Post by Charlotte Schatz
[Ed. note: Philadelphia artist Charlotte Schatz made a trip to Berlin, Lyon and Paris this spring and wrote these lively reports on her visit. This and the prior post cover her time in France. The first four cover Berlin.]
A fashion note: polka dots are in. We saw ballerina slipper shoes in polka dots, scarves, skirts, tops, coats, bags in polka dots. Lots of layering, short skirts with mid calf leggings and lots of those dangerous high, high heels. And of course, the ever present scarf. The clothes were gorgeous, beautifully made of wonderful fabrics.
Belleville
Went to a weekend of open studios in Belleville, walking up and down cobbled streets and 4- and 5-story walkups. Saw some interesting work. Visited a print studio run by a man from Mexico who has lived in Paris for 25 years, an artist doing monoprints on sulpherized paper, a woman using candle wax as a resist with acrylics on paper who greeted us with mint tea.
Went to “Femmes es tu” at the Luxembourg Orangerie to see some contemporary work by French artists. See sculpture made with screening.
At the Centre Pompidou, we went into Dubuffet’s room. I hadn’t seen it before.
I was staying in a nice hotel off the Blvd Montparnasse, near the “Select” and “Le Dome” where Sartre, De Beavoir and all the artists used to hang out. The locals were very friendly, helpful, many spoke English in response to my French! The only trouble I had was that the US dollar was only worth $0.73. Prices seemed similar to those here in the US but the bad exchange rate was a killer.
Dubuffet Room
Paris is a people friendly city as is Berlin and Lyon. I had a great trip, saw some wonderful art works both new and old. Still digesting images and ideas.
Regards, Charlotte
—Charlotte Schatz is a Philadelphia painter and sculptor. Read Parts 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1.
