‘Art Hiding In Paris A Perfect Companion For Exploring The City Of Light

No city has more art than Paris and no city has more art than Paris. The ornate facades of the buildings illuminate each area from all directions. Countless statues, monuments and fountains make up the largest outdoor sculpture park in the world. Impressive modern Eiffel Tower.

There is so much art in Paris, much of it outdoors, that many visitors don't even notice the signs they pass on their way to museums or cafés.

Following the success of Art Hiding 2020 in New York, Laurie Zimmer returns to Paris with Art Hiding (November 29, 2022; Running Press), another insightful and lively tour of parks, cafes, alleys, churches and cemeteries. Train stations, hotel lobbies, and in this case cabarets, draw attention to charming works of art that are usually overlooked throughout Paris.

Like a pair of giant globes, each 20 feet in diameter, commissioned by Louis XIV.

A mural restored in 2020 shows Charlie Chaplin for the first time since the Nazi occupation.

Sundial by Salvador Dali.

New York native Zimmer began spending a good chunk of every summer in Paris in 2017, a ritual he's continued this year, and 2020 is no exception. When France began accepting American tourists in June 2021, it was his first return trip, his final research and writing for this book.

Despite all his previous summers and travels, Zimmer prepared expertly for "Art Hiding in Paris."

"I'm going to go to all these things anyway, that's how I spend my holidays, so it makes sense that if I'm (in Paris) and whatever, I can start writing about the problem my eyes open,” he said. says Forbes.com.

Stylish and easy to pack into a backpack or tote, Art Hiding in Paris is a travel companion for exploring the city, and each entry includes the arrondissement – the neighborhood – the artworks to find as well as their address. A map and index help visitors combine multiple sites into a single visit. Zimmer also offers a series of self-guided walks – "Left Bank Lunch", "Montmartre Morning" – for travelers to make the most of their limited time.

Zimmer's childhood friend, Maria Krasinski, has also returned from an art stash in New York to hide art in Paris.

Picasso sat here

In Woody Allen's ecstatic homage to the midnight city of Paris, time traveler Wayne Wilson finds himself in 1920s Paris, partying with Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, debating literature with Ernest Hemingway, vying for a lover with Pablo Picasso and abandoning his revised document. By Gertrude Stein. Paris is art, yes, but there is no art without an artist.

Art Hidden in Paris not only references works of art across the city, but also shares with readers places where they can connect with cultural icons from the past.

Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, and Van Gogh often did, and art supply stores still stock brushes and paints. Cabaret where Louis Fuller and Josephine Baker danced. The historic place where Yoko Ono scattered a handful of Keith Haring's ashes. The studio where Picasso painted Guernica . The apartment Theo van Gogh shared with his brother.

The desire to see "the hidden art of Paris" and the city took root in the description of many Parisian cafes, bars and restaurants by their legendary former clientele. An entire chapter is devoted to "the gentlemen's table".

The Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec bistro invited Vincent van Gogh to drink absinthe with him. Brasserie where Diego Rivera, Hemingway and Amadeo Modigliani were regulars. Picasso's studio was right next door. The ballroom and open-air restaurant were immortalized in one of Renoir's greatest paintings.

Picasso, Modigliani, Hemingway, Man Ray, Max Ernst and their contemporaries frequented the various clubs in the city, as confirmed by "Art Hiding in Paris".

"It inspired me to go to the craziest little cafes; I love that these 'historic' people are still open-minded and love their heritage," Zimmer said. "But with the advantage of learning something and being able to take you back to another time."

"Midnight in Paris" for us.

Flaner's house

Flanders is amazing. An elegant man walks – on foot – usually alone – through the streets of a city, observing people and rituals. Urban adventurer. Edouard Manet was a classic Parisian flâneur.

Modern loafers will appreciate After all, "Art Hiding in Paris" is Zimmer for its pedestrian friendliness.

"I like to go out and be alone sometimes," she says. "More than in New York, when I'm in Paris for whatever reason, I rarely get on the train and look at the signs and think, 'Oh, it's only an hour and a half walk.'" In my head, I think it's perfectly fine anywhere else (it's crazy).

Hemingway's "Moving Fist" was written about Paris and that saying still holds true today. An endless feast for the eyes, ears, nose and mouth when experienced at street level, the sights, sounds, smells and tastes are as rich and intimate as mere walking.

Art in Paris has no shortage of hidden bus windows – at least not at full capacity – this is a book for the sidewalk, the curious, the slow traveler, the clever walker and the flowery.

City of Lights

Zimmer remembers creating the book: "Most street lamps gave off this yellow light, and it was the perfect light for writing." "I ran about 10 miles in the morning, checked everything out, then wrote all night in this light. It was cinematic."

Zimmer's writing style is short and simple, with a touch of humor. Take his description of the Paris Opera as "a temple of antique luxury" with "sculpture, gilding, crystal and elaborate opulence".

Since art is everywhere, her biggest challenge was editing.

"Determining what not to include was very difficult, and that was the hardest part," Zimmer said. "I tried to make it a mix of something (stage) that's special and something nobody knows about."

The marvelous and well-known fresco by Marc Chagall on the roof of the aforementioned Opera House is admired and photographed by thousands every year; In "Art Hiding in Paris" it is preceded by a sculpted portal that shares a medieval Romanesque just before.

"Paris has such diversity," Zimmer said of the city's public artwork. "Essentially, anything relating to the historical aspects of New York's '(artistic concealment)' took place after or during World War II, when Paris went through many different periods, such as the Belle Epoque and the inter -two wars, when the bohemian dream became reality.The book of Paris is more complete.

As for the difficult question: New York or Paris?

"Because I've been in New York for 17 years," Zimmer said, "I'm ready for Paris because I feel like I learned New York and I didn't learn Paris, and I love the unknown." "There's no place like New York, but Paris is a great place to be alone and do my research and my work, and I'm in that cycle with my life now."

New Yorkers, don't despair if you can't get enough of Zimmer's comments on the Big Apple. He's written vignettes for another book about empty New York City during the pandemic, this one with partner Logan Hicks — an artist himself — and his new book Still New York. It contains more than 100 photos from Hicks' notes of an eerily empty New York City during the lockdown.

For Art Hiding in Paris Easter Egg Krasinski, see page 230 for an image of Zimmer and Hicks and their beloved cat.

Zimmer has always wanted Paris to follow Art Hiding to New York, and while he's taking a break from the show to work on a completely different title, he hopes to return to Art Hiding in the future. Where will you be next?

London.

The mysterious object was filmed by the church camera