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Category Archives: Paris history
Get thee to a library
On our last two trips to Paris, much of our time was spent in library research. Here is a picture that our friend Mireille took of us in the library of the Association Valentin Haüy. It consists of one large … Continue reading
Borders, boundaries, and snails
Toronto has recently completed a Ward Boundary Review, its first since, oh, 2000. City councillors were concerned that some wards had far more voters than others. Population was growing downtown and declining in the inner suburbs. After 17 years, Something … Continue reading
Footsteps and Sidetracks
I sometimes think that if I had it all to do over again, I would become a biographer. I’ve no interest in writing fiction when real life is so fascinating. Even in my day-job as a researcher, I love tracking … Continue reading
Posted in Paris art, Paris history, Paris streets
Tagged André Lurçat, Boulogne-Billancourt, Fernand Léger, Gabriel Loire, Georgia O’Keeffe, Henri Matisse, Lucie Brownlee, Mary Callery, Pable Picasso, place du Marché St-Honoré, Quai de Voltaire, Richard Holmes, rue du Belvédère, St. George's Church, Villa d’Alésia
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Life on the rue du Ranelagh
By the time you read this, we will have returned from Paris, where we spent Christmas. Friends had graciously given us the use of an apartment on the boulevard Suchet in the 16th arrondissement. “Ah, le seizième ! C’est un … Continue reading
The lost neighbourhood
Last month, I was inspired by one of Lawren Harris’s paintings to investigate gasometers in Toronto and Paris. A second visit to the Lawren Harris exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario evoked another parallel between the two cities: the destruction … Continue reading
Posted in Paris history, Paris maps, Paris museums
Tagged Abbé Delagrive, Augustus Charles Pugin, Chateau d’eaux, David Hanser, Eaton Manufacturing Building, Ecuries du Roi, Empress Josephine, Hotel de Crequi, Hotel de Crussol, Hotel de Longueville, Lawren Harris, Machine infernale, Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon III, Quartier du Louvre, Quinze-Vingts, rue de Chartres, rue St-Nicaise, St-Louis-du-Louvre, St-Nicolas-du-Louvre, St-Thomas-du-Louvre, The Ward, Theatre du Vaudeville, Toronto City Hall, Tuileries Palace, Turgot map, Viljo Revell, William James
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The art of the gasometer
The major summer exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario is devoted to the work of Canadian artist Lawren Harris (1885–1970). I associate his name with bold, abstracted images of Canada’s Far North – mountains and glaciers and frozen seas. … Continue reading
Posted in Paris civic functions, Paris history
Tagged Alfortville, Belleville, Boulogne, Clichy, Compagnie parisienne de l’éclairage et de chauffage par le gaz, Courcelles, gasometer, gazomètre, Grenelle, Ivry, Jean-Baptiste Fressoz, La Presse, La Villette, Maisons Alfort, Passy, Paul Signac, rapeseed oil, Robert Doisneau, rue de l’Evangile, St-Denis, St-Mandé, Ternes, Vaugirard, Vincent van Gogh
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