Dapper Museum to Close Definitively

I couldn't believe it when one of the persons on my most recent Black Paris after WWII tour told me that the Musée Dapper is closing definitively - next month!

Musée Dapper façade
© Discover Paris!
As soon as I got home, I went to the Internet to look for the press release she said the museum had published. What I found was a dozen articles by Le Monde, France 24, Le Figaro, and other Francophone media outlets reporting this news.

Hoping against hope, I called the museum. They confirmed it.

A private institution, the Dapper has been in full-fledged competition with the Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac since the latter museum opened in 2006. As one of the articles about the closure points out, the quai Branly has a gigantic budget that the Dapper cannot begin to match. This, coupled with the success of recent major exhibitions of African art hosted by venues such as the Fondation Cartier and the Fondation Louis Vuitton, has resulted in fewer visitors for the Dapper.

So it is for financial reasons that the museum will close its doors for good on Sunday, June 18. Co-founder and director Christiane Falgayrettes-Leveau will sell the building at 35 bis, rue Paul Valéry in the 16th arrondissement. But the Dapper will live on through temporary exhibitions of its extraordinary collection in Africa and the Caribbean.

Those who understand spoken French may wish to watch an interview that Falgayrettes-Leveau gave to Le Monde Afrique correspondent Estelle Odéma by clicking HERE (interview dated 24 May 2017).

Estelle Onéma and Christianne Falgayrettes-Leveau
Screenshot from Le Monde Afrique interview
The current exhibition at the Dapper - Chefs-d'oeuvre d'Afrique - will be on display through June 18 (not June 17 as indicated on the flier below). I saw this show months ago and highly recommend it. So if you haven't seen it yet, NOW is the time!

************

Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.

If you like this posting, share it with your friends by using one of the social media links below!

Picasso at the Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac

Organized by the Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac in collaboration with the Musée National Picasso-Paris, Picasso Primitif endeavors to examine the relationship between "primitive" art and the art of Pablo Picasso. The exhibition consists of more than 100 works by Picasso, as well as numerous documents (letters, post cards, photographs...) that reveal details of his life and the times in which he lived.

Exhibition curator Yves Le Fur led a group of bloggers through the Garden Gallery at the museum last Thursday evening, presenting numerous works and explaining his concept for the show.

Curator Yves Le Fur
© Discover Paris!
The first part of the exhibition consists of a chronology of Picasso's life in Paris and introduces visitors to his first encounters with non-Western art. The timeline begins in 1900, when he moved to Paris, and ends in 1974, one year after his death.

Throughout this section, documentation clearly indicates that Picasso was an avid collector of African and Oceanic art. According to the information posted, he purchased his first works in 1907, shortly after having completed Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. He frequently loaned pieces from his collection to prestigious art shows. More than 200 previously unknown works were found in his Cannes studio after his death.

Photo of works discovered in Picasso's
Cannes Studio after his death
© Discover Paris!
The subject of Picasso's infamous quote "L'Art Nègre? Connais pas !" (Negro Art? I don't know it!) is addressed in this section of the exhibition. Le Fur opined that the statement, which was made in 1920, has been taken out of context and indicated his belief that Picasso was comparing his level of knowledge of this art form to that of experts such as Guillaume Apollinaire.

Another explanation for the statement is found in an information panel for the year 1923, where Picasso indicates that his interviewer attributed those words to him without Picasso actually having stated them:

Information Panel - 1923
Picasso's clarification of l'Art Nègre quote
© Discover Paris!
"I already told you that I didn't have anything else to say about 'Negro art.' You responded for me, 'Negro art? I don't know it!'"

Yet the artist clearly expressed his debt to African art when he made the following statement after visiting the Trocadéro Ethnological Museum in 1907:

At that time, for most people, an African mask was only an ethnographic object. When I went to the Trocadéro Museum with Derain for the first time, the smell of mold and abandon caught in my throat. I was so depressed that I wanted to leave right away. But I forced myself to stay, to examine the masks, all the objects that men executed for a sacred purpose, magic, to serve as an intermediary between them and the unknown, hostile forces that surrounded them, trying to overcome their fear by giving it color and form.

And then I understood that this is the very meaning of painting. This is not an esthetic process; it is a form of magic that is interposed between the hostile universe and us, a way to seize power by imposing form on our terrors as well as our desires. The day that I understood that, I knew that I had found my path.

Picasso revisited his painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon because of what he experienced at the museum. He was quoted by Cultural Affairs Minister André Malraux as calling the painting his first "exorcism canvas".

The second part of the exhibition is called "Corps à Corps" ("Face to Face"). It looks at various themes found in non-Western art that are echoed in Picasso's art - the use of simplified forms as a means of representing the essence of the human body (Archetypes), the combination of human and animal forms (Metamorphoses), and the deconstruction of the body to reveal the inner character housed within (The Id). The non-Western works shown in this section are displayed in proximity to Picasso's works to illustrate similarities of inspiration and form, but not necessarily to indicate that they directly inspired the Picasso works located nearby.

Picasso's Jeune garçon nu with several anthropomorphic sculptures
© Discover Paris!
Some non-Western works that were acquired by Picasso are also on display.

Détroit de Torrès Mask
19th century
Sheet metal, Casoar feathers, shells
© Discover Paris!
Picasso Primitif runs through July 23, 2017.

Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac
37, quai Branly or 217, rue de l'Université
75007 Paris
RER: Pont de l'Alma (Line C)
Telephone: 01.56.61.70.00
Internet: http://www.quaibranly.fr
Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday - 11 AM to 7 PM; Thursday through Saturday - 11 AM to 9 PM. Closed Mondays.
Entry fee: 10€
Reduced fee: 7€


************

Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.

If you like this posting, share it with your friends by using one of the social media links below!

African Revival - Art in the Marais

There's still a week left to stop by the African Revival art show in the Marais!

Aude Minart, owner of the itinerant gallery called La Galerie Africaine, has mounted a show in an intimate space on rue du Pont Louis-Philippe between the Seine and rue de Rivoli.

African Revival exposition - La Galerie Africaine
© Discover Paris!
Called African Revival, it features paintings by Cape Verdean artist Nelson Gomes Teixeira,

Coloured Caras by Teixeira and various sculptures
© Discover Paris!
contemporary sculptures in wood by Franco-Beninese artist Niko,

A pair of sculptures (oak) by Niko
© Discover Paris!
and classic African sculptures and masks.

Baoulé sculpture with red patina
© Discover Paris!

Yaouré mask
© Discover Paris!
Nelson Gomes Teixeira left Cape Verde at the age of three and grew up in Lisbon, Portugal. He has lived in Paris for many years, where he has a studio in the 12th arrondissement. He works with inks, pastels, charcoal, acrylics and oils to create his paintings, and often uses raw or recycled materials.

Mythe by Teixeira
© Discover Paris!

Zoom by Teixeira
© Discover Paris!
This is the first time that La Galerie Africaine has featured his work.

In contrast, the gallery has often featured works by Niko.

Aude welcomes you to enjoy a cocktail and experience the works of these and other artists "up close and personal" on Tuesday, April 28th from 6 PM to 10 PM. The exhibition closes on April 30, 2015.

La Galerie Africaine
African Revival
19, rue du Pont Louis-Philippe
75004 Paris
Metro: Hôtel de Ville (Lines 1 and 11), Saint-Paul (Line 1), Pont Marie (Line 7)

For additional information, contact Aude by phone at 06.60.24.06.26 or by e-mail at .

************

Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.

If you like this posting, share it with your friends by using one of the social media links below!

Art and Food Pairing™: La Galerie Africaine and La Kaz

La Galerie Africaine, the itinerant art gallery owned by Aude Minart, has returned to the Cloître des Billettes in the 4th arrondissement for yet another marvelous show!

Ubuntu features the works of painter Patrick Nupert (Guadeloupe) and sculptor Niko (France-Benin). The name of the show is inspired by the word that South African Archbisihop Desmond Tutu is credited with making known to the West. President Barack Obama referenced ubuntu in his tribute to Nelson Mandela at Mandela's memorial service:

There is a word in South Africa -- Ubuntu -- a word that captures Mandela’s greatest gift: his recognition that we are all bound together in ways that are invisible to the eye; that there is a oneness to humanity; that we achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others, and caring for those around us.

Patrick Nupert's paintings have been displayed at numerous group and private shows throughout France and in Belgium since 2006. Minart chose his work entitled "L'Ebouriffée" for the flier that promotes the exposition.

She has selected fourteen of the artist's paintings to display on the walls of the cloister.

Cloister corridor
© Discover Paris!

Black Code from the Ground
Patrick Nupert
2013 Mixed media on wood
© Discover Paris!
Niko is one of Minart's favored sculptors. His towering carvings fill the courtyard of the cloister and punctuate two of the corridors as well. His work will be presented at the prestigious Dakar Biennial show in May 2014.

Sculptures by Niko
© Discover Paris!

Le Dormeur
Niko
2011 Walnut wood
© Discover Paris!
Ubuntu runs through Wednesday, 5 March 2014. Visit the show on Saturdays from 12 noon to 2 PM and have a glass of wine and snacks as you view the works! For more information, contact Aude Minart by e-mail at audeminart[at]hotmail[dot]com.

Just a 15-minute walk from the cloister is a wonderful little Caribbean fast-food establishment called La Kaz. Tom and I went there to have lunch after visiting the Ubuntu exposition.

La Kaz
© Discover Paris!
As we had no experience with the cuisine, we needed explanations for just about everything! A friendly server showed us the three types of bread that we could choose for our sandwiches and happily explained the menu in its entirety. We learned that the sandwiches take their names from the type of bread selected.

Tom ordered an agoulou complèt, which consisted of a ground beef patty, a fried egg, bacon, ham, and cheese on a huge round of agoulou - a brioche-like bread that is grilled on top. You can think of this rendition as a large Caribbean hamburger - even bigger than a Burger King Whopper!

Agoulou, coconut water, and coconut cake
© Discover Paris!
He selected a can of green coconut water as a beverage and a serving of coconut layer cake for dessert.

I went for a bokit légumes grillées - chopped, grilled eggplant, red and green bell pepper, onion, and zucchini - served in a pita-like bread called bokit. For my beverage, I selected fresh jus de prune de Cythère (ambarellas juice). I had never heard of ambarellas before and decided to try this juice as opposed to the guava and passion fruit juices that were also available. I was happy that I did!

Bokit, prune de Cythère juice, banana turnover
© Discover Paris!
I chose a banana turnover for my dessert. The pastry was flaky and tender and the filling (surprisingly red in color) was tasty, though there was not enough of it in my opinion.

Everything was fresh and flavorful and Tom and I definitely plan to return. One of the things that we'll try next time is the side order of sweet potato fries!

Cloître des Billettes
24, rue des Archives
75004 Paris
Metro: Hôtel de Ville (Lines 1, 11)
Weekdays and Saturdays: 12 PM to 7 PM
Sunday: 2 PM to 6 PM

La Kaz
20, rue des Halles
75001 Paris
Tel.: 09.50.04.98.14
Mon to Thurs noon - 10:00 p.m. Fri to Sat noon - midnight
Métro: Châtelet (Lines 1, 4, 7, 11, 14), Châtelet Les Halles (RER A, B, D)

************

Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.

If you like this posting, share it with your friends by using one of the social media links below!

Art and Food Pairing™: Galerie Cinq Diamants and Botequim

For two years now, I’ve walked past Galerie Cinq Diamants and burned with curiosity about why this little shop, filled with African art and artifacts, sprang up just two blocks from my apartment in an out of the way neighborhood in the 5th arrondissement where no other art galleries exist. Last week, I had the opportunity to find out.

Galerie Cinq Diamants
© Discover Paris!
Zoran Smolovic, a citizen of the former Yugoslavia (the area now known as Montenegro) and long time Paris resident, owns and operates the gallery. When I met him several months ago, soon after he opened, we only had time to exchange a few words. Last week, our schedules finally coincided such that his shop was open when I had time to stop in. I got to sit down and Zoran got to tell me his story.

Zoran Smolovic
© Discover Paris!
Zoran is a journalist, a lawyer, and a photographer. Two days after moving to Paris over 30 years ago, he came across a collection of African art at an antique fair in the 17th arrondissement and fell in love with it. He began collecting at that moment and has never stopped. When his apartment became so full of art that his wife began to complain, he decided to move his treasures into a commercial area and opened the gallery in an office space formerly used by his wife.

Much of what Zoran displays is masks. His business card (which is actually a glossy color photograph) features an Igbo mask from Nigeria that hangs in a corner of the gallery. Other masks and sculptures are made by the Punu and Fang tribes of Gabon, the Baoulé of Côte d’Ivoire, and the Dogon and other tribes of Mali. Zoran obtains his works from African art dealers who transport pieces directly from Africa. He favors works made traditionally – those that are hand carved – but he does carry a few “mass-produced” items as well. He does not deal in antiques, but he only selects works that he feels are “magic.”

Igbo Mask
© Discover Paris!

Galerie Cinq Diamants business card
© Discover Paris!
For 24 years, Zoran worked for Radio France Internationale in Paris and covered the former communist countries of Eastern Europe and France. He left their employ only two years ago and now spends most of his time at the gallery.

Galerie Cinq Diamants is open Tuesday through Saturday from 12 noon to 3 PM and from 4 PM to 7 PM. Depending upon circumstances, it may be open as late as 11 PM. If you want to call (see telephone number below), note that Zoran speaks Serbo-Croatian and French, but no English.

Literally a stone’s throw away from Galerie Cinq Diamants is my favorite Brazilian restaurant in Paris – Botequim Brasiliero.

Botequim Brasiliero
© Discover Paris!

Botequim Dining Room
© Discover Paris!
Everything I’ve ever eaten here has been excellent. After experimenting with different items on the menu in the past, I’ve come to anticipate selecting my favorites on the menu – panaché Botequim as an entrée and Feijoada as the main course - each time I come.

Panaché Botequim consists of fritters containing shredded chicken and spices (Coxinha), cheese (Risole de queijo), and minced beef (Kibe). The crust for each variety of fritter is always crisp and delicious – never soggy or oily. And the fillings provide a marvelous burst of flavor in every bite.

Panaché Botequim
© Discover Paris!
Feijoada is Brazil’s national dish. It is a stew of sorts, made from black beans and pork – pork belly, pork rib, and sausage. The meat in Botequim’s feijoada is remarkably lean, even though pork belly and sausage are naturally endowed with fat. The absence of liquid pork fat (or grease, as we call it in the southern U.S.) on the surface of the beans and sauce is the perfect testament to this.

Part of what makes this dish so appealing is the way it is served. Botequim always presents its feijoada in a gleaming copper pot with a ladle. The accompaniments – steamed rice, fresh orange slices with thin ribbons of young green cabbage, and manioc flour – are always served in terra cotta ramekins. If they are not already on the table, the server presents you with the obligatory containers of hot sauce. Then you can get down to the business of dining!

Feijoada
© Discover Paris!

Oranges and greens
© Discover Paris!
As for beverages, I always order Caipirinha, Brazil’s national cocktail. Made from cachaça (fermented and distilled sugarcane juice) and lime, it is a potent and tasty beverage. I believe that Botequim makes the best ones in town, and enjoy them both as a cocktail and along with my meal.

After feasting on all this, I forgo dessert. The selection consists of industrially-made frozen desserts and home-made puddings and creams, none of which is sufficiently tempting for me to voluntarily overeat. I always leave feeling that I’ve “done the right thing” because the entrée and main dish are totally satisfying!

Galerie Cinq Diamants
72, rue Claude Bernard
75005 Paris
Telephone : 06.87.67.81.19
E-mail: zorans@hotmail.fr
Metro: Censier Daubenton (Line 7)
Hours: Tue - Sat: 12 noon - 3:00 PM, 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM

Botequim
1, rue Berthollet
75005 Paris
Telephone: 01.43.37.98.46
Metro: Censier Daubenton (Line 7)
Hours: Mon - Sat: 12:00 PM - 2:30 PM, 8:00 PM - 11:30 PM
Sun: 8:00 PM - 11:30 PM

************

Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.

If you like this posting, share it with your friends by using one of the social media links below!

Africa Unmasked Features Senegalese Artist Ndoye Dout's

On the heels of the beautiful show that she mounted at the Cloître des Billettes in March, Aude Minart has mounted a new African art exposition called Africa Unmasked on the Left Bank. The venue is the Mailletz Gallery across from the Saint Severin church and the featured artist is Mohamadou Ndoye Dout's.

Mohamadou Ndoye Dout's
© Discover Paris!
I briefly encounted Dout's last Tuesday at the vernissage for the show. Though he lives in Pierrefitte, a northern suburb of Paris, his work focuses on the urban landscape of Dakar, Senegal.

All the works displayed are mixed media. Dout's created them in 2012.

Jeux d'enfants
2012 Dout's
© Discover Paris!
Chaleur
2012 Dout's
© Discover Paris!
Additionally, sculptures of bronze and recycled metal by Ouransa Traoré (Burkina Faso),

Bronze works by Ouransa Traoré
© Discover Paris!
numerous additional bronze works, wood masks and carvings, and decorative items

Baoulé masks and paintings by Dout's
© Discover Paris!

Africa Unmasked: paintings, sculptures, and decorative items
© Discover Paris!

Africa Unmasked: painting under glass
© Discover Paris!

are part of this show.

Africa Unmasked runs until May 5, 2013. Aude Minart welcomes the public for a complimentary apéritif on Tuesdays from 6 to 7 PM throughout the show. Stop by to enjoy the works!

Africa Unmasked vernissage
© Discover Paris!

Galerie Mailletz
17 rue du Petit Pont
75005 Paris
Metro: Saint Michel, Cité (Line 4), Cluny La Sorbonne (Line 10)
RER: Saint Michel-Notre Dame, lines B and C)
Weekdays and Saturdays: 12 noon to 7 PM

For information about the works and the artists, contact Aude Minart by e-mail at audeminart[at]hotmail[dot]com or by phone at 06 60 24 06 26.

************

Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.

If you like this posting, share it with your friends by using one of the social media links below!

Africa Unlimited at the Cloître des Billettes

Nomadic galeriste Aude Minart has once again mounted a spectacular exposition of African and African Diaspora art at the Cloître des Billettes. This one is called Africa Unlimited.

Guadeloupan artist Marie B’s Tango greets visitors at the entrance to the cloister, while her Totems duo stands against the southern wall. She is the only artist from the Americas whose work is represented. The other artists come from this side of the Atlantic.

Africa Unlimited – View from Entryway
© Discover Paris!
Totems (detail)
Marie B
© Discover Paris!
Wooden sculptures by Niko (France-Benin) once again dominate the open air patio of this medieval cloister,

Sculptures by Niko
© Discover Paris!
while bronze sculptures made using the lost wax casting technique are a prominent component of the smaller pieces displayed throughout the ambulatory.

Bronze sculpture (lost wax casting technique)
Hippolyte Congo – Burkina Faso
© Discover Paris!
By far, the most fascinating and colorful works in this exposition are the paintings and palettes created by Sudan’s Islam Zian-Alabdeen.

Islam Zian-Alabdeen with two of his paintings
© Discover Paris!
The works are incredibly intricate. All include images of and inspiration drawn from women, which I found to be an interesting coincidence since this exposition is being shown during Women’s History Month. Indeed, Zian-Alabdeen is deeply inspired by the persona of his mother, a person who he describes as being the ever-present nurturer, surveyor, and disciplinarian (indirectly through his father) of the family.

Vie de Femme (Woman’s Life)
Islam Zian-Alabdeen
© Discover Paris!
Palette by Islam Zian-Alabdeen
© Discover Paris!
Zian-Alabdeen also uses the symbolism of animals to weave narratives through his art. The fish symbolizes continuity and movement; the cat, love… His representations of everyday activities are bolstered by the power of ancient legends and customs of Nubia and each one has the ability to mesmerize those who gaze upon it.

Visitors to the exposition were intrigued by the works and generally enjoyed themselves.

Millie Cherfils, her child, and Tracye Matthews
© Discover Paris!
Visitors in west corridor of ambulatory
© Discover Paris!
Engrossed in art
© Discover Paris!
Africa Unlimited runs through Easter Sunday, March 31.

Cloître des Billettes
24, rue des Archives
75004 Paris
Metro: Hôtel de Ville (Lines 1, 11)
Weekdays and Saturdays: 11 AM to 7 PM
Sunday: 2 PM to 6 PM


Visit our Pinterest page to see more images of the works shown at this exposition. For information about the works and the artists, contact Aude Minart by e-mail at audeminart[at]hotmail[dot]com.

************

Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.

If you like this posting, share it with your friends by using one of the social media links below!