James Gaston

Street eats

6 degrees of separation

Old photos 1 Nov 2021 Old photos 1 Nov 2021 Paris --

Today we visited the Jeu de Paume museum where we saw the exhibition Masterworks of Modern Photography 1900-1940, a collection on loan from New York's Museum of Modern Art.

Jeu de Paume

The curiously-named museum is just off the Place de la Concorde in a building constructed in 1861 during the reign of Napoleon III. It mirrors the Musée de l'Orangerie which is just opposite in the Tuileries garden. The building was designed for the playing of a game called jeu de paume or real tennis. But when (non-real?) tennis supplanted real tennis, the building was repurposed as an art gallery. The name, however, stuck. My friend Gerard sent me the accompanying sketch showing the jeu de paume court in action.

Not being an expert in historical photography, the appeal of many pieces in the exhibition eluded me. Of course I could say this about any art installation. But some did catch my eye. And unlike paintings, which often have a textural element to their appeal, photography truly is two dimensional, so I would propose that a photo of a photo doesn't lose anything in translation. With all that said, here are a few that I particularly enjoyed.