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Travels with Dick and Karen
Paris
Part 8: Inside Musée des Arts Décoratifs
This museum is located in 5 floors of the far northwest corner of the Richelieu wing of the Louvre, but is separate and has its own street entrance. We went primarily for this exhibit which presented (mostly French) glass from the 17th and 18th centuries to the present.
That said, we can recommend its permanent exhibit too (presented further down the page).
The techniques could be “simple”…
… or embellished to an extreme
A complete miniature diorama … all in glass.
Religious themes
Clocks
… and a seemingly endless assortment of vessels.
(detail from above)
Then we reach Paris between 1925 and 1937…
… then the 1950s and ’60s…
..to the truly modern…
A glimpse of the building’s “enclosed courtyard” architecture
And now we lead into the permanent museum: the decorative arts from the medieval to the nearly present (we ran out of stamina at the end of Art Deco).
(Dick would’ve kept going, except the “museum of advertising” wing had been emptied for a special exhibit.)
Themes we’ve met before…
… presented in interesting ways.
Once again we had the feeling that the Louvre had collected the “best”, or “royal quality” pieces, but that still left thousands of examples of inventive artwork.
More intriguing examples of glass’ flexibility as a medium…
… and ceramics
… and marquetry
Tapestries…
… in situ
Une chambre à coucher à la fin du XVe siècle
Bedroom from the end of the 15th century
The seven steps of clearing a forest
Hercules and the Hydra
Tin inlay and amaranth marquetry in a commercial cabinet
…another piece by the same artist, Pierre Gole, circa 1655
A mechanical “picture”, side view below.
Géometrié des frisages
The geometry of curves
Note dragons on feet
Glassware, gold … and little figurines, some in custom carry-boxes
…continued
A feast for the eyes …
(perhaps a little tough on the teeth)
Whole rooms of paneling
Time marches on…
Chairs over the ages (the smallish green/gold one in the lower row center is a “Cabriole chair”, by Louis Delanois, circa 1760 … we knew you were curious about it)
The salon of the Hotel Serres, place Vendôme, circa 1795
Orpheus and his lyre
Bedrooms of (in)famous courtesans and mistresses are lovingly preserved.
Clocks, instruments and (lower right) adding machines(?)
Decoration in all its many forms…
As we said in the Louvre, Karen likes these
Eugène Grasset’s dining room.
The world on the turtle’s back…
Le céladon mobile
And lots of dragons
Japonaise rabbit
We have arrived at Art Deco… featuring “Spring” designed by Eugène Grasset (see prior dining room) and made by Félix Gaudin (1894)
It’s been a long trip through the museum when this starts looking restful…
So we broke for lunch and went to the museum’s cafeteria. It was quite good.
(smoke-filled outdoor seating in the Tuileries Garden visible through window)
Refreshed, we headed up to the toy exhibit.
And a special exhibit of clothing primarily chosen for their buttons. There were more than one airline stewardesses’ outfits
(another dramatically under-lit display … the photos are too blurry to include: bring a flashlight)
And then to a densely-packed (with pieces) jewelry (bijoux) exhibit. We were only able to take a couple of photos before being told most emphatically that such activities were not allowed in this particular room.
A final view down into another special exhibit (which we didn’t visit).
Next Stop: Inside the Musée d’ Orsay