Luxembourg Garden Hotel les Academies

Luxembourg garden hotel Les Academies

Like its counterpart Montmartre, Montparnasse became famous at the beginning of the 20th century, referred to as les Années Folles (the Crazy Years), when it was the heart of intellectual and artistic life in Paris. Between 1921 and 1924, the number of Americans in Paris swelled from 6,000 to 30,000. From 1910 to the start of World War II, Paris’ artistic circles migrated to Montparnasse, an alternative to the Montmartre district which had been the intellectual breeding ground for the previous generation of artists. The Paris of Zola, Manet, France, Degas, Fauré, a group that had assembled more on the basis of status affinity than actual artistic tastes, indulging in the refinements of Dandyism, was at the opposite end of the economic, social, and political spectrum from the gritty, tough-talking, die-hard, emigrant artists that peopled Montmartre.

Confidential hotel Montparnasse

Hotel confidentiel Montparnasse

Montparnasse est un quartier du sud de Paris sur la rive gauche du fleuve Seine situé autour de l’intersection du Boulevard du Montparnasse et du Boulevard Raspail. Il est situé essentiellement dans le 14e arrondissement, et a été absorbé par la ville avec d’autres communes et divisions administratives en 1860.
Le nom de ce quartier avait été donné par les étudiants voisins qui venaient déclamer des vers sur la butte formée par des remblais au XVIIe siècle, en référence au mont Parnasse, résidence des Muses de la mythologie grecque. La colline fut rasée pour tracer le boulevard du Montparnasse au XVIIIe siècle, lieu de promenade de la ville. Dès la Révolution française, de nombreuses salles de danse et cabarets s’y installèrent. Le quartier a donné son nom à une gare, un cimetière et une tour.

French Garden Paris

Hotel Arty Saint Germain des Pres

This was the first French garden to be influenced by the Italian Baroque. The Luxembourg has long been seen as a quintessential Parisian space and remains very popular. It was designed for anoter Medici princess, Marie, who became Queen of France. Like the Boboli garden where Marie had spent her youth, the Luxembourg plan has two axes at right angles. Jacques Boyceau superintended the layout. Today, as in the seventeenth century, it is a good place to savour the cosmopolitan atmosphere of a rich palace garden. It has changed over the centuries but, judging from Evelyn’s description (below), the character of the garden is not so different. During a period of neglect, some of Watteau’s romantic garden scenes were painted here. The Medici Fountain was moved from its original position and does not do justice to the famous name. There are some public park facilities, including tennis courts and children’s play areas, and over a hundred sculptures, including statues of Stendhal, Chopin, Montesquieu, Phidias, Baudelaire, Delacroix and Blanche of Castile. The parterres on the fringe of the Luxembourg have been laid out in an informal ‘Anglo-Chinois’ manner. The Luxembourg Palace is now used by the French Senate.

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Tamara de Lempicka à l’Académie de la Grande Chaumière

Art Saint Germain des Pres Paris

Tamara de Lempicka née à Varsovie et décédée le 18 mars 1980 au Mexique.
Elle est la peintre polonaise la plus célèbre de la période Art déco. Brillante, belle et audacieuse, inclassable, mystérieuse et contradictoire, elle a fait de sa vie une succession de mises en scène très élaborées.
En 1914, elle est retenue par la guerre à Saint-Pétersbourg où elle s’inscrit à l’académie des Beaux-Arts. La Révolution d’octobre bouleverse sa vie et elle gagne Paris où elle est recueillie par ses cousins. Tamara commence alors avec beaucoup de ténacité une carrière de peintre.
En 1920, à l’Académie Ranson, elle reçoit l’enseignement de Maurice Denis et à l’Academie de la Grande Chaumiere celle d’André Lhote. C’est là qu’elle forge petit à petit son style. De retour en France, elle participe pleinement à la vie artistique et mondaine parisienne où elle rencontre de nouveaux modèles : André Gide, Suzy Solidor, de riches industriels, des princes russes émigrés, etc.
Elle divorce en 1928 pour se remarier, en 1933, avec le baron Raoul Kuffner . Ce passage de l’état de comtesse à celui de baronne coïncide avec une crise morale et artistique qui provoque un ralentissement de sa production. Fuyant les menaces de guerre, elle s’installe aux États-Unis en 1939 où elle fait trois expositions à New York et à San Francisco chez Paul Rheinardt et chez Julien Levy. Après-guerre, son œuvre tombe dans un profond oubli jusqu’à ce que la redécouverte de l’Art déco, dans les années 1970, fasse ressurgir son nom.

Artistic and stylish hotel in Montparnasse

Ever heard of Moleskine, the note-book? Well they have edited collection about various cities such as Paris, Tokyo etc.
Here is what they say about Montparnasse on their blog:

“The Montparnasse quarter has so much to discover, but it’s not too large to visit the whole area. That’s why it’s at the top of my list of places to go in Paris. In order to get there, you pass behind the Tour Montparnasse and into the quarter, where – if you chose to follow my advice – you should head for the rue Montparnasse not to be confused with the boulevard de Montparnasse!). Along the rue is a Thai restaurant, that is said to be very good indeed, it’s called Krua Thai. The food is supposed to be tasty and most of all authentic. Move on to the boulevard Edgar Quinet, a street completely lined with trees with the Tower, the tallest skyscraper in France, at the end of it and every Sunday there’s an artist’s market there. Then follow the street signs to reach the famous Montparnasse Cemetery, where you can’t not take a picture next to the grave of Alfred Dreyfus.”

A stylish and design hotel in Montparnasse

Les artistes de Montparnasse, Paris

Reserver Hotel Montparnasse

Montparnasse est un quartier du sud de Paris sur la rive gauche du fleuve Seine situé autour de l’intersection du Boulevard du Montparnasse et du Boulevard Raspail. Il est situé essentiellement dans le 14e arrondissement, et a été absorbé par la ville avec d’autres communes et divisions administratives en 1860.
Le nom de ce quartier avait été donné par les étudiants voisins qui venaient déclamer des vers sur la butte formée par des remblais au XVIIe siècle, en référence au mont Parnasse, résidence des Muses de la mythologie grecque. La colline fut rasée pour tracer le boulevard du Montparnasse au XVIIIe siècle, lieu de promenade de la ville. Dès la Révolution française, de nombreuses salles de danse et cabarets s’y installèrent, dont le célèbre bal Bullier.
Le quartier a donné son nom à une gare, un cimetière et une tour.
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Hotel des Academies et des Arts Montparnasse Paris

Noguchi Isamu and the Hotel des Academies et des Arts are closely linked.

Noguchi Isamu (November 17, 1904 – December 30, 1988) was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known widely for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets.Among his furniture work was his collaboration with the Herman Miller company in 1948 when he joined with George Nelson, Paul László and Charles Eames to produce a catalog containing what is often considered to be the most influential body of modern furniture. His work lives on around the world and at the The Noguchi Museum in New York City.

Isamu Noguchi was born in Los Angeles, the illegitimate son of Yone Noguchi, a Japanese poet who had gained great acclaim in the United States, and Leonie Gilmour, an American writer who edited much of his work.

Noguchi arrived in Paris in April 1927 and soon afterward met the American author Robert McAlmon, who brought him to Brancusi’s studio for an introduction. Despite a language barrier between the two artists (Noguchi barely spoke French, and Brancusi did not speak English), Noguchi was taken in as Brancusi’s assistant for the next seven months. During this time, Noguchi gained his footing in stone sculpture, a medium with which he was unacquainted, though he would later admit that one of Brancusi’s greatest teachings was to appreciate “the value of the moment.” Meanwhile, Noguchi found himself in good company in France, with letters of introduction from Michio Itō helping him to meet such artists as Jules Pascin and Alexander Calder.

Noguchi went to the prestigious school of Academy de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris, right accross the street of Hotel des Academies et des Arts. It is even said that Noguchi Isamu stayed at the Hotel des Academies et des Arts few nights.

Sleep where Noguchi Isamu slept in the Hotel des Academies et des Arts Paris arty hotel

Art in the heart of Montparnasse Hotel des Academies et des Arts Paris

The Académie de la Grande Chaumiere – academy of the large thatched cottage -  is an art school located at 14 rue de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris, near Hotel des Academies et des Arts. It offers full courses, but also a unique “one-sketch admission” service, for which one pays to draw nude models.

At the turn of the 20th century, it was one of the most famous art schools in Paris.
Former students who have probably stayed at Hotel des Academies et des Arts Paris : Tamara de Lempicka, Alberto Giacometti, Richard Miller, Amedeo Modigliani, Isamu Noguchi, Nat Mayer Shapiro.

In the legendary neighborhood of Montparnasse, the most celebrated painters and the most secretive amateurs came to the Grande Chaumiere and the Hotel des Academies et des Arts to sit in the huge and somewhat mysterious rooms in the Academy free to practice their timeless art: life drawing, the nude, sketch …

How was Montparnasse at the beginning of the 20th century? The heart of art with the Hotel des Academies et des Arts Paris. The Academie de la France Chaumiere is the only institution which at the beginning of the last century opened the way towards independant art leaving all forms of technics to be expressed freely.

Book an arty hotel Hotel des Academies et des Arts Paris
Artistic hotel in Montparnasse Hotel des Academies

Artistic hotel in Paris, where Modigliani stayed

Hotel des Academies et des Arts is a friendly and comfortable place for the reminiscent of the famous French artists living in the past centuries such as Amedeo Modigliani.
Modigliani was an Italian artist, practicing both painting and sculpture.
In 1906 Modigliani moved to Paris, then the focal point of the avant-garde. In fact, his arrival at the epicentre of artistic experimentation, near Hotel des Academies et des Arts Paris coincided with the arrival of two other foreigners who were also to leave their marks upon the art world: Gino Severini and Juan Gris.
When he first arrived in Paris, he wrote home regularly to his mother and he drank wine in moderation. He was at that time considered by those who knew him as a bit reserved, verging on the asocial. He is noted to have commented, upon meeting Picasso.
During his early years in Paris, Modigliani worked at a furious pace. He was constantly sketching, making as many as a hundred drawings a day. However, many of his works were lost – destroyed by him as inferior, left behind in his frequent changes of address, or given to girlfriends who did not keep them.
In May of 1919 he returned to Paris, where, with Hébuterne and their daughter, he rented an apartment in the rue de la Grande Chaumiere, near Hotel des Academies et des Arts Paris. While there, both Jeanne Hébuterne and Amedeo Modigliani painted portraits of each other, and of themselves.
Modigliani died on January 24, 1920. There was an enormous funeral, attended by many from the artistic communities in Montparnasse, near Hotel des Academies et des Arts Paris. Hébuterne was taken to her parents’ home, where, inconsolable, she threw herself out of a fifth-floor window two days after Modigliani’s death, killing herself and her unborn child. Modigliani was interred in Père Lachaise Cemetery. Hébuterne was buried at the Cimetière de Bagneux near Paris, and it was not until 1930 that her embittered family allowed her body to be moved to rest beside Modigliani.

Modigliani stayed at Hotel des Academies et des Arts Paris
Arty hotel in Montparnasse, Paris