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| Meet Kyubo (center, with Rhea and Courtney)-- a rare shot of the man perpetually behind the camera! |
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| Kyubo taking notes at the Gerhard Richter exhibition at the Pompidou (photo courtesy: Dorothy Barenscott) |
Hello, my name is Kyubo, and I am a Bachelor of
Fine Arts student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. While art history was
never one of my strongest subjects, I joined this trip because I saw the
importance of training myself to read and write more effectively. I love to
travel, and I’ve spent over two years traveling throughout Asia prior to coming
to Kwantlen. I’ve never set a foot into Europe before, so this trip has surely
been an eye opener for me. Seeing and being in the same presence as the paintings
and works I’ve studied is one way of learning, but being with a group of
intelligent, like-minded individuals was another great way to create
conversations and learn.
What has met or exceeded your expectations or surprised
you about Paris so far?
Everything! The richness of culture, it is amazing what a
city can offer that is much older than Vancouver. I was very much used to the
narrow spaces of cities, but here in Paris, the narrow spaces and streets
opened up to huge expansive open areas, parks, and squares. It was an
experience that I’ve never felt in any other city that I’ve been to. I also
loved touching the bricks of cathedrals with the date and a name etched into
them, and trying to imagine the number of people that had passed by before me. It’s
not very often for me to be in the presence of these structures and paintings
and get a real sense of history and the passing of time. It is
surreal.
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| Kyubo has helped create the visual story of our trip through his many photos and character studies of the field school participants. Note the many photo credits to Kyubo throughout these blog posts. |
Give us some insight into your assigned art work from the
Musee d’ Orsay. After seeing the work in person, what struck you most about it
and/or how did the art work’s form, content, and context shift for you when
seeing it?
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| Frederic Bazille and Eduoard Manet, Bazille's Studio (1870) |
I was assigned L'atelier de Bazille [Bazille's Studio] by Frédéric Bazille and Edouard Manet. Upon getting past the lineups and bag checks at
the Orsay Museum, the area opened up to an overwhelming space that I couldn’t
take in all at once. It’s a feeling that I’ve never had in a gallery space
before. My assigned work was with the Impressionists on the 5th floor. The
Impressionists room was rather difficult to navigate due to the mass popularity
of these paintings. Many groups surrounded the larger and the more famous
paintings such as Manet’s Déjeuner sur l'herbe, while my chosen painting
sat in a corner beside it, humble yet dignified. I somewhat enjoyed the fact
that it was the lesser known of the paintings, as people took a quick glance,
and walked past it without too much thought. I was given the opportunity to
comfortably stand in the corner and observe the painting without much
disturbance from the mass crowds that surrounded the nearby paintings. What I
found the most interesting about my painting was that much of the information
about Manet’s involvement in the painting was removed from the title card. I’ve
only read that Manet painted him in judging by his style of painting, but when
I saw the painting in person, I was able to see that the brush strokes of
Bazille in the center was cross hatched while the rest of the painting was very
smooth. The different style of painting was undoubtedly visible, and perhaps by
removing the involvement of Manet from the title card, it would draw even more
attention to those that didn’t know about the art work. The different strokes
of the painting would not show in photographs, as they had to be seen against
the light to notice the difference. Overall, the placement of the painting in a
corner beside the greats played off as a supporting role of the Impressionist
movement, and it reflected the fact that Bazille did support his Impressionist
friends when it was needed for them to achieve what they have since
accomplished.
Today’s activity was located around the Eiffel Tower.
What were your impressions? What will you take away of the experience?
What, if any are the memorable moments for you?
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| A majestic view of Paris from atop the Eiffel Tower-- notice the Haussmannized streets. |
I left early in the morning to go see the Eiffel Tower
with Rhea and Courtney before my time was up in Paris. From below the tower
looking up, I wasn’t particularly amazed, possibly due to the number of images
I had seen prior to coming on the trip. The line-up wasn’t too bad in the
morning, it took only 15 minutes in line and we were walking our way up to the
first half of the Eiffel Tower. As we climbed higher up into the tower, the
Haussmannized streets of Paris became more and more apparent of. At the peak of
the tower, which we had gone up by an elevator, we were amazed to be able to
get a visual map of Paris. I had realized that I wasn’t able to get an idea of
what Paris looked like, because we had traveled on metros throughout my time
here. I was able to point out all of the buildings and places we had been to,
and I got a much better sense of what this city looked like. Overall, I felt
that I probably wouldn’t go up the tower again, but I would highly recommend it
to anyone who visits Paris for the first time.
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| Courtney looking out of a telescope over Paris. |