More Art to See in Paris

There has been some coverage in the French newspapers about more exhibits I would like to see in Paris. The first is called Aux origines de l'abstraction (1800-1914), at the Musée d'Orsay until February 22, 2004. Here is my translation of a part of the description of the exhibit from their Web site:

Although central to art history, the question of abstraction's sources has curiously never been the subject of an important exhibit in France, where nevertheless the great pioneers of nonfigural painting were gathered. The Musée d'Orsay, whose collection covers the turn of the century (1848-1914), seemed the ideal location to carry out this investigation. Because, far from being a historical phenomenon which appeared suddenly in the urgency of a few crucial years, abstraction is the product of a progressive ripening over the entire 19th century. . . . The first part [of the exhibit], titled "The Solar Eye," examines the questions of thresholds of visibility. How did the translation of light, from Turner to Delaunay, push painting to free itself from the representation of forms? The second part, titled "The Musical Eye," focuses on the visual translation of sound to analyze the decisive impact of the musical model in the sources of abstraction.

I find this last concept to be quite interesting. The museum's Web site has images of a number of the works in the exhibit. The second is Portraits/Visages, an exhibit of photographs from the collection of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The library has made available a really cool Web site with lots of images from the exhibit, well worth the visit.

If you want to hear a musical revue of Rodgers and Hammerstein called A Grand Night for Singing (it had some success on Broadway in 1994), you can hear a group of talented students at Saint Anselm's Abbey School this weekend, with yours truly at the piano: Friday and Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 2 pm.