Chocolates and Kings and Proust, oh my…

Newsletter 11.20.2022

Moi at Versailles

Bienvenue and welcome back to Musée Musings, your idiosyncratic guide to Paris and art. This week was filled with last minute shopping trips in preparation for my flight home for the holidays. I had a couple things to buy, a couple museum exhibitions to see before I left Paris. Until last year I had been buying Advent Calendars from different Parisian chocolatiers. But last year, disappointed by the lack of imagination, the repetition really, and not seeing any calendar that appealed to me visually, I decided to buy an assortment of chocolates from a few of my favorite chocolatiers and make my own calendrier. Neither Patrick Roger nor Alain Ducasse was going to be included in my calendrier, because since the pandemic, they only sell prepackaged assortments. But I want my assortment, not theirs. One of the best things about being in Paris, for me, is going to a fromagerie or a chocolatier and making my own selection. I remember how disappointing it was to go to Cowgirl Creamery at the Ferry Building (Figure 1) in San Francisco (now closed, a victim of the pandemic) the year they decided to pre-cut their cheeses. I don’t think there is a better way to kill the romance of buying fine cheese or to kill the taste of that cheese than to cut it up, wrap it up in plastic and then let it sit, for who knows how long, under strong store lights.

Figure 1. Cowgirl Creamery, Ferry Building, San Francisco

It’s not the same with chocolate, I know. But I want an assortment that reflects my taste, not somebody else’s. Jacques Genin is the place for me. Yes there are pre-selected assortments, but you can buy chocolates individually, too. I like ganaches with noisettes (hazelnuts) and almonds, smoked teas and bergamot. (Figures 2, 3) So that’s what I chose. I also bought another Genin speciality - pate de fruits, well actually I bought a few pâtes de legumes. (Figure 4) Which I think are more fun, more original. The flavors change with the season but in the winter you can usually find red pepper and beetroot and pumpkin. Flavors that are especially delicious with cheese.

Figure 2. Jacques Genin chocolatier, rue de Turenne. An elegant boutique

Figure 3. Jacques Genin chocolates

Figure 4. Pâte de fruits et legumes, Jacques Genin

I had given up on Alain Ducasse but when I was in Versailles to see an exhibition on Louis XV (more about that in a moment), I spied an Alain Ducasse boutique (Figure 5) which I had never seen before. A few weeks earlier I had read that Ducasse was expanding his empire, he was now onto biscuits. Of course, I wanted to check them out. Alas, the boutique in Versailles didn’t have the biscuits yet, but they did have capsules for Nespresso machines. Which I found very surprising because the Ducasse cafe on rue St Sabin is so pure that they don’t offer sugar. If you want it, you have to ask for it. And the spoons for stirring have a hole in them so you don’t disturb the creamy head of their perfectly brewed coffee. (Figure 6) So, prepackaged capsules seemed completely out of character. Of course I had to try them. At the Versailles boutique there were two varieties, I bought them both. Of course I bought some chocolate - a dark chocolate mendiant bar with the best and freshest of nuts and dried fruits on top. And the two single origin bars that Ginevra likes, Venezuelan and Madagascar, both 72% chocolate. (Figure 7)

Figure 5. Alain Ducasse Boutique, Versailles

Figure 6. Café Ducasse, rue St. Sabin. One with almond milk, one with noisette milk

Figure 7. Selection of Ducasse chocolate bars

The next day, after trying the Ducasse coffee, which was rich and full bodied, not at all heavy or bitter, I made a beeline for rue de la Roquette. The city is eventually going to have to change the name of that street, or at least one block of it to rue Ducasse, with Ducasse Glace, Ducasse Chocolates and Ducasse Manufacture where they roast the chocolate beans and which you walk by (inhaling deeply) on your way to the chocolate boutique. And now there is Le Biscuit Ducasse. (Figures 8, 9) When I got there, samples of two biscuits were on offer. One was made with rice flour and coated with dark chocolate, the other was a more traditional wheat flour but with a mix of slivered almonds and chocolate feves. They were both interesting in taste and texture. I bought a packet of each to take home. Next time you are in Paris, you must check out rue de la Roquette, it is a lively street with lots of boutiques and food shops as well as all things Ducasse.

Figure 8. Le Biscuit Ducasse

Figure 9. Le Biscuit Ducasse

So, about the exhibition I saw at the Chateau de Versailles, on Louis XV, (Figure 10) the Sun King’s successor and the predecessor of the king whose troops helped Americans win their independence and who was guillotined when his own subjects demanded the same. You probably know more about Louis XV’s mistresses than about Louis himself - Mme de Pompadour and Mme du Barry. This exhibition fixes that. And we learn right away that this Louis XV should never have become the king of France. (Figure 11) But a series of deaths decimated one generation of heirs and then another as all the royals around him succumbed to a combination of measles and medical care. And when he was the only one left, and sick as well, his governess hid him so the doctors couldn’t bleed him which would surely have killed him.

Figure 10. Entrance to exhibition, LOUIS XV, Passions d’un roi

Figure 11. The young Louis XV

We learn about Louis’ interests in architecture and exploration (Figure 12); horticulture (Figure 13) and the animals in his menageries as well as the ones he hunted. (Figure 14) Louis wasn’t much for painting, but decorative arts were a passion (Figure 15). The exhibition also explores the dichotomy of a deeply religious man with a seemingly insatiable appetite for sexual dalliances. I knew that Mme de Pompadour had put an end to the sexual aspect of her relationship with the king. (Figure 16) I didn’t know until this exhibition how much that cost her. To maintain her exalted position in the royal household. this former Maîtresse-en-titre, had to become the king’s procuress. Her role the same as that of Ghislaine Maxwell for Jeffrey Epstein.

Figure 12. Globe made for LOUIS XV

Figure 13. LOUIS XV interest in fruits and vegetables from far away lands

Figure 14. Paintings of various hunts (here a tiger) filled one long gallery

Figure 15. One of many examples of elaborate decorative arts made for LOUIS XV

Figure 16. Statue of Friendship commissioned by Mme de Pompadour as part of an elaborate iconographic program to signify her new relationship with LOUIS XV, this by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, 1753

Since I was already at Versailles, I decided to walk over to the Water Theatre Grove to see the sculptures by Jean-Michel Othoniel. (Figure 17) Although conceived as an homage to the Sun King, Othoniel’s fountain is a ‘republican project,’ for the people. From a distance it sparkled in the sun. As I got closer, I realized that the fountain had been turned off for the season. Still, I was happy to see these sculptures of Murano glass globes filled with gold leaf.

Figure 17. Water Theatre Grove, Jean-Michel Othoniel, Versailles

Then on Sunday, needing to return books to the American Library, I took the opportunity to get over to Fluctuart, the floating museum of street art. (Figures 18, 19, 20) It was another beautiful day and walking along the Seine was just the right thing for that afternoon.

Figure 18. Facade of Fuctuart, floating museum dedicated to street art

Figure 19. An embellished traffic sign from Los Angeles, Fluctuart

Figure 20. Untitled (Loading) Rero & Parain, 2019 based on portrait bust of Coypel by Coysevox, 1712

And finally, the day before I left, Proust. Who else. The Maison Fragile, a few blocks from my apartment has a new series of porcelain plates and bowls and cups. All decorated with Proust’s mug or madeleines. (Figure 21) And then the night before I left, at the American Library, a lecture on Proust, that I attended via Zoom, given by Christopher Prendergast (the general editor of the Penguin reissues of Proust's work, published in 2002) on his book, published this year, called Living and Dying with Marcel Proust. Earlier in the day, between those Proust plates and that Proust lecture, I read an article by Prendergast on Proust and pink, well not only pink, but mauve, too. The colors of Proust. I think that you just have to find your entry point with Proust and then go for it. It’s paintings for me, it might be colors for you.

Figure 21. Proust at Maison Fragile

Oops, I forgot to tell you about the two photography exhibitions I saw at the newly reopened and enlarged Fondation Cartier-Bresson, I’ll do that next week.

Next week’s post will be on Alice Neel and Joan Mitchell. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this article on Jean-Michel Othoniel whose sculptures at Versailles I saw last week and whose sculpture in Golden Gate Park, I saw yesterday. (Figures 22, 23). All Tied Up in Knots - Jean Michel Othoniel at the Petit Palais.

Figure 22. Pensive me in front of Othoniel water fountain without water

Figure 23. Othoniel sculpture in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

Have a happy Thanksgiving if you are celebrating. And a fabulous week wherever you are. Bisous, Dr. B.

Readers Comments for which I am always grateful:

New comment on Whose side are you on?

Glad you made up for lost time. Wow! So many exhibits, so little time. I hope things are calming down. Deedee, Baltimore

New comment on The Iconography of an Icon

Loved the article about Frida and the story about the circumstances why Casa Azul stayed closed for so long. You always manage to uncover the back story. Fabulous. Thank you. Ursula