annegareunarosa

a found sketchbook

alba4 commenti

found among the things of someone who can’t tell me about it.
i guess she must have found it in turn; i don’t know when – no later than 2001, not sooner than 1997, i think – and i don’t know where: in england or wales, probably in london, but… forgotten on a bus? thrown away? among books in a charity shop?
i’m so curious because, in fact, i know whose this is. it’s a book of sketches and notes for the stage design of a theatre production, and inside the cover the designer wrote her address and the theatre’s.
maybe the luzern stadttheater production of the elixir of love is long gone – I couldn’t find it listed on the internet – maybe ms jacqueline gunn (hers are the lovely pictures below) doesn’t care anymore about having her sketchbook back.
but, i wonder: should the finder have sent it to the cover address? should i do so now? do i have the right to be here posting this?
(oh, if the author could read this and tell me! or maybe she could tell me: take it off your site, immediately, and burn it…)

 

paris, les halles

alba

after reading about le ventre de paris yesterday at chocolate&zucchini, and talking about film images of paris in a post of mine the day before, i thought i’d share a few 1960’s images of les halles.

left, a frame (or set picture?) from one of my favourite paris-american comedies, irma la douce, fictionalising the area, next to a real street scene from the neighbourhood (that’s from maurice rué, paris des poètes, hachette 1965). there’s an online exhibit about the film’s set designer, alexandre trauner, here (i didn’t know he made subway too). below, pictures scanned from qui parigi, touring club italiano, 1968 (sky views by alain perceval, photographs by giancarlo botti and monique valentin).

only at the end of 2003, the last time i’ve been to paris (where i’ve bought the gorgeous dress i’m wearing now, but i won’t digress), did i vist the interior of saint-eustache. i had been reading john berger’s the shape of a pocket (sacche di resistenza, giano editore, varese 2003), and wanted to see raymond mason’s sculpture: fruit and vegetables leaving paris, february 28, 1969. you can see it below, on a postcard bought on site and in a detail distorted by my partner’s eye.

of course i wanted to end on a catastrophic note showing something from ferreri’s movie non toccare la donna bianca, shot in the canyon-like excavations made after the demolition of the old pavilions, but i couldn’t find pictures online – i will have to search the books. update, 14.06.04: tournage di ferreri e altre immagini cinematografiche delle halles sul sito dedicato ai progetti di riqualificazione (finalmente) dell’area. update, 3.06.04: aggiungo qualche immagine dal dvd della mgm di irma la dolce.