Art and Food Pairing™: Wifredo Lam and Une Histoire at the Centre Pompidou; Le JIP'S - Afro-Cuban Canteen

An impressive, ~300-work retrospective of the art of Wifredo Lam (1902-1982) is currently on view in Galerie 2, Level 6 at the Centre Pompidou in central Paris.

Galerie 2 - Entrance to Wifredo Lam exhibition
© Discover Paris!

Wifredo Lam
1952-1961 Paris, Caracas, Havana, Albissola, and Zurich
© Discover Paris!
Organized chronologically, the exhibition traces Lam's career from his classical training in Cuba and Spain to his love affair with ceramics in the mid-1970s and beyond.

Self-portrait, II
Wifredo Lam
ca. 1938 Gouache on paper mounted on canvas
The Rudman Trust
© Discover Paris!

View of exhibition space -
Umbral (left) and La Rumeur de la Terre (right)
© Discover Paris!

View of exhibition space
© Discover Paris!
Paramount in the exhibition is the magnificent oil painting The Jungle, which was loaned by the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

La Jungle
Wifredo Lam
1943 Oil on paper mounted on canvas
Museum of Modern Art, New York
© Discover Paris!
Also on display are dozens of documents and photos, including invitation cards for exhibitions, personal letters, and illustrations that Lam created for books and magazines.

Outside the gallery, visitors can watch a video of home movies of Lam and his family. Several minutes of the video reveal the artist at work.

Video - Wifredo Lam drawing
© Discover Paris!

Video - Wifredo Lam painting
© Discover Paris!
Downstairs, on Level 4, the exhibition entitled Une histoire. Art, architecture et design des années 1980 à nos jours (A History. Art, architecture and design from the 1980s to today) presents paintings, sculptures, installations, videos, films, drawings, photos, and architectural models that evoke the phenomenon of globalization as seen and portrayed through the eyes of various artists around the world. Many of the works shown have been newly acquired by the Pompidou Center and many others have been brought up from the reserves to be shown for the first time.

Grace Jones in 1982 video "A One Man Show"
Directed by Jean-Paul Goude
© Discover Paris!

Slave Auction
Jean-Michel Basquiat
1982 Acrylic, oil pastel, and collages
© Discover Paris!

MetroMobilitan
Hans Haacke
1985 Fiberglass, hardboard, photograph, polyester, aluminum, acrylic dye
© Discover Paris!
Wifredo Lam runs through February 15, 2016.

Une Histoire runs through January 11, 2016.

For information on hours and pricing, click HERE.

Roughly a five-minute walk from the Centre Pompidou, Le JIP'S - an Afro-Cuban canteen - serves a menu of tapas throughout the day. While best known as a nightspot for enjoying African and Cuban rhythms, the plates that emerge from the kitchen merit attention as well.

I arrived here at around 4 PM on a Saturday and was seated on the terrace that faces rue de la Ferronerie.

Le JIP'S façade - rue de la Ferronerie
© Discover Paris!
I ordered a mojito and studied the menu.

Mojito
© Discover Paris!
It was refreshing, but contained less rum than I had anticipated.

From the sixteen items listed on the tapas menu, I selected three that I thought would provide a good indication of the talent in the kitchen: Samossas et nems légumes (vegetable-filled pastries), fritas de patates douces (fried sweet potatoes), and ailes de poulet (chicken wings). For good measure, I decided to try their ti punch as well.

Hot pepper sauce was served as a condiment.

Samoussas et Nems légumes, Fritas de Patates Douce, and Ailes de Poulet
© Discover Paris!
I received far more food than I had anticipated and wished I had a partner with whom to share my bounty!

The samoussas and nems exuded not a drop of excess oil. They were light, crispy, and delicious. The fried sweet potatoes were tender and flavorful. And the chicken wings were juicy and had just the right "kick" with regard to seasoning.

Before leaving, I took a couple of photos of the interior decor.

Le JIP'S bar
© Discover Paris!

Le JIP'S lounge
© Discover Paris!
The ambiance is perfect for music and dancing!


Centre Georges Pompidou
Place Georges Pompidou
75004 Paris
Metro: Rambuteau (Line 11), Hôtel de Ville (Lines 1 and 11), Châtelet–Les Halles (Lines 1, 4, 7, 11, and 14)
RER: Châtelet-les-Halles (Lines A, B, and D)

Le JIP'S
41 Rue Saint-Denis
75001 Paris
Telephone: 01 42 21 88 74
Métro: Châtelet-les-Halles (Lines 1, 4, 7, 11, and 14)
RER: Châtelet-les-Halles (Lines A, B, and D)

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

Henry Ossawa Tanner at the Musée d’Orsay

Henry Ossawa Tanner
1907 Photographer: Frederick Gutekunst
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia is planning the first-ever retrospective of African-American artist Henry O. Tanner’s work, an event that will be held in 2012. Tanner lived in France from 1893 to 1937 and achieved considerable renown as a painter. The French government purchased three of his works (The Resurrection of Lazarus, Christ and His Disciples on the Road to Bethany, and The Pilgrims of Emmaus), which are now on reserve at the Musée d’Orsay. The museum will loan the paintings to the Academy for the show in Pennsylvania and is hosting a two-day event on November 9-10 in Paris in honor of the occasion.

The Resurrection of Lazarus
Henry Ossawa Tanner
1896 Oil on canvas
On November 9, 2011, Professor Richard Powell of Duke University will speak on the "Valorization, Effacement & Rupture in the History of Black American Art in France." The lecture will be held in the auditorium of the museum (Level -2) at 6:30 PM. No reservations are necessary. The presentation will be delivered in English with simultaneous translation into French. A recital by pianist Sodi Braide will follow.

Sodi Braide
Photo by the Van Cliburn Foundation
On the following day, curator Anna Marley of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts will moderate a series of lectures on the question of the representation of African-American artists in Europe – from Tanner to Basquiat. For the first half of the conference, presentations will be held in the Musée d’Orsay auditorium. Renee Ater (University of Maryland), Anne Lafont (Institute National d’Histoire d’Art, Paris), and Marc Simpson (Williams College, Massachusetts) will speak beginning at 9:30 AM. The second half will take place at the National Institute of Art History, beginning at 3 PM. Sarah Wilson (Courtauld Institute, London), Elvan Zabunyan, (University of Rennes 2) and Huey Copeland (Northwestern University, Chicago) will present here.

This is a long overdue event that art and history lovers won’t want to miss!

For information about the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts exposition, click here.

Musée d’Orsay
62 rue de Lille
75007 Paris
Telephone: 01 40 49 48 14
Metro : Solférino (Line 12)

Institut National d’Histoire d’Art (INHA)
Galerie Colbert
6 rue des Petits Champs
2 rue Vivienne
75002 Paris
Telephone: 01 47 03 89 00
Metro: Palais Royal/Musée du Louvre (Line 1), Bourse (Line 3), Pyramides (Lines 7 and 14)

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