Exposition sur le cinéma/Exhibition on film La Berthenoux

Français (English below):

Grâce à Facebook, j'ai (Gunnar) rencontré un homme qui s'appelle Gérard Prugnaud, qui a travaillé comme professeur, mais qui est aujourd'hui à la retraite.

Toute sa vie il s'est intéressé au cinéma et il a collectionné des objets utilisés qu'on a utilisé pour créer des films mais aussi des objets dérivés de différent films et aussi des journaux de cinéma.

L'exposition a été montrée dans la bibliothèque de La Berthenoux.

L'exposition est composé par Gérard avec des objets de sa collection et c'ést intéressant de trouver de vieilles caméras, super-8 et le 'clap' original utilisé par Jacques Tati quand il a tourné le film Jour de Fête.

Ce film (Jour de fête) a été tourné pas loin d’où j'habite, La Châtre, et pas loin de La Berthenoux non plus, à Sainte-Sévère. Dans cette ville on peut aujourd'hui trouver  un musée dédié à ce film et sa réalisation, inauguré en 2009.

Nous n'avons pas de photos de l'exposition en soi (sauf les deux au-dessus), mais l'exposition reste en place jusqu'au 30 mars, ce qui vous donne la possibilité de la visiter si vous n'habitez pas loin de La Berthenoux.

English:

Through Facebook I (Gunnar) 'met' a man by the name of Gerard Prugnaud, having worked as a professor, now being retired from his work.

All his life he has had an interest in film/the movies, collecting items used making films and stemming from films but also journals about film.
This exhibition was displayed in the library in La Berthenoux.

It's put together by Gerard from his own collection and it was interesting to find some older film cameras, super-8:s and the original clapper board Tati used in his film Jour de Fête.

The latter film (Jour de Fête) was made not far from La Châtre, where I live and not far from La Berthenoux either, in Sainte-Sévère, where we today find a museum dedicated to that film and its realisation.

Now we don't have so many photographs from the exhibition (except the two at the top) but it continues to the 30th of March wherefore you can visit it if you're nearby.

On the other hand we will show you La Berthenoux through our photos.

Issoudun: Musée de l'Hospice Saint-Roch, La Tour Blanche

Thanks to my mother-in-law, Aurore and I got the chance visiting
Issoudun and - among other sites - the museum mentioned above.

Aurore had earlier passed through this town but never visited it properly and this time it was in association with the organization Les Amis du Vieux-La Châtre (photo above), a local body trying to promote the interest for the town of La Châtre and Indre/Berry. We recently became members.

The work within this organization is carried out through different foras and events and one also visit different sites in the region, considered having a historical and cultural value worth preserving and promoting. This day we visited the town of Issoudun and the Museum L'Hospice Saint-Roch.

The latter was a religious medical center or institution ("Hôtel-Dieu"/"Hostel of God") and convent or monastery (for men and women), founded during the 12th century and at first accomodating nuns and monks from the same order, pilgrims and beggars but gradually developing into a hospital for the sick and poor.

The fortunes enabling this work came from the taxes or customs duty the ruler of Issoudun - Raoul III - in 1206 gave them the right to demand from each and every wagon coming into town ("le droit de prendre une bûche par charroi qui entre dans Issoudun"). These taxes and gifts constituted the basic fortune of the institution.
Fearing not being buried under religious forms, the sovereign (Raoul III), had to establish a testament in which all of or part of his riches would be donated to the church, in exchange for eternal salvation.
Before the French Revolution "l'Hospice d'Issoudun" had become a very rich institution, considered as one of the most important ones in the 'county' of Berry nursing the sick and poor but also assuming responsibility for children left at the institution by parents to poor to take care of their offspring.

Through a decision by the municipality in 1864, a museum displaying the history of Issoudun, was created.
First it was located to the mayoral building but in 1908 it was moved to the old presbyteri of the Saint-Cyr church. When this building, during WWII was bombed (18th of June 1940), the museum reopened in the current premises in 1966.

The museum not only displays ancient historical artifacts from Issoudun but also other interesting cultural items from France but also Africa and other parts of the world.
Contemporary artists are also displayed, this time - among others - the Norwegian artist Anna-Eva Bergman (Exposition Anna-Eva Bergman en français).
The entrance is free if charge!


After this we went to Château de Frapesle (information in French through the link) where the current owner, Monsieur Luneau, told us about this property, once bought by Rémy Tourangin, whos dauther, Zulma Carraud, became a close friend of Honoré de Balzac. This lead to that Balzac spent some time during the summers in this house and there writing some of his well known novels.


Later on we continued with a guided tour around the town and among other sites, we visited "La Tour Blanch" ("The White Tower"), a defence tower built in 1198 by Richard the Lionheart, at the time when this part of the town in fact was in the hands of the English.
Not long though, as it was regained by the French in the beginning of the 13th century.
No enemies has ever succeeded in conquer and invade this tower.
Within the walls of this fortress/prison one can find graffiti from prisoners, and from the motives one can see that there have been both Jewish and Muslim prisoners confined in this tower.
On the top of the tower, there were a free space where one had a lovely panorama over the city (below). In this photo one can see one of the churches in town and the red and white wooden house being the most ancient house in town, built during late 15th century and today housing the Tourist Office.



(Photo of Les Amis du Vieux-La Châtre copied from: http://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/indre/ACTUALITE/Infos-Departementales/Les-Amis-du-Vieux-La-Chatre-visitent-la-ville)

Staging Power. Napoléon, Karl Johan, Alexander

As we have a good friend working at the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm - The Museum of Fine Arts - we were given the opportunity not only to meet her but also having her as a guide on the above mentioned exhibition.

This exhibiton wants to convey an insight in to the fashion the above rulers wanted to be and were depicted in art and how this aimed at strengthen their power and make their compatriotes fear or respect them.
It also gave them an aura of being appointed by God, as was the common thoughts and terminology at the time.
What one display is the art of "governing through art" and how this also strenghtened the despots and their position among other rulers.
The ruler who could afford the greatest artistst to immortalize them, using the most expensive materials, was of course in a way the most powerful.
The interesting thing about this exhibition and the guiding by our friend was in part to see all the magnificent pieces of art, the room of Jean Baptiste Bernadotte (Karl Johan) and others but also some of the stories behind the 'staging' of the exhibition.

Three countries with different administrative cultures were to cooperate around this exhibition and it wasn't always they succeeded in doing so in a smooth way.
One of the items displayed was three busts representing Napoléon, Alexander I and Jean Baptiste Bernadotte.
Napoléon had been placed above the two others and this was not to the liking of the Russians who complained about this arrangement.
The museum answered that first of all one have to admit that Napoléon was the most powerful leader of the three at the time and secondly that this is the way "we do it in Sweden".
The Russians had to accept it!

Another issue was the questions about insurances for all the different works of art and some wanted very precise assertions about how this was going to be handled, while not always being as rigourous the other way around.

It was however a very interesting exhibition with a lot of extremely fine art and artistic work and when our friend had left us, to continue to work, we took a second look at the 'Staging Power'.

(Picture of Napoléon I taken from: http://blog.goldini.com/images/45737-41649/Napoleon.jpg)
(Picture of Alexander I taken from: http://www.svenskhistoria.se/nyhetsbrev/userfiles/image/1809b.jpg)
(Picture of Karl Johan/Jean Baptiste Bernadotte taken from: http://nationalmuseum.se/Global/utst%C3%A4llningar/H%C3%A4rskarkonst/bernadotte_282xxx.jpg)

Exposition " Nuances, lumières et reflets" - Hôtel de Villaines à La Châtre Du 5 juin au 27 juin 2010

This is an exhibition we haven't yet visited and I (Gunnar) will probably visit this one on my own, as Aurore is no fan of photo exhibitions.

Christian Saint-Louis is a photographer who, in his photos, tries to capture the light in all its diversity, depicting both Indre and Loire but also making journeys to Germany and the Nordic Countries.
In the only photo displayed on the internet site of Hôtel de Villaines (the exhibition hall) one can see a mill that very much resembles the mills on the island Öland in the southern part of Sweden, the same island where my mother was borned and raised, the very same island I used to spend my summers during the 1960's and 1970's.
If it's a photo from this island, I can't say but I will 'investigate' it.

Information in French/Information en Français:

Exposition: "Nuances, lumières et reflets" - Hôtel de Villaines à La Châtre".

Exposition de photographies de Christian Saint Louis

Exposition d’une cinquantaine de photographies de paysages de l’Indre, de la Loire jusqu’aux contrées plus lointaines de l’Europe du Nord avec pour fil conducteur la volonté de saisir et de capturer les variations de la lumière.

(Photo taken from La Nouvelle Republique with the information: Christian Saint-Louis et Maurice Bourg, adjoint à la culture lors du vernissage. - - Photo NR)

Hôtel de Villaines à La Châtre: Women of Resistance

Vous trouvez le texte concernant l'exposition en français ci-dessous.

In the exhibition hall in La Châtre we looked at an exhibition displaying the resistance movement in France and in other parts of the world.

It began with a presentation of the French women who fought in the resistance movement during WWII.

It also gave a presentation of the women from other countries fighting for the liberation of France and even fighting in this area of France, Le Centre.

These women came from Poland, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain, Hungary and many other countries (though not Sweden of course!).

The exhibition then went on to present women fighting for human rights all over the world, with names like Taslima Nasreen, Anna Politkovskaia, Shirin Ebadi, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Aung San Suu Kyi, Mother Teresa and others.

Below follows the informational text in French:

« Résistance(s) » est une double exposition qui se décline autour du thème universel et intemporel de la résistance et de l’engagement : il a semblé intéressant d’associer ces deux expositions qui abordent à leur manière (historique, photographique ou documentaire) le sujet universel et intemporel de la Résistance et du combat.

« Parcourir un tel témoignage en faveur de la reconnaissance des femmes, aussi universel, aussi contemporain, ne peut que nous encourager toutes à poursuivre nos combats. »
Talisma Nasreen, écrivaine bangladaise, Prix Sakharov 1994

- Grandes résistantes contemporaines

Exposition de Pierre-Yves Ginet

Présentation de l’engagement continu de « nos » grandes résistantes aux femmes emblèmes de la paix dans le monde à travers 26 portraits de grandes figures féminines engagées.

Des combats contemporains des grandes résistantes françaises de la seconde guerre mondiale à Anna Politkovskia, nombreuses sont les femmes qui écrivent l’histoire de notre temps. Pour elles, lutter est souvent un mode de vie, comme le montre l’engagement de nos grandes résistantes, ici ou ailleurs, hier comme aujourd’hui, reconnues ou non...

A travers le prisme du rôle de ces femmes, l’exposition aborde des questions-clés telles que le respect des minorités, des luttes contre des lois injustes, les combats pour gagner une citoyenneté pleine et entière...

Cette exposition a été crée avec le Centre d’Histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation de Lyon. Elle est une réalisation de Pierre-Yves Ginet, photojournaliste attaché à la prestigieuse agence Rapho. Son travail est exclusivement dédié à ce projet depuis 1998 et l’exposition concrétise son intention de témoigner des actions conduites de par le monde par des femmes ou groupes de femmes, en matière de respect et de préservation des droits humains, de solidarité.

Sur ce thème, aucun photographe n’avait jamais poussé si loin son étude.

- Les étrangers dans la résistance (1939-1945)

Exposition du Musée de la Résistance Nationale (Champigny-sur-Marne)

Présentation de l’engagement des étrangers dans la résistance sous l’occupation allemande sous la forme de 16 panneaux illustrés et commentés.

On très peu parlé des étrangers dans l’histoire de la Résistance. Ils sont venus de lieux et pour des raisons différentes s’engager dans le combat de la France Libre.

Certains étaient des antifascistes allemands qui choisirent de quitter leur pays dès l’avènement de Hitler en 1933, d’autres sont venus d’Espagne pour fuir Franco à partir des années 1935-1936.
Certains, encore, que l’on qualifiait de MOI (Main d’Œuvre Immigrée), venus travailler en France se sont regroupés autour de Nissak Manouchian pour lutter contre le régime fasciste et collaborationniste.
(JPG)
Olga Bancic

Olga Bancic était de ceux là. Juive, née en Roumanie en 1912, elle vit à Paris quand éclate la guerre. Elle s’engage auprès des FTP MOI de la région parisienne et aux côtés de leur chef Manouchian. Elle est arrêtée par la gestapo et emprisonnée en Allemagne. Elle sera décapitée à la hache dans la cour de la prison de Stuttgart, le jour de son 32ème anniversaire, le 10 mai 1944.

Dans des vitrines seront présentés des archives et documents de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, comme autant de témoignages locaux de l’engagement des étrangers et des femmes dans la Résistance. Un panneau évoquera tout particulièrement l’engagement des étrangers dans la résistance, dans le département de l’Indre.

Un prénommé « Julius » sera évoqué. Ancien soldat des armées nazies, il choisira de déserter la base de la Martinerie et de rejoindre le maquis Indre-Est, près de La Châtre. Il fournira des informations importantes, transmises à Londres.

Dans le cadre de la journée nationale de la création du Conseil National de la Résistance, le 27 mai 1943, le comité local de l’ANACR commémorera cet évènement le jeudi 27 mai 2010 par une cérémonie de remise de gerbe et de parcours tout au long de la rue nationale jusqu’au monument aux Morts. A cette occasion, et ce comme chaque année, les écoles, collèges et lycées de la région seront associés au défilé.

(Photo Aung San Suu Kyi copied from: http://www.buddhachannel.tv/portail/local/cache-vignettes/L260xH320/aung_san_suu_kyi-3-c5552.jpg)
(Photo Rigoberto Menchu copied from: http://www.literaturismena.com/espacehispano/rigoberta_menchu/0819_rmt.jpg)
(Photo Shirin Ebadi copied from: http://www.smh.com.au/ffxImage/urlpicture_id_1070732295389_2003/12/11/240shirin_ebadi,0.jpg)
(Photo Taslima Nesrin copied from; http://www.hindu.com/2007/10/06/images/2007100660621301.jpg)
(Photo Anna Politkovskaia copied from: http://www.elle.fr/var/plain_site/storage/images/societe/news/un-documentaire-sur-anna-politkovskaia-au-cinema/12717150-1-fre-FR/Un-documentaire-sur-Anna-Politkovskaia-au-cinema_mode_une.jpg)

Chopin en Berry Château d'Ars

Today we visited Château d'Ars.

As we (you?) celebrate the bicentennial of the above great composer and as he had strong links to Berry and specifically Nohant and George Sand, Château d'Ars opens an exhibition displaying Chopin and his 'summer holidays' in Berry with Sand and others.
The ambition with this exhibition is to show Nohant and Berry as an imaginary Poland, the juvel case for his composition and reveal another Chopin, far away from the Parisian salons, planted into the more intimate world with shared friendship among people he more or less loved.
In this it evokes the years in Nohant 1839-1846, during which he also composed some of his finest works (as I've mentioned before).

One have chosen this castle - Château d'Ars - some kilometers from Nohant (the latter since long a museum displaying the life and works of George Sand, the different well known writers,painters and musicians visiting her, her private theater and the puppet theater of her son, Maurice among other things) a beautiful renaissance castle where Chopin often used to be, visting his friend doctor Gustave Papet, a close friend to George Sand and att the time the proprietor of this castle.

On Saturdays there will be muscial interludes.


(Photo poster copied from: http://www.musees.regioncentre.fr/Actualite/expositions_crois_%C2%AB_chopin_berry_chopin_europ_%C2%BB-1435.html?idcat=B)

Victor Hugo raconté par les caricaturistes du 19ème siècle

After the Clash of the Titans we visited the exhibition hall in La Châtre, taking a look at another titan, namely Victor Hugo, or rather caricatures of him.

There were about thirty caricatures from contemporary newspapers, with a time span between 1835 and 1885, displaying how one saw Hugo at the time with both negative and positive comments concerning his life and works.
I would say that the positive aspects predominated.
Displayed was also scenographic notes with texts presenting the caricature as an art form of the nineteenth century, how it developed, why and who the artists were.
Of course - I'm inclined to write - there were also some caricatures depicting George Sand and her friends, being - as we are - in the geographical center of the romantic movement in France.
These caricatures also conveyed to us insights into the daily life, not least the political life of the epoch, not least Victor Hugo's struggle for what he thought was right and righteousness.
He was a giant, not only as a writer but also as a politician, debater and intellectual, not always appreciated by all of course.

The artists whos oeuvres we get to see some glimpses of, are: Daumier, Grandville, Faustin, Roubaud, Philipon ("the Father of Political Caricature") and others.


(Photo caricature Victor Hugo copied from: http://www.pays-george-sand.com/Exposition-Victor-Hugo-raconte-par)

L'Academie du Berry à Déols

A couple of weeks ago we received an invitation to a conference with L'Academie du Berry, in French called: Seance Solennelle de Déols.

The invitation came from the chairman (le Président) of this academy, Alain Bilot, an old friend to my mother- and father-in-law and subsequently a friend of ours.

The academy aim at promoting and enriching the cultural heritage and life in Berry, the very landscape in which we - among other cities - find La Châtre.
The name Berry is ancient and today this region is divided between the two départements (administrative division) Indre and Cher.

This day started at 10.30 a.m. and ended at 5.30 p.m.

It all started with an interesting lecture about Déols, the monastery/abbey - Abbaye Notre-Dame-du-Bourg-Dieu - and its history, presented to us by monsieur Michel Delaume a member of L'Academie and historian.

This monastery has a long history dating back to the 10th century (built between the 10th and 14th century) and also being very important in the history of the Christian Church in France.
In this abbey resided one or more popes in the early history of this church building, at the time immensely big, covering many achers.

This day also included the reception of a new member to the Academy, namely Jean-Yves Clément, writer, editor and artistic director for Festival des Fêtes romantiques de Nohant and a passionate lover of Frédéric Chopin and the Romantic Movement on the whole.
He brought two books he had written about different aspects in the life of Chopin:
Les deux âmes de Frédéric Chopin and Nuits de l'âme 21 poèmes d'après les 21 nocturnes de Frédéric Chopin.

The title of his lecture was: "Franz, Frédéric et mot, de Bourges à Châteauroux... Itinéraire d'un Berrichon romantique".

He told us that Chopin in some way had followed him through the years even if he doesn't listen to his music each and everyday.

One of the first composers I started playing when studying the piano, was Chopin and the first piece of music by Chopin was one of his nocturnes, but which one? I don't remember.

A very nice day and outside the sun was shining, warming us outside and in and after the soul and spirit had been nurtured our abdomens was likewise nurtured, with a lovely dinner nearby.

Below some pictures from the event:

(Above)
The chair of the chairman, monsieur Bilot
(Above) The famous(?) sword with which 
the Academy (should) 'knight' their new members.

(Above) 
Monsieur Bilot waving his hands, using his body to talk and explain 

and beside him the newly 'knighted' Jean-Yves Clément, among others.

At the table - second from the left - we find monsieur Jacques Viard, restorer/conservationist, working with church-/mural paintings, not only in Berry but all over France.

He was awarded Prix de l'Académie du Berry 2009/2010, for his excellent work in different churches, preserving the cultural heritage.

He is above all interested in churchpaintings from the 18th century.
We had the pleasure meeting him last summer when working in one of the local churches in Indre.

(Above) Two of many figures in the old abbey, 

some of them depicting then existing people - 

noone knows who they were - 

others (like these ones) more mythological figures.

(Above) This is one of the wooden ports, 

earlier at the surface but throughout the centuries 

now having been placed under ground level.

(Above) To the right, me, Gunnar, 
listening to the historian M. Didier Dubant.

(Above) The very same monsieur Dubant 
animating the history aorund the abbey, for me and others.

(Above) In this photo we are looking at 
the model of the original abbey.

Laterna Magica @ Cinémathèque française

Lanterne magique : tempête
envoyé par lacinematheque. - Court métrage, documentaire et bande annonce.

! Exhibition closing on the 28th March!

Aurore and I went to to see this exhibition and this was for me (Gunnar) the first visit ever to Cinématheque Française.
We went there after having queued outside the Pinacothèque de Paris in order to visit an exhibition with paintings by Edvard Munch. Unfortunately we hadn't bought tickets beforehand and the queue was at least fifty meters long and as it was quite windy that day we went on to Cinématheque Française.
The exhibition with Lanterne Magique/The Magic Lantern/Laterna Magica, was incredibly interesting, not least for cinephiles and -asts.
We were not only given examples of the Magic Lantern and how it could be designed but also how it worked, including an animated show with a member of the staff at the museum.
The design could be very different from Lanterne to Lanterne, from very simple to more elaborated and imaginative, depending on the wealth of the owner.
We were also given examples of the different handmade and handcoloured pictures used for this apparatus.
These were real masterpieces in many cases, very well made and from the Seventeenth Century, or older.
Early on in the history of the Magic Lantern there were 'colporteurs' walking around selling these 'mysterious' devises and showing how they worked.
Even pornographic pictures were early on displayed in the history of this apparatus. This after it had become more widely known and one tried to diversify the supply of pictures.
We were given the opportunity to see these photos too and in many cases they were - almost - as advanced as the pornographic pictures and films today.
You can read more about the function of the Magic Lantern through the links.
The exhibition was comprehensive and we learnt a lot about the development of both this predecessor of the cinema and cinematographic machines but also about all the different artists and inovators working to improve this formidable invention.
After this we took a short look at the permanent exhibition - as we had spent a lot of time with the above - but I must say that it wasn't at all as impressing as I had imagined.

Aurore says that this has to do with the fact that the items displayed today stems from Henri Langlois, the founder of the Cinématheque in Paris, meaning that what we see is 'his' collection, not 'the' collection of cinema.
This is somewhat like the Dance Museum in Stockholm, built upon the collection of Rolf de Maré, the Swedish art collector and leader of Ballet Suèdois in Paris during the 1920's, leading us to imagine that dance as an art form or as a mean to express feelings and rythm, was created by Maré or the Swedes.
When Aurore many years ago visited the permanent exhbition at Cinématheque Française, before the new Cinématheque opened, she found it more interesting.
We'll give it another chance next time we visit Paris.

Maison de Jour de Fête

At last!

As I have been jobless since the 8th of February from 4.30 PM, we decided to use our spare time to experience cultural events during this my unemployment time.

On the 9th, we went to Sainte-Sévère in order to visit the Scénovision about Jour de Fête. We were 10 people between 3 and 50 years old and all enjoyed the enchantment of the place.

This making of/exhibition/screening is rather well executed. It can be improved though. One big minus is the absence of other languages than French, in principal meaning that foreign visitors have to improve or learn French before visiting this museum?

François et moi, Gunnar