Arnold Schönberg exhibit and jazz

Thursday November 24 was another warm day in Paris-13C, but mainly cloudy.  We packed in the morning as we had to leave our luggage in the owner's personal apartment before heading out. He and the concierge were later going to move our suitcases to the apartment we are staying in for the next 7 nights.

We headed off to the Opera Garnier to get tickets for the ballet.  Next Tuesday, we are going to see three pieces by the Czech choreographer Jiri Kylian.

Opera Garnier

We then walked over to Palais Royal to the Épice store for the private sale (40% off).  Eiko, one of the salespeople we had met in the past, who has gone on to pursue other ventures, was helping out.  Alain and I both got beautiful scarves.  A wonderful birthday gift from Alain.

It was our first time seeing the Palais Royal gardens without leaves.  It is still very beautiful.

Palais Royal--stores are off the centre park and under the porticos

Fountain at Palais Royal- still some brilliant coloured leaves

Boxes of scarfs to choose from at Épice.. Each box has many colours of the same pattern

Eiko and the scarf boxes

Alain and his new scarf

My new scarf

 We then walked over to the Marais and had a quick coffee at Strada's other location.  I started a coffee card last visit, and was able to get a free coffee (we do get to Paris a lot).

We headed to the Musée d'art et d'historie du Judaisme  (Museum of Jewish Art and History) to see the exhibit entitled Arnold Schönberg: Peindre l'âme.  (Painter of the soul).

Banner for exhibit on Rue Temple

 The Museum is housed in a magnificent 17th century mansion, L'hôtel de Saint-Aignan.  Before its acquisition by the City of Paris in 1962, it was home to many Central and Eastern European Jewish tailors, furriers and hat-makers and their families.

Temporary sculpture in courtyard by Sigalit Landau entitled Miqlat 

In the museum there is a small enclosed area with the names and occupations of the former residents of the building.

Names of former residents and their occupations

 On the main floor there is a small permanent exhibit with photos taken in the Marais in 1939 (pre-war) and the names of the Jews deported from the community.  There were 76,000 Jews deported from France, approximately one-quarter of those living in France in 1939.  Only 2500 survived as they were mainly deported to the three death camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Maidanek and Sobibor.

Life in the Marais in pre-war 1939

Banners with information on the fate of Jews from the building

Alphabetical list of those deported in Convoy 9

The Schönberg exhibit was fascinating.  It focused on his paintings and also detailed his influence on Kandinsky and their ensuing friendship.  Arnold Schöonberg (1874-1951) was born into a Jewish family in 1874 in Vienna.  He converted to Protestantism at 24, but returned to Judaism in 1933 before emigrating to the United States.  He was one of the most innovative composers of the 20th century.  While some of his works caused scandals and were widely criticized, they inspired many modern musicians.  His creativity extended beyond music to literature and painting, which he took up from 1906-44.  His body of work ranges from quasi-hallucinatory visions he called "gazes", to portraits of friends and associates. He also painted many self-portraits.

Schönberg was self taught and introduced to Viennese artistic circles by his mentor and future brother-in-law Alexander Zemlinsky.  He became close to many avant-garde artists such as Oskar Kokoschka, Max Oppenheimer and Egon Shiele.  He also was friends with the artist Richard Gerstl, who instructed him in painting.  As an aside, Gerstl committed suicide after an affair with Schönberg's first wife, Mathilde. Gerstl destroyed many of his paintings just prior to his suicide.

Schönberg produced most of his self-portraits and visions between 1906-11, the pivotal years in the development of his musical compositions.  A number of his pieces were done while his marriage was in crisis (these are often the most impressionistic).

Mathilde Schönberg 1910

Helene Nahowski April 1910

Portrait of Klara Zemilinsky 1910

There were also a number of portraits of Schönberg done by his painter friends.

Richard Gerstl- Portrait of the Schönberg family 1907

Egon Schiele- Portrait of Arnold Schönberg 1917

Max Oppenheimer- Portrait of Arnold Schönberg 1909

 The artistic relationship between Schönberg and Kandinsky is fascinating.  Following a concert in Munich in 1911, Kandinsky wrote to Schönberg to tell him how much his music reflected his painting aspirations.  This was the beginning of a sustained correspondence and friendship.  Kandinsky helped Schönberg participate in the Blaue Reiter exhibit in Munich in 1911-12.  In 1912, Kandinsky published an article on Schönberg's paintings dividing them into two genres: figures and landscapes painted directly from nature, and "visions".

What I found very interesting was the mutual quest of these two artists for the notion of the synthesis of the arts or "total work of art".  That concept was the inspiration for the Bauhaus- of which Kandinsky was one of the Directors.  A very nice tie in with the exhibit on the Bauhaus we saw on Wednesday.

Photo of Schönberg- sent to Kandinsky

Photo of Vassily Kandinsky sent to Schönberg

Self Portrait from back 1911

Blauer Blick (Regard bleu) Around March 1910

Self Portrait 1910

Playing cards for whist or bridge 1909-10

Self Portrait 1927

Self-portrait 1910

Memory of Oskar Kokoshka 1910

Schönberg had a falling out with Kandinsky in 1923 regarding concerns about anti-semitism.  They reconciled and vacationed together in 1927.

Wassily Kandinsky, Nina Kandinsky, Schönberg and his second wife Gertrud 1927

Schönberg was dismissed from his teaching post at the Academy ofArts in Berlin in 1933, and reconverted to Judaism at a synagogue in Paris before leaving for the United Staes.  In May 1938, he was one of the targets of the Degenerate Music (Entartete Musik) exhibition organized by the Nazis in Düsseldorf.  His work A Survivor from Warsaw, composed in 1947, was one of the first musical works to pay tribute to the victims of the Holocaust.

The exhibit was fascinating.  There were headsets throughout where one could listen to Schönberg's compositions.  A truly creative man.

Following the exhibit, we headed over to the Marithé + Francois Girbaud sales event.  The fashion company closed their stores a few years ago and now just have events in cities around France and Belgium.  We had received an invitation and signed up for the 5:00 p.m. slot as they are in Paris for only five days.  They were in a temporary space in the Marais. Both Alain and I have bought wonderful pieces from them over the years.  They have gone back to their roots focussing on avant-garde fabrics, treatments and techniques with a focus on jeans, tops,  jackets and coats.  Alain bought a wonderful pair of jeans.  I had a great discussion with one of the salespeople, who is from Barcelona and is very worried about the fallout from Trump and the upcoming French election.

Alain in his new jeans (price tag included)

Wall drawing and display of tops

After our fashion experience, we headed over to our favourite jazz club- Duc des Lombards.  We had tickets to the 7:30 show with J.D. Allen, a wonderful American tenor saxophonist.  He was joined by Gregg August on bass and Rudy Royston on drums.  Allen has a new album out entitled: Americana: Musings on Jazz and Blues.  It was a great set.  The club is very intimate and we saw at a table in front of the tiny stage.  Afterwards, we chatted briefly to Allen, telling him we were from Toronto.  He is from Detroit (almost neighbours, he said), but he now is based in both New York City and Cincinnati.

Empty stage before set

J.D. Allen (sax) and Gregg August (bass)

Rudy Royston 

Our finally stop for the evening was a quick dinner at Miznon, the buzzy Israeli restaurant from chef Eyal Shani, located back in the Marais.  The food is great and we were hungry.  One orders from a counter and the food is made on the spot.  There is a big blackboard with the menu.  Mainly pita sandwiches and sides of huge heads of cauliflower, broccoli, or other seasonal vegetables.

Cauliflowers in the window

Gratis hummus and pita (one helps oneself from a common space)

Inside Minzon- blackboard with scrawled menu

Alain's roast beef pita-- I had cauliflower

We shared an delicious artichoke with dipping sauce in the small cup

After dinner, we walked back to the apartment.  Keys to the new flat were left in the owner's mailbox and we found everything in order.  Our apartment for the next seven days is much larger than the first flat and is very comfortable.  We would definitely recommend it to folks travelling to Paris.  An extremely busy day in Paris.  Can't wait for the next adventure.