recently seen the Vallonton exhibition at the Grand Palais, the pottery at the Guimet museum of Asian Art, and the wonderful Brassai photography exhibition at the Hotel De Ville.  This post is a bit more about each of these and shows a few photos I took at the exhibits.

The Vallonton exhibit covered the painting and printing work of Felix Vallonton's entire career.  It was perfectly done and a treat.  Vallonton produced an astonishing number of paintings, and both influenced and was influenced by the Nabis movement of post-Impressionist art.  His work uses flattening of the composition, which is believed to have resulted from his expertise in woodcuts, which he explored and brought to new directions in the art world.  I particularly liked his still lives (called Morte Natur in French), and some of his nudes, one of each is below.  I also liked one of his interior scenes which I photographed from a postcard since the painting was labelled as "no photographs permitted".

Tulips & statuette of Maillol, 1913

Four Torsos 1916

Interior with a woman in red from the back

Being a potter, I was on a high at the Guimet museum's pottery collection. An entire floor of Japanese and mostly Chinese pottery, some of it very old!  Below are 3 pieces (I had a hard time choosing), but the complete set of photos I took can be viewed at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/candysidner/sets/72157639982095095/

Bowl, from Nabashima, Japan, 17th Century

Of course my photos don't begin to cover the vast collection of pieces, all of which were in beautiful condition.

Bowl, Song-Jin Dynasty Period, 11-12th century, China

Open bowl, Jin Yuan Dynasty Period,  13-14th century, China

Brassai, a Hungarian photographer, sculptor and filmmaker moved to Paris between the two world wars, where he spent the rest of his life.  His earlier photography I like best.  It has a kind of innocence and sense of Paris I related to.  See the two photos below, which I got from the web since I could not take photos of his work.  Brassai did sculptures, with simple lines and structure, also displayed at the exhibit in Paris, and many more photos, some of much darker themes than his early work.  He certainly was a master, from what I saw.

Jardin Du Luxembourg, 1930s

Arc De Triomphe, 1930s

Tomorrow, I plan to go to the Cluny Museum, a combination historical museum and art museum, famous for its tapestries from the Middle Ages and for the ruins of Roman baths from when Rome ruled Paris in the time before the common era.