Almost spring in Pere Lachaise

It's said that more than a million and a half people visit Pere Lachaise each year. If that's true they must have all been in the cemetery yesterday because it was packed with tourists of every shape, size, color, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, and nationality.

What a beautiful day it was in Paris, very much like spring with temps reaching the low 60s. The day began slightly cool but by midday had warmed up and when the sun came out it was actually quite warm, almost uncomfortably so in a lightweight jacket.

And so what better day to be out strolling in one of the world's most fantastic sculpture gardens.

One of my favorites (out of a couple a hundred I suppose) can be found in division 94, just a couple of meters from the final resting place of Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas. You really can't miss General Andranik Ozanian, one of the heroes of Armenian liberation, rearing hup on hir horse ready to charge into battle. (He also has another statue in a square named after him in Meudon, a suburb southwest of Paris.) General Andranik fought against the Ottoman Turks in Armenia and Bulgaria and also attempted to prevent the Turks from invading eastern Aremnia in 1918-1919. As know of course he was not successful and in 1919 he disbanded his army and along with a band of loyal soldiers left Armenia to go into exile rather than live under Turkish rule. He eventually settled in Fresno, California where he died in 1927. His body was brought to Paris and interred in Pere Lachaise, but was returned to Armenia in 2000, so today the statue is simply a memorial to one of Armenia's freedom fighters. (photo above and below: General Andranik's statue in division 94.)

I'm nearly finished videotaping in Pere Lachaise and have now started to turn my attention more and more to taping the people who come here.

But of course I'm not the first to tape the spectators (as opposed to the spectacle). In fact, just last year a documentary was released in Europe and the US interviewing some of the people who come to visit Pere Lachaise. The film is called Forever, put together by Heddy Honigman, is in French and English, and was released by Cobos Films, a Dutch production company. It received very good reviews and sounds fascinating -- now it's just a matter of finding a copy.

Ciao,

Steve

It was a beautiful day the day after Valentine's Day (lots of days there, eh?) and what better thing to do than go out to Pere Lachaise and spend a little time strolling and videotaping and visiting Edith Piaf:

Passy, Vaugirard and Grenelle complete

I've completed my return passes through these threee somewhat off-the-beaten path gardens of stone: Passy, Vaugirard and Grenelle cemeteries.

There is very little to recommend a stop at Grenelle in the 15th arrondissement, except for the Henri Schmid sculpture. This is, I think, one of the sweetest pieces of artwork to be found out-of-doors in Paris; it takes on even great power and poignancy in such a small cemetery. (174 rue St. Charles. Metro: Lourmel.)


Also off the beaten path is Vaugirard where you can find the very moving "Soldiers'" lot, a field of simple crosses against the backdrop of hi-rise apartment buildings. While most tourists go to Les Invalides to see Napoleon's tomb or those of the great and near-great martial heroes of France, it is at Vaugirard that you will find the burials of quite a few of the soldiers who died at Les Invalides hospital, many from wounds during the First World War. Also worth a stop is the compelling sculpture highlighting the grave of Antony Cottes, a remarkable bit of art which reminiscent of the Pieta, but with a martial twist. (320 rue Lecourbe. Metro: Lourmel or Convention.)


I also wanted to go back to Passy, to see the view of the Eiffel tower once more, to pay my respects to Pearl White again, and look for the now missing Cierplikowski sculpture, a piece of very dramatic art that was well-documented in past years but has apparently been removed, along with the grave as well. (2 rue Commandant-Schloessing. Metro: Trocadero.)

Good news in the continuing Pere Lachaise "missing bust" saga: both Valentin and Lucipia are in the hands of the conservation, apparently for safekeeping. Of course, I have no idea what "safekeeping" means, but presumably taken away from public display; for how long is anyone's guess.

More missing busts?

Marie informed me last night that she thinks another four are missing:

BOUYER Louis-Charles (D35), bronze bust by A. Boucher
GRELOT Félix (D76), bronze bust
SAUTEREAU Jean (D68), bronze bust by Serres
WION-PIGALLE Emélie-Narcisse (D68), bronze bust by Anfrie

I can't confirm this, however, and in fact I have no photos of any of these, which leads me to believe they were taken sometime before the fall of 2006. (And Marie even said she thought Sautereau had been missing for some time.) But I'm not certain since I didn't even begin my second pass through Pere Lachaise until mid-October and it wasn't until later in the year that I started my videotaping.

But it was a fine day to be in the cemetery Saturday.

Lucipia missing in division 89

I just returned this afternoon from a gorgeous day in Pere Lachaise -- I have finished videotaping through division 92 thank you very much.

Anyway, bad news again: Louis Lucipia's bust is missing in division 89.

Before:


After:

Theft confirmed in Pere Lachaise

Well it appears that Valentin's bust in division 2 of Pere-Lachaise was indeed stolen. Au revoir!

Rain today and predicted for tomorrow as well so it doesn't appear right now (6;44 a.m.) that I'll be going out to Pere-Lachaise for any videotaping. Of course this being Paris and since we are on the cusp of global warming (thanks Detroit!) you just never know what to expect from the weather an hour from now.

Steve

I've finished Montmartre

Well I finished my second pass through Montmartre cemetery yesterday.

My goal ever since we arrived in Paris last August was to make a thorough sweep through each of the cemeteries in Paris to photodocument their funerary sculpture, and then pass through a second time later in the year when the foliage all came off the trees.

And it was a gorgeous day for taking photos -- at least in Montmartre before the rain hit later in the afetrnoon -- so off I went.

And along the way I stumbled across the little gem (that's it up there). It's a simple, sweet stone marking the final resting place of one Louise Weber, known locally as "La Goulué", who was the creator of the French Can Can!

Now all I have remaining is to videotape the last seven divisions at Pere-Lachaise. I'm also hoping to tape Marie and Philippe talking about Paris cemeteries once or twice more before we leave the end of March. They are unbelievable repositories of information and the stories they can tell. . . .

Speaking of Marie she was out at Pere-Lachaise yesterday and discovered that the bust of Valentin in division 2 is missing. We have yet to ascertain whether it is theft or another one removed by the conservation for safekeeping.

Paris cemetery good news and bad

The good news first.

I'm informed that Brandin's bust in division 91 of Pere Lachaise has been removed by the conservation for safekeeping; unfortunately Lemaitre's bust in division 28 of Montmartre was solen sometime in late 2006.

It's still unclear to me why these thefts have happened. One theory is to melt down the bronze (the busts and medallions are all bronze apparently), and of course I suppose there might be a market for these things somewhere -- but where?

Questions I imagine the Paris police are asking right about now.

Thefts continue in Paris cemeteries

Well we’ve found more missing artwork in Paris cemeteries.

It appears that a large medallion on the Michenaud family headstone in division 89 of Pere Lachaise is gone – it was there last August at any rate. (see photo right.)

Also missing in division 91 in Pere Lachaise is the bust of a serene Louis-Philippe Brandin, and Lemaitre’s striking pose is gone from division 28 in Montmartre. (see photos below: Lemaitre top and Brandin below.)

You would think there’s a sign outside each of the cemeteries in Paris that says, “Hey c’mon in, spend the night and steal something on your way out,” like they have become a sort of “stop n shop” for funerary artwork.

Souday not missing

Well good news for a change! The bust of French literary critic Paul Souday is not in fact missing from divisiom 85 in Pere Lachaise. I reported recently that it is gone, which it is, but apparently the cemetery staff removed it for safekeeping, something about it being unstable on its pedestal.

Yesterday (Tuesday) I returned to Montmartre and am now up to division 27. One more trip there and I should be done with my second pass through that cemetery.

Steve

Missing busts in Pere Lachaise

pWell another bust is gone, undoubtedly stolen like the other nine or so that have been discovered missing from Pere Lachaise since November.

The bust of French literary critic Paul Souday in division 85 is gone as you can see from the "before" photograph shot last fall and the image just taken today, Sunday January 28, 2007.

Montparnasse finished (almost)

Saturday afternoon I finished my "second" pass through Montparnasse cemetery in Paris. At this point I will probably only have to return there to pick up any last-minute images. Now all I need do is finish Montmartre and of course turn back to the videotaping of Pere-Lachaise. And pick up a few images from Vaugirard and Grenelle and return to Passy to check one grave and then . . . I'll be finished with one of the Big three!

Montmartre

Monday was a gorgeous day in Paris and what better way to spend an afternoon than in Montmartre cemetery.

I picked up the no. 10 Metro at Jussieu, changed to the no. 13 at Duroc and got off at Place de Clichy, barely three minutes's walk to the cemetery entrance. There were few other people in the cemetery so it was, of course, quiet and peaceful as I turned my attention to continuing my second round of photographing the cemetery. (photo: Cecille Firman, div. 13 in Montmartre.)

My goals this winter are to finish a second pass through Montmartre and Montparnasse cemeteries and to finish videotaping Pere Lachaise, all division-by-division.

When I first started photographing in the cemeteries in Paris, or rather the Big Three (Pere Lachaise, Montmartre and Montparnasse) it was summer and I concluded that I wanted to return after the foliage was off the trees and bushes to rephotograph everything. Then I added the additional objective of videotaping each of the 97 divisions in Pere Lachaise as well.

Right now I have finished up through division 20 in Montmartre (out of 33), through division 22 in Montparnasse (out of 30) and through division 82 in Pere Lachaise.

Anyway, it is a perfect time to be photographing here. The temps can be a bit on the cool side (well OK it can be downright chilly in fact) but with the leaves off the trees taking photographs can be much less of a challenge. And you can just see more.

More missing busts

Well the total number of solen artwork from Pere Lachaise cemetery has reached at least nine that we know of. One of them, Louis Thomas in div. 73/74 was not only stolen, but whoever took it apparently must have used a sledge hammer since there is a large chunk missing off the back of the pedestal as well. (photos, Louis Thomas before and after.)




There is now an effort underway here in Paris to begin putting together a database of funerary artwork in the Parisian cemeteries. There are some very serious folks here determined to catalogue what they can before it is too late. It is presently not known exactly how many pieces of art are in fact in the cemeteries, but from what I can tell it must run into the hundreds. . . .

And we are not talking about factory-produced items out of a catalogue, but one-of-a-kind sculptures, designed, and executed by some of the great names in the city: Millet, Vigneron, Cartellier, Etex, Barrias, Bartholomé, David d'Anger, Dubois, Bartholdi, Clesinger.

Photographing Paris cemeteries

In 1992, just two year sbefore his death, Robert Doisneau, who grew up in the Paris suburbs of Montrouge and Gentilly, and became one of Paris' most famous "street" photographers, told an interviewer that "Photographers have become suspect now" and that he didn't feel welcome on the streets anymore.

After two incidents in Paris cemeteries I think I now know how he felt.

Recently I took the no. 13 Metro to Batignolles cemetery, at the very edge of historic Paris in the 17th arr. I walked into the cemetery had strolled over to division 1 where I began taking images of the striking sculpture of Jane Margyl, the late opera singer. A few minutes later a guard approached me. Pointing to my camera said "no photos!" He stood there waiting and watching me until I shut the camera off and put it away in my bag.

This is the second cemetery where this has happened to me. I was stopped in Bercy cemetery, in the 12th arr., several weeks ago and again told I could not photograph there. I thought at the time it was just a policy particular to that cemetery.

So what's the deal I wondered?

Since I'm not from these parts and have little clue as to the intricate workings of the French bureaucracy I asked a French acquaintance about this. Well come to find out that in France it is against the law to photograph in cemeteries -- any cemetery in fact -- since the graves are considered private property. It would be akin, I was informed, to photographing people's homes, which is also prohibited. But then I got to thinking that if it is prohibited to take photos of private property then certianly that must include: automobiles and nearly all buildings and structures. . . . almost everything!

I thought how on earth can such rules be enforced in an age when even cell phones have increasingly powerful cameras? I then wondered why photography is permitted in a place like, say Pere Lachaise or Montparnasse? It is also tolerated in Montmartre and perhaps two or three other cemeteries in Paris because those places have in effect become tourist attractions. And tourists love to take pictures. Soooooo. . . .

OK, so where does that leave us photographers who struggle to capture the moment, the feeling, the mood in a cemetery?

Well, it seems to me that there at least two significant issues at stake here.

First is preservation of the history surrounding the graves themselves. A cursory glance in some of Paris' oldest cemeteries will tell you that nothing is forever, and many of the graves are in a terrible state of ruin and thefts of funerary artwork is not unknown even today. (At least nine pieces of sculpture have been stolen from Pere Lachaise within the last several montsh alone.) It is only through photography that we can hope to at least preserve what once was a wonderful work of art or a unique form of funerary architecture, and at the same time to preserve a bit of French or Parisian history as well.

And speaking of artwork, one doesn't have to look very far online to see that cemetery photography can and often does produce some stunning art. The Parisians are very tolerant of many things, most certainly when it comes to art.

For these reasons alone the French should encourage photographers to go into the cemeteries and take as many images as they would like, to spread the word that open air funerary art is worth the time and trouble to preserve. And if along the way more art comes from such imaging so much the better right?

Wish you were here,

Steve

(photo: billboard advert of the mP3 music player wars. It has absolutely nothing to do with the post; I just thought it was pretty cool.)

Stolen artwork update

Well it appears that at least two more items have been stolen from Pere Lachaise and once form Montmartre. (It seems we can say stolen now since it's fairly obvious they are missing and the reason for their absence can be reasonably assumed to be theft.) That brings the total, I believe to at least nine pieces of artwork looted from Paris cemeteries so far.

A bust (?) of Aimée DESCLEE (division 70) is missing and so is a medallion of Henri FERNOUX (division 52). The Conversation at Pere Lachaise is looking for a photo of Fernoux so if by any chance you have a copy by all means send it along.

In Montmartre the bust of Edgard POUGET (division 5) is missing (photo below)


So far, from what I have seen and heard, it appears that artwork has been taken from at least three cemeteries so far: Montmartre, Montparnasse and Pere Lachaise.

The police are apparently involved now, at the request of the mayor of Paris, and one can only hope that the stolen items are recovered soon.

Six missing busts from Pere Lachaise

According to reports sometime in late November, at least six busts were looted from Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris. The six missing busts from Pere Lachaise are:

Antoine-Edmond ADAM, by Aimé Millet sculptor (Division 54):


Antoine-Louis BARYE, by Moulin (D49):


Jean-Hilaire BELLOC, by Itasse (D52):


Jean-Baptiste BOY, artist unknown (D53):


Georges BIZET, by Paul Dubois (D68):


Claude VIGNON, sculpted by herself (D46):


Get a good look becuase you'll probably never see them again.

Missing busts update

For anyone who has followed this little tale since I first reported it here some weeks back, Pere Lachaise experts Marie and Philippe sent off a note to the mayor of Paris, and Marie also contacted the historian of Pere Lachaise. The three of us sent off a letter to the editor of the International Herald Tribune, which has been running a series of stories on the return of looted treasures; the idea being that looting of treasures continues even in the Paris cemeteries!

Lo and behold somewhere, someone in the international media got the word, at least in the UK. Click here for a link to the story:

The plot thickens.

Picpus cemetery

Marie, Philippe and I had originally scheduled to meet in Pere Lachaise Saturday afternoon to begin taping our podcasts in division 8, 9 and 10.

Well I was just about to board the Metro when Marie called and said there had been a change of plans. It seems that she and Philippe had read in the local weekly Pariscope,(a listing events throughout Paris) that there would be a special guided tour of the rarely opened crypts beneath Les Invalides (where Napoleon I is buried). Marie said they had been waiting for years for this opportunity and would I care to join them about 2 pm? You bet!

So I retraced my steps to the apartment, hung out for a while, called Susie to see how she was doing (“Fine”) and headed off towards Les Invalides (line 10 from Jussieu to the no. 13 at duroc and then off at Invalides. Simple.).

I arrived about the same as Marie – we met up in the large courtyard just as you enter the main gate (the other end from the “eglise”, the church, where Napoleon and crew are actually buried). A few minutes later Philippe arrived and soon afterwards a crowd started gathering in the courtyard, some 30-40 people eager to take the tour. It quickly became evident that the guide had a bit of a cult following in Paris and that many of the people there had already signed up via (French) word-of-mouth. We soon found ourselves left out in the cold – which it was a bit actually – although in typical Gallic uncertainty the guide informed Marie that “Maybe there’ll be room in an hour or so.”

No thanks.

I told Marie and Philippe that I would head home and after saying au revoir off I went. A few minutes later, just as I left the main entrance to the Invalides I heard someone calling out my name and I turned around to see the two of them chasing after me. “So Steve do you want to go to Picpus cemetery?” Whoa! Yeah! The cemetery is rarely open and very hard to find so I jumped at the chance, you bet.

“Picpus cemetery”, you ask? Besides the funny name what’s the deal here? Well several things actually.

The cemetery is actually composed of two parts. One part is where 1,306 of the great and common people of Paris were guillotined in the June and July of 1794. The executions took place on the nearby Place de la Nation (then called the Place du Trone), some days as many as 55 people were beheaded, and the bodies were transported to the closest open space where they were dumped into mass graves. (photo below: the 2 mass graves.)




The second part is the little cemetery next to the mass graves, which holds the remains of some of France’s most well known families. Moreover, it is also the resting place of the Marquis de Lafayette. Yes, that Lafayette: “Lafayette we are here”, Lafayette, Indiana, ,Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, Fayetteville, North Carolina and on and on. I mean the man was made an honorary US citizen in 2002.



So the three of us headed for the Metro line 13 got off at the Opera stop, picked up the RER to Place de la Nation where Philippe showed me the spot where the guillotine had been set up. We then pent 15 minutes trying to find our way out of this enormous Place. At last we located the right “spoke” of the hub and soon found the little cemetery, down a small side street away (35 rue de Picpus).

After paying our fee (2 euros and change each) to the fellow at the “conservation” building he showed us to the gate, which he unlocked and let us in to wander around ourselves.

The first thing that strikes you as you enter is a long rectangular green space running deep into the block itself.


At the far side of that is the original door (some discussion here between Marie and Philippe about this), or at least the original entrance used by the carts which brought the headless bodies from the Place to the mass graves here; several dozen a day in fact. Nasty business.


There is also a small segment of the original wooden palisade that once surrounded the gravesites.


Off to the right, is the small cemetery itself, behind which is a stone wall and a locked gate, and at the far back are the two mass graves. The little cemetery is where you can find Lafayette’s grave, next to the entrance to the mass grave section, and is decorated with various markers from the United States' organizations such as the Daughters of the American Revolution.


There is also a plaque memorializing the 16 Carmelite nuns who were executed on July 24, 1794. Ranging in age from 29 to78 they went to the scaffold singing hymns as a choir, until one-by-one the last nun, still singing was executed. They were beatified in 1906.


There are also recent memorials as well. One just has to prove that a member of their family was one of the 1,306 who were originally buried in the mass graves.


From the little cemetery we walked back toward the entrance and into the small chapel near the main gate.



The interior was nearly dark except for the far back left wall of the transept which was lit up so one could read the enormous plaque listing some of all the names of those 1,306 who were executed that summer. Reading the plaques on the walls – there was another one on the opposite transept wall -- which seem to go all the way to the ceiling, and arranged by date of execution, one can’t help but feel the tragic, stupid absurdity of what happened just a few hundred meters away more than two centuries ago. I used to think of the Terror as striking mainly at the nobility – which it did certainly – but more than half of the names on these lists were simple commoners like Marie Bouchard, age 18, “domestique”or Jean Baptiste Marino, age 37, porcelain painter or Raymond Borie, age 19, shoemaker. Horrible.

We left the chapel and walked out into a light drizzle, said au revoir (again) and plan to meet up the next weekend at Pere Lachaise.

Wish you were here,

Steve

Looting sculptures from Pere Lachaise

The series of articles in the International Herald Tribune about the Getty Museum’s ongoing struggle with the Italian government over the issue of returning “looted” artifacts certainly brings to light a practice that is probably far more widespread than most people in the art world would care to admit. In fact, one can only wonder if most artwork presently on display in museums around the world isn't looted from somewhere; certainly “ancient” artwork. And most would assume the plunder comes from the famous archeological sites: for example Greece, Rome, Persia, Egypt, Mexico, and China. (photo: Bizet is gone.)

It might come as a bit of a surprise then to learn that looting is alive and well right here in Paris in the 21st century, and in the cemeteries of all places.

Back in mid-November I reported on this blog that it appeared there were several busts missing from their headstones in Pere Lachaise cemetery. It is now confirmed that at least four busts have been stolen (that we know of) from Pere Lachaise:

- Edmond Adam, division 54 (bust by Aimé Millet)
- Jean-Hilaire Belloc, division 52 (bust by Adolphe Itasse)
- Georges Bizet, division 68 (bust by Paul Dubois)
- Claude Vignon, division 46 (self-portrait)

And Montparnasse has had at least one stolen recently:

- Cornil, division 13 (unidentified sculptor)

In Pere Lachaise a “medallion” by Chagall was stolen from the Yvan Goll headstone some time back (a copy is there now). And Jim Morrison’s bust was stolen long ago, much to the chagrin of thousands of fans.

But these recent thefts indicate a more sinister effort at work: detailed planning (during a time when stone cleaning is well underway and so there are plenty of vehicles in the cemetery, light trucks especially), and of course a market must exist somewhere.

The price of metal has reached new heights lately: this could very well account for the theft of these busts, not for their artistic value but simply because they are made of bronze… If this is the case, the busts will be melted and thus will be destroyed forever. Sad thought indeed…