The ideal lab? Lots of light
The importance of this factor for a painter or sculptor's atelier is known to all who expect tedious hours spent at the easel, with a chisel, or at the drafting table. It's then best working in peace. And what the ideal laboratory is? "I need light, space and order to live" in some sense architect Jean-Claude Delorme repeats these words after Le Corbusier, an outstanding architect of the twentieth century. In his book "Ateliers of Paris," Delorme takes the reader on a walk and talks about how the studio has served the development of art - from the eighteenth century (when the first of them were created at the Louvre) until the end of the twentieth century.
It was the book publisher who persuaded him to write the book, mainly because Delorme has already published guides that have won recognition (dedicated to e.g. indoor passages). This time the task was equally ambitious. To describe the space, in which great works of art were created (like Pablo Picasso's "The Young Ladies of Avignon"), lavish or modest, but always inspiring. The exhibition at the Museum of Architecture will present only some of them. But even truncated as compared to the book, the exhibition gives an idea of the phenomenon such as in the case of Paris.
Paris too expensive for artists
Today it is hard to meet an artist who could afford renting a studio in the city centre. You can either get an atelier from the city or move to the suburbs, where the rents do not give a heart attack. "Nowadays, it is hard to find such promoters or investors like those years ago" journalist Anne-Marie Dubois explains the fact that a hundred years ago wealthier artists ordered their atelier at the famous architects. The result was remarkable realizations, fascinating to this day.
Sumptuous atelier, recycled workshops
Going back to the nineteenth century, however, it is clear that the most impressive residences with studios belonged to the painters of the academic, classic style (Jacques-Louis David, William-Adolphe Bouguereau). In general, they lived in the ninth or seventeenth district. Poles should be interested atelier of Ara Scheffer, who repeatedly portrayed Frederic Chopin and Polish aristocracy (Delfina Potocka, Eliza Krasińska nee Branicka).
At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, studios were most often built of parts taken from the pavilions built for the famous world exhibitions. This is how the famous Villa des Arts in Montmartre was created, a large workshop complex, honoured, among others, by Paul Cézanne, Henri Rousseau, and Francis Picabia. In a similar way, the legendary "Beehive" La Ruche was built in 1902, where you can still feel the spirit of Marc Chagall, Amadeo Modigliani or Marie Laurencin. "The building was designed by Alfred Boucher, who remembered his difficult beginnings as a painter and wanted to create better working conditions for the painters" says Jean-Claude Delorme.
Other places in Montmartre enjoyed no less fame, especially the Bateau-Lavoir (aka the Laundry Ship that owed its name to just one water intake). It was here that in 1907 Picasso painted the famous "Young Ladies of Avignon," although the conditions in which he lived may seem modest for some. "It was important that artists could get a piece of the roof over their heads for relatively little money" says Delorme. "And when they become famous, they commissioned a genuine atelier at the great architects" he added. In the 1920's, entire modernist streets were sometimes designed to accommodate the needs of the artists. An example is Villa Seurat in the fourteenth district, where Henry Miller wrote one of his scandalous novels.
The exhibition "Ateliers of Paris" will be available at the Museum of Architecture until August 23. Details can be found here.
