Nice, IS NICE!   fall of 95

THE FOLLOWING DAY WE STROLL THE PROMINADE ALONG THE BEACH FRONT ON A BRIGHT SUNNY DAY. EVEN THOUGH THE WEATHER IS GREAT, I'VE GOT THE BLUES. I SUPPOSE IT'S WITHDRAWELS FROM PARIS AND TRAIN LAG AND BY THE FOLLOWING DAY I GET OVER IT. ANOTHER CONTRIBUTING FACTOR WAS THE FACT THAT AT THE DUFY MUSEUM, THERE WAS NO RAOUL DUFY, NOW HERE IS AN ARTIST, A PAINTER, A CONTEMPORY OF MATISSE, WHO LIVED IN NICE, ONE OF THE REASONS I'M IN NICE AND WHO PAINTED IN A STYLE SIMILAR TO MATISSE BUT IN HIS OWN, WHO PAINTED THEMEATICALLY OF NICE AND AT HIS MUSEUM THEY ARE HAVING A TEMPORARY SHOW. ONE WOULD THINK THAT IN A MUSEUM DEDICATED TO AN IMPORTANT LOCAL ARTIST WHO IS ALSO ADMIRED ON THE WORLD STAGE THAT THEY WOULD HAVE SOME OF HIS WORK DISPLAYED, REGARDLESS OF WHAT ELSE WAS THERE...BUT NNNOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooo NOT TILL DECEMBER. I KNOW THAT WE ARE TO AND NEED TO SUPPORT LIVING ARTISTS, BUT I WANTED TO AND CAME HALF WAY ROUND THE WORLD TO SEE THE WORK OF THIS DEAD ONE...THAT MIGHT EXPLAIN MY FUNK...SO IT GOES...WE ATE AT - OH MY GOD - McDONALDS AND THE FOOD WAS JUST AS MEDIOCRE AND INSIPID AS IT IS AT HOME..OH WELL...LIFE GOES ON...IT'S TUFF BEING A TOURIST AND A TOURING ART FREAK... SO IT GOES...I GOT OVER IT...WWHHHAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa HE CRIED LIKE A BABY.

A Room in the Matisse Chateau

ANOTHER DAY IN THE LIFE, ALSO SUNNY AND BRIGHT! UP EARLY AND OFF TO THE MATISSE MUSEUM, HOUSED IN A BELLE EPOCH CHÁTEAU SURROUNDED BY AN OLIVE GROVE. HERE, EVEN THOUGH THERE IS A TRAVELING EXIBITION, THE WORKS OF MATISSE IN THE PERMANENT COLLECTION ARE ON VIEW. YES...LOTS OF HIS DRAWINGS, QUITE A BIT OF HIS SCULPTURE AND SOME LITHOGRAPHY PLUS A FEW OF HIS PAINTINGS. HERE ARE DISPLAYED SOME OF HIS PERSONAL EFFECTS AND TAPISTRYS AND FURNITURE THAT ARE FEATURED IN SOME OF HIS PAINTINGS...COOL...ALSO THE ETUDES FOR THE MATISSE CHAPPELLE IN VENCE INCLUDING VESTMENTS AND STAINED GLASS. THIS IS A GOOD THING AS THE CHAPPELLE IS CLOSED TILL DEC 10, WHEN WE SHALL BE LONG GONE.

WE LEFT THE MATISSE AND HEADED TO THE CHAGALL...WE THOUGHT...REALIZING WE ARE ONCE AGAIN OFF THE PATH...WE PAUSE AND ATTAIN OUR CENTER...ON THE PATH AGAIN, WE FIND THE CHAGALL...THE CHAGALL MUSEUM, (THAT'S MARC CHAGALL TO THE LIKES OF YOU, AND ME) IS A NATIONAL COLLECTION AND BEING SO, UNLIKE THE REST OF THE MUSEUMS IN NICE WHICH ARE FREE, HOW NICE OF NICE, THERE IS A FEE...WE GLADLY PAY.

THE CHAGALL MUSEUM IN NICE IS COMPOSSED OF WORKS DEPICTING HIS PERSONAL VISION OF THE STORIES OF THE BIBLE. THERE ARE 17 MAJOR PAINTINGS...BIG...8 X 12 FEET OR SO...MANY WATER COLORS, SOME OF WHICH ARE STUDIES OR ETUDES FOR THE LARGER WORKS...A LARGE MOSAIC, FRONTED BY A REFLECTING POOL AND A SMALL AUDITORIUM, SEATING PERHAPS 200 - 250 HUMANS OR OTHER SPACED BEINGS, WITH 3, PRIMARILY BLUE, STAINED GLASS WINDOWS, ALSO BY THE ARTIST. LAST BUT NOT LEAST...A HARPSICHORD WITH THE INTERIOR OF THE LID PAINTED BY CHAGALL...UUUUMMMMmmmmmmmm...I WONDER IF UNCLE AUSTIN WILL LET ME PAINT HIS HARPSICHORD?...THIS MUSEUM IS CONTEMPORY IN ARCHITECTURE...CAHGALL HELPED DESIGN IT AND THE WORKS ARE HUNG ACCORDING TO HIS PLAN AND HE CAME TO PERFORMANCES IN HIS THEATER...MUST BE WONDERFUL TO HAVE LIFE EXPERIENCES LIKE THAT...! WE ENJOYED OUR LIFE EXPERIENCES THERE TOO.

TO MARKET, TO MARKET TO BUY A FAT HOG...ACTUALLY IT WAS STEAK THAT WE DID BUY AND IT APPEARED TO BE A NEW YORK OR SPENCER CUT, THOUGH THE FRENCH CALL IT A FAUX FILLET. SOUNDS LESS ALURING DOESN'T IT? BUT I ASSURE YOU THAT IT WAS NOT. SAUTEED TO PERFECTION AND FINISHED WITH ONIONS, ALSO SAUTEED, GARLIC AND PINOT AND ACCOMPANIED BY SIMPLE STEAMED RICE...YES HOME COOKING AND A MIXED SALAD TOO FOLLOWED BY RUM RASIN GLACEE...VIVA LA DECADENCE...

Maeght Foundation Courtyard

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER WORLD CLASS ART SITE...TODAY IT'S THE MAEGHT FOUNDATION IN ST. PAUL de VENCE...BUT NOT QUITE YET, FIRST WE BUS TO VENCE AND WANDER IT'S QUAINT MEDIEVAL STREETS AND WITHIN A SMALL SQUARE DISCOVER "LE CASOLET"...AT THIS POINT I WAS TO WOW THE VIEWER WITH MY TOTAL RECALL OF THE MENU IN FRENCH, BUT I'VE LOST MY CRIB NOTES, SO IT WAS A SMALL VENUE, 6 TABLES, QUAINT, CHARMING...TO EAT WE HAD FRUITS DE MER COCKTAIL AND RAVIOLIS, FROMAGE AVEC ESSPINARDE IN CREAM SAUCE...NEXT FILLETS DU CANNARD AVEC MIEL/ARMENAC SAUCE AND POULET DES CHEVEE FROMAGE AVEC HERBS...THESE WERE ACCOMPANIED WITH A MELANGE OF LEGUMES PREPAIRED IN SURPRIZING WAYS...THERE WAS SPINICH SOUFFLE, RICE AND SAFRON WHICH WAS MOULDED WITH EGG, TOMATO - BAKED, STUFFED AND HERBED, BOILED PETIT POTATOES AND MASHED POTATOES WITH CLERIAC, ALSO MASHED...NEXT, FIGS CUT IN STARS WITH A ROUND OF GOAT CHEESE IN THE CENTER AND BROILED...DESERT WAS POMMADE MARGAROUX...A DELIGHTFUL CONFECTION...AN APPLE MOUSSE SO TO SPEAK, SET IN A LAKE OF DESERT CREME SAUCE, PERHAPS CREME ENGLACE...WE HAD WINE/COFFEE/TEA...ANOTHER GREAT ROMANTIC MEAL IN A GREAT ROMANTIC SETTING...WITH DUTCH SPOKEN AT ONE TABLE, FRENCH AT ANOTHER AND ENGLISH AT OURS, IT WAS A VERBAL MELANGE AS WELL. AFTER A JOURNEY TO THE KITCHEN AND A C'EST MANUFIQUE TO LE MADEME CHEF IT WAS AUREVOIR "LE CASOLET."

ON THE SAME TINY SQUARE IS A ROMANESQUE CHURCH OF PASTEL SHADES, FRESHLY RESTORED AND IN THE CENTER OF THIS PLAZA, A MODERN, ABSTACTED, FIGUREATIVE SCULPTURE. A NICE JUXTAPOSITION TO BE SURE.

ST. PAUL de VENCE

ST. PAUL D VENCE...WE BUSSED BACK AND TOOK A 20 MINUTE STROLL, DOWN A BACK STREET OF LIFE, TO THE FOUNDATION...OVER THE HILL AND THROUGH THE WOODS TO FOUNDATION MAEGHT WE DID GO...THROUGH THE GATE AND THERE ON THE PERFECTLY MANICURED LAWN, AMONGST THE TALL PINES, ARE SCULPTURES OF CALDER, ARP, MIRO AND MORE...SURROUNDED BY A WALL COVERED IN MONOCROMATIC MOSAIC...A SENSE OF AWE OVERCOMES US...WE ARE IN A SHRINE OF ART! WE SPENT SOME TIME SITTING IN PROXIMITY TO A PIECE THAT SEEMED A JUMBLE OF STAINLESS TUBES ABOUT 4" IN DIAMETER THAT WAS KENETIC. LIKE A LARGE, COMPLEX, CHI CHI ODOCHI, A JAPENESE DEER SCARE, A WATER FEATURE, A WILD BOAR SCARE...IT SEEMED TO BE WORKING AS WE SAW NEITHER DEER OR BOAR, WILD OR DOMESTIC. THE SOUND OF WATER WAS MESMERIZING IN THE SILENCE OF THE RURAL FRENCH COUNTRYSIDE.

THERE WAS ANOTHER CALDER AND MORE MIRO'S INSIDE AND WE WITNESSED A FELLOW, AN ARTIST OF UNKNOWN NAME, SETTING UP AN AURAL, AUDIO, HAPPENNING, THANG. TUBULAR DUDES! LITTERALLY TUBES, WITH LITTLE SPEAKERS PUSHED IN THE ENDS, HOOKED UP TO BATTERY OPERATED, CAPACITOR DEVESES, WHICH AS THE FIELD WITHIN COLLAPSED, THEY WENT POK! PIC! POOK! CLUOK! FUN AND EXPIERENTIAL, FER SHURE, FER SHURE.

THE BUILDING THEMSELVES ARE NOTEWORTHY, MANY ROOMS - STUDIOS - GALLERIES WITH WHAT APPEARED TO BE LARGE, VERY LARGE, FLYING NUN BONNETS GONE MAD (PERHAPS FROM THE ORDER OF OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL FORGIVNESS) FOR THE ROOF STRUCTURES AND FENISTRATED TO LIGHT PERFECTLY THE SPACES BELOW. HERE WE SHALL USE THE "I" WORD...INTERISTING...

TO THE REAR OF THE COMPLEX LIE GARDENS, DESIGNED AND SCULPTERED (IS THAT A WORD?) SOLELY BY JOAN MIRO, HIS BIRD, FISH, EGG, GARGOLE, WHO KNOWS WHAT, FIGURES, ARTFULLY DISPLAYED AMONGST TREES, SCHRUBS AND WATER FEATURES, INCLUDING MOSAICS AND FOUNTAINS WITH WATER GUSHING FORTH FROM KERMIT THE FROGS PREDICESSORS MOUTHS. THIS FANTASMANIA IS VERY COOL ART FANS!