Le Style Guimard

Monday, April 7. Yesterday, at the Musee des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, I was captivated by the dining room "ensemble" designed by one Hector Guimard. Reading the notes, I learned that this is the very person who designed the Art Nouveau metro entrances in Paris, which I love. He was also an architect and, like others at the time, believed that everything in the building was part of its overall design. So he not only designed the buildings but also their furnishings. The notes also indicate that a number of his buildings are still standing in Paris. So, natch, I find a book in the museum bookstore on Guimard and L'Art Nouveau! I spend most of today engrossed in this, trying to understand the French and making a list of the locations of his buildings in Paris, including the home he designed for himself and his wife. And what extraordinary buildings they are!

But listen to this (I'm translating from the book): In 1938, Guimard and his wife Adeline left Paris for New York (I think his wife was Jewish). He was seriously ill and died in 1942. News of his death was not known in France until 1945. In 1948, Adeline went back to Paris, wanting to perpetuate her husband's memory. "En vain." The cycle of demolitions which would eventually destroy a great part of his work had already begun. L'Etat (that would be the French government) refused her offer to donate their private residence and all of its contents. Today, all of his remaining buildings are in private hands and cannot be visited. Only the dining room can be seen at the Petit Palais. How sad is that? Apparently it wasn't until 1960, on the occasion of the exhibition "The Sources of the XXth Century" that the doors of the Musee nationale d'art moderne were finally opened to his work.

I know Art Nouveau is not to everyone's taste but I love its whimsical, fanciful nature and its sensual and sinuous, organic lines. It makes me happy to look at it. A chacun son gout, as the French would say!