Paris, my Paris

Here's several reasons why comic book artists should visit France: The Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d'Angoulême is held there every January. Several of my favorite comic artists are French: Lewis Trondheim, David B., Nicolas Presl, and François Ayroles. It's great fun to pop into comic book stores in Paris and pick up their books in French.  My favorite magasin de bande dessinée (comic book shop) in Paris, Le Pied de Biche Galerie Librairie (The Crowbar Gallery and Bookstore), carries books by several of them. As you might have read on the Comics Comics blog Fondation Cartier pour l'art Contemporain is exhibiting MOEBIUS-TRANSE-FORME until March 13, 2011. We were very sad that no photos were allowed! But we bought the catalogue and a set of colored pencils with the above Moebius drawing printed on them.


Our favorite art museum was the Musée du quai Branly for its stunning collection and presentation of Oceanic, African, Native American and Asian art. A close second was Du Musée National d'art Moderne. It was my Mom's favorite. Raighne and I favored their paintings by Georges Braque and Jean Dubuffet most. Also we loved the Impressionist collections at the Musée de l'Orangerie and Musée d'Orsay. We discovered that our favorite paintings at Musée de l'Orangerie were by Soutine and  Utrillo. At the Musée d'Orsay there were so many mouth-watering delights that I can only note Manet's Le déjeuner sur l'herbe and a room of Toulouse-Lautrec. The Louvre was overwhelming. Its paintings, such as the Raft of the Medusa, the Van Eyck and a self-portrait of an older Rembrandt loom so huge in my memories. I hated how over-crowded with people and paintings it was but I have to go back, since in my haste I missed the Goyas, the Bosch, and the Egyptian and Islamic wings. Our favorite exhibit PERIOD was the Jean-Michel Basquiat retrospective at Musée d'Art Modern. I forgot what a huge influence he has had on my painting.

On our last day in Paris we slushed for miles through leaves and rain along the Seine for lunch at Le Grenier de Notre Dame. We got lost and arrived too late for lunch. We would have to wait for dinner. In the meantime, we retraced our steps in sodden shoes to the 2nd floor lending library of the famed Shakespeare and Company bookstore. A couple of hours later an artist and poet named Pam invited us to her Sunday tea party. We joined a group of travelers (mostly Americans, a few Brits, a Saudi Arabian and a couple of Belgians) around a table filled with tea mugs and cake in the bookstore owner George's third floor apartment. We shared poetry, drawings, and our little bios of ourselves. When the tea party adjourned we ran back to Le Grenier de Notre Dame and had a romantic vegan dinner. I can still feel the warmth of our burbon soy-milk shakes.

6 reasons to go back to Paris? We have to stay at the vegan B&B the Gentle Gourmet. We have to visit the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum in Albi. We have to attend the Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d'Angoulême! We have to speak the French we'll have learned (because we bought so many French books on our vacation!) We have to visit the reopened Musée Picasso. We have to visit our friend the comic creator Antoine Dodé!

Thanks to our friend and fellow traveler Susan for the pic of us riding up the side of Du Musée National d'art Moderne.