Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Paris on Peachtree

Late last week I had the privilege of attending the Media Preview of The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden, which is considerably beyond what I'd expected. At the High Museum of Art's preview breakfast, Executive Director Michael Shapiro asked of the nearly 100 attending who had been to Tuileries Garden. I was one of the few who have not yet been...but it's on my list.


"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
On the 400th birthday of Andre Le Notre's commissioning by Louis XIV in 1664 to expand and transform the Tuileries into a formal French garden, Atlanta is home, for a while, of more than 100 works from the Garden.

Many of the artifacts in this exhibition have never traveled outside of Paris, making it an extremely rare and a unique opportunity.


"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
During the Media Preview breakfast, I had the pleasure of chatting with Sue Rodman of Field Trips With Sue, one of Atlanta's preeminent bloggers! Sue blogs largely about things to do with kids—she has two sons—but is well-rounded, and she is someone I aspire to emulate!

In the photo above, Sue is modeling one of the barets that High volunteers were wearing...so that visitors could easily identify them should we have had questions. Clever, yes?


"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
In the photo of Sue and I, we were standing in front of a model of the Tuileries Palace, which I was to discover is a modest model...not nearly the full scope of the Palace. It was considerably larger, which you can see in some of the drawings on a nearby wall.

The Palace was originally part of the Louvre (the only segment still standing being the "tiny" piece at the left in the above photo), which was destroyed following the Franco-Prussian War, In 1670.

The Tuileries Gardens became Paris' first public garden, and remains so today.


"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
The exhibition starts in the Sifly Piazza..."Paris on Peachtree"! Tuileries Gardens is 63 acres, but of course the High doesn't have quite that much space for an exact replica exhibition, however they've done a remarkable job reproducing a portion of the Garden.

Turns out, the chairs in the piazza were sourced from the company that made the chairs in Tuileries Garden, which has a distribution center here in Georgia! However, the color of the chairs and planters is not quite the same, but very close, because the company that sells the Garden the paint has an exclusive contract with Tuileries Garden.


"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
During the Media Preview, which was for Tuileries Garden AND Go West!, there were tour guides on each track. If you're a member of the Media and you're not on the High's list, I highly recommend contacting them...let's all spread the word of everything Atlanta has to offer!

If you're an Atlanta tourist, visiting or local, you're in the right place to discover what's going on...her on wanderlust ATLANTA. And there are many, many other resources (like Field Trips With Sue)...discover the ones that best suit your style and interests. I hope I'm one of them.


"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
The exhibition is presented in four levels...the first being Paris on Peachtree on the piazza. Elegantly formatted, the piazza is lined with plantered boxwoods, and two life-size sculptures, showing the way to the wing that houses the Tuileries Garden exhibition.

Once in side, the first floor features sculptures from the Garden, prominently featuring a remarkable statue of Zeus, titled "Hercules Battling Achelous as Serpent", 1824. We heard from Guillaume Fonkenell, curator of sculpture and museum historian at the Louvre, who also shares insights on the ArtClix smartphone app.


"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
While the statuary and other artifacts are brilliant, I personally was most fascinated with the hot air balloon paintings in the exhibition, particularly the one pictured above titled, "The Ascent of Charles and Robert in the Tuileries Garden on December 1, 1783". There are several and they're every one absolutely beautiful...and fascinating for me. I've always wanted to go on a ride.


"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
Having not yet visited Tuileries Garden, I was truly impressed with the model of the entire Garden...of course I'd heard of the Garden, but I had no idea it was quite the size it actually is. This model helps convey the impressive scope of the Garden.


"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
Unique of this exhibition, 35 of the 100-plus works are directly from the Louvre...which is no small task! The exhibition features large-scale sculptures, paintings, photographs, drawings and more.


"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
"The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden", High Museum of Art
"Paris on Peachtree" is on display only through Saturday, January 19, 2014. So, unless you have a winter trip to Paris planned, get yourself to Paris on Peachtree at the High Museum of Art

And there is quite a lot of programming associated with the exhibition...go explore!

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