Tag: france

Postcard from Bordeaux, France: Blending touches of modernity in with the old

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Above: The view from our bedroom window in our rental in Bordeaux

Mysterious mushrooms appeared popping up from the traditional tile rooftops surrounding our temporary headquarters in the midst of the historic center of Bordeaux. And tucked behind the residential building next door was a contemporary adaptation of space for brightening up offices – most likely for attorneys, as shingles on first floors all around us seemed to have as primary occupants.

As we explored, we found the mushrooms sprout up from a major ultra-modern addition behind the 1846 Palais de Justice fronting Place de Republique. Architect Joseph Adolphe Thiac (1800-1865) drew his inspiration for the impressive façade of the original structure from the Parthenon. Not visible from the square, the new construction does not intrude upon the classical majesty of Thiac’s design.

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Postcard from Bordeaux, France: And the artist went out screaming…

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Above: “There are other worlds but they are in this one,” surrealist poet Paul Eluard, 1895-1952, artist Dora Garcia, 2018

The substantial 1824 brick building, Entrepot Laine, that houses Bordeaux’s Contemporary Art Museum originally was designed as a warehouse for produce shipped in from French colonies. Neglected on a wharf on the Garonne on the edge of the Chartrons District, it was purchased by the city in 1974 and repurposed to showcase French and international works of contemporary art.

When we were there the nave of the museum was dedicated to “Absalon Absalon,” an exhibition continuing through February 1 that showcases the interrupted work of Meir Eshel (1964-1993). After a stint in the Israeli military service, Eschel moved to Paris in 1987 and enrolled in a workshop in the Ecole Nationale Superiure des Beaux Arts. He changed his name to Absalon, a rebellious son featured in the Old Testament. The biblical figure of Absalon was vanquished and murdered, forever associated with the idea of revolt ending in tragedy.

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Postcard from Bordeaux, France: Sculptural details reward those afoot

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Sometimes you feel as though a sculptor caught his subjects mid-sentence, as above where a god appears mansplaining to an unimpressed goddess. The mermen sentenced to forever support a balcony must complain constantly of stiff necks. A saint might appear empathetic to those below; a goddess indifferent. The muses atop the Opera House may be designed to inspire, but the satyr with the glaring eyes is a figure of nightmares. Is the horse heralded for its nobility or merely serving as a sign for a butcher of yore?

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