C'était un rendez-vous

C'était un rendez-vous


C'était un rendez-vous (It was a date) is a short film of under 10 minutes, recorded in Paris in 1976 by Claude Lelouch. The viewer is placed at the front of a car driving at an extraordinary speed through Paris at 5.30 in the morning, passing by famous tourist attractions such as the Arc de Triomphe, Opéra Garnier, and Place de la Concorde. The driver eventually ends up in Montmartre in front of the Sacré Cœur cathedral and meets a blonde woman who runs up the stairs to greet him, hence the name C'était un rendez-vous.

Rumour has it that Lelouch was arrested after the release of the film because the drive was of course illegal. In the film we see the driver speeding the wrong way down one way streets, driving on the pavement to avoid oncoming vehicles and pedestrians jumping out the way. The car is said to be a Mercedes, but the soundtrack of a racing car is from another Italian vehicle, a Ferrari. No one knows for sure who the driver is, some rumours suggest it is an F1 racer, others suggest there were more than 1 person in the car, but the most common suggestion is that Lelouch himself was driving as it is believed the blonde woman by Sacré Cœur is Lelouch's girlfriend.

I enjoyed the film a lot, especially because I went to Paris in March for the first time and fell in love with the city, it was great to see a new familiar city being shown in a film such as  C'était un rendez-vous and recognising the sites zooming past the car. 

Art and About 4 - Trip to the Saatchi gallery!

Yesterday I met up with my Art History friends who live around London and we went to the Saatchi gallery in Chelsea. The gallery was opened in 1985 by Charles Saatchi and has occupied many locations in London before opening in its current location in Sloane Square. The art in the gallery is contemporary and often chosen for display because it provokes strong reactions from visitors. The artists who have artwork displayed are relatively unknown, Saatchi scouts new artists and displays their work to help them succeed in the art world. Artists who have had work shown there before they were famous include Jenny Saville and Damien Hirst.

Damien Hirst - 'The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living' - 1991

Jenny Saville - 'Reverse' - 2002

The Saatchi gallery is set up to make the prime focus the artwork, unlike more traditional galleries with extensive decorative features, the Saatchi Gallery has big rooms and plain white walls with wooden flooring, forcing your attention to the displays. 

The first room in the gallery is filled with photographs taken by Sergei Vasiliev, an artist from Russia. Vasiliev worked as a prison ward and photographed the criminals who had tattooed themselves. These homemade tattoos, inked on the skin with melted book heels, urine and blood, contain coded messages against the Soviet regime. The photographs were taken between 1989 and 1993.

One artist who's work is perhaps the most controversial is Boris Mikhailov. Mikhailov, from the Ukraine, photographed post-Communist poverty in ex-Soviet countries in 1997-8, displaying the harsh conditions of society, called 'Case History'. The photographs are certainly striking, when first entering the room you are confronted with crude images of nude men and women, either with strange deformities or exhibiting their naked bodies, unbothered by their nudity but enjoying it instead. Mikhailov said of his photographs:

“I am not trying to take pictures of sensational things, but rather of those things which are in excess. I am trying to find the unique in that manifold reality itself. Maybe that is exactly what people like, first of all.”

Take a look at what else is on at Saatchi

(Kinda) Art and About 3: Quick trip to the National Gallery!

At Christmas I was given tickets from my parents to see Viva Forever, the Spice Girls musical in the West End! I saw it yesterday with them and really enjoyed the music although the storyline wasn't the best, it was still feel-good and I had a great night! 

Before the musical we went out for dinner and finished quite early, so we walked to Trafalgar Square and popped into the National Gallery. I'm well acquainted with the gallery, an Art History student who lives in London really should be!

Here's a couple of paintings I have picked out to show you!

'Young Man holding a Skull' - Frans Hals (1626-8)

The first painting is by Frans Hals - 'Young Man holding a Skull'. I love this painting and first discovered it after a good friend reproduced it for our Art A Level. I always thought naively that it was by Rembrandt and only found out it wasn't after recognising it in the National Gallery about a year ago, coincidently opposite 'Belshazzar's Feast' by Rembrandt. The painting is a reminder about the certainty of death and how short life is in time. He asks the viewer to think about death, here we have a young man holding a symbol of death.

'An Elderly Couple' - Jan Gossaert (1510-28)

I haven't actually seen this painting before yesterday! But I found it quite endearing, especially the slight attempt at a smile on the old man's face, reminding me of when someone is asked to pose for a photo. The woman looks disinterested, they're a couple who are very used to each other, acting like a typical old married couple. It also reminds me of 'American Gothic' by Grant Wood from 1930.

'American Gothic' - Grant Wood (1930)

'Rokeby Venus' - Diego Velázquez (1647-51)

This painting actually has an interesting background. It depicts the goddess Venus laying looking at herself in a mirror held by her son, the God of Love, Cupid. In 1914, suffragette Mary Richardson slashed the painting in the National Gallery after the arrest of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst the day before. I must say I went really close to the painting but couldn't see any sign of damage! Very impressed with the restoration team. Richardson stated "I have tried to destroy the picture of the most beautiful woman in mythological history as a protest against the Government for destroying Mrs. Pankhurst, who is the most beautiful character in modern history." She was imprisoned for 6 months! A long time for the destruction of a painting. This incident has come to represent the perception of feminists of the female nude... I guess they don't like the way women are depicted in these classic paintings!

Paris study trip!

Hi all!

Exciting news, tomorrow I fly to Paris with the art history department at my university to research for my international study project! I'll be there for 4 nights and will be taking a lot of pictures and doing a lot of artistic research to share for when I get back. 

My project is on the Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation on Île de la Cité behind the Notre Dame cathedral. It's a Holocaust memorial dedicated to the 200,000 people deported from France under Vichy rule, most would've perished in Nazi concentration camps. I'm concentrating on how the memorial works with the space surrounding it including the Catholic cathedral, Notre Dame, because the Catholic Church were notoriously anti Semitic during and just after WW2. 

I will also be doing a tonne of touristy stuff because I've never been to Paris before! I have an early start though so better get to sleep. See you all on Monday!

Xx