Invisible Paris - The Mystery Solved

The Mysterious Paris Building

Those of you that have been reading my blog know that I not only post about my own painting journey and artwork, but I love to introduce a few art topics that I think you might find of interest.

When on our a trip to Paris I couldn't help noticing this very unusual building while on a walk in the 12th arrondissement. I was on an elevated walkway with lots of trees and shrubs and I could only see the top of the building.
The figures on the building looked familiar like, The Dying Slave sculpture by Michelangelo, but I was in a residential section of Paris and this was a modern structure.

I have taken a fair amount of art history/architecture in college, but I was stumped.
Who was the architect and what was this building's intended use?
After some searching on the internet I discovered the blog, Invisible Paris.
Adam, the author of the blog said,
"Seen something in Paris that has caught your eye but remains a mystery, or ever wondered about obscure people or events in the city's past"? 
So I emailed him. 
And to my surprise and delight, he took the time to solve the mystery! 
His response is so thorough with additional pictures, you will be fascinated to learn more.
Here is the link to his marvelous blog post 
Challenge 7: Curious figures on the Avenue Daumesnil in Invisible Paris.
Thank you Adam.
You can download his Invisible Paris tours on your IPhone.

Beyond the Frame, Impressionism Revisited

La Promenade, by Gustave Caillebotte rendered in life size sculpture

If you are in Key West, Florida, be sure to visit the current exhibit, Beyond the Frame, Impressionism Revisited, at the Custom House Museum, where you can become part of an impressionistic painting.

After a successful career as a painter, internationally famous artist J. Seward Johnson turned his talents to creating life size bronze sculpture.
Johnson creates life size scenes from famous impressionistic masterpieces. These are artworks you are invited to step into!
A video camera captures you at that moment and displays your image on a monitor in a grouping artfully displayed on the staircase wall.
Visitors to the museum are encouraged to walk into these scenes and interact with the figures in the painting.

"You" in the framed video painting.

Monitor paintings on display on the grand staircase.

You'll also want to see the Ernest Hemingway exhibit on the museum's second floor. Hemingway, author of The Old Man and the Sea is perhaps one of Key
West 's most famous former residents.

What's your must see adventure while in Margaritaville...

ah hmn... I mean Key West?

The Louvre Museum's Seated Scribe- Making That List and Checking It Twice.

Seated Scribe
Louvre Museum,  Paris

Writing, writing. writing. Tis the season for writing holiday and Christmas cards, writing year end to do lists and making those all important other "lists" and checking them twice.

Last night seated with my legs crossed, writing and writing, I thought about the figure of the Seated Scribe, in the Louvre museum in Paris. He is a masterpiece of Egyptian art.

I remembered the first time I saw him. wondering then, as I do now, "What was he writing?"

Quite a striking figure, he is rendered geometric, yet with very realistic touches. That day years ago, his fixed gaze starred right through me. He looked beyond me with his 4000 year old eyes to the courtyard of the Louvre, out to the streets of Paris and beyond.

But, last night with a chuckle, I thought of him with his fingers wrapped not around his scroll and quill pen, but with an I Pad in his lap instead.

My how our instruments of writing have changed over the years from papyrus, to 

I Pad.

What's on your list of to do's before the year end? Do you use lists to make yourself more accountable to achieve your goals?  If so, good luck with that!

If you are interested, there is a closer look at the Seated Scribe in an interactive view on the Louvre's web site Seated Scribe
Oh, by the way, unless you practice yoga, I wouldn't advise sitting with your legs crossed, guaranteed to put your left leg to sleep!