Fall of 1995
PARIS -- Here we are, Art Tourists in Paris, and the last thing we want to see are realistic paintings inside a museum after climbing up from the dank metro at the Louvre stop. It's Indian Summer even though Parisians would call it Summer of St. Martin, and the sky is only minimally covered by what I'd come to think of as Paris Gray. So we just stroll around the Louvre plaza and see the new I.M. Pei pyramid.
Across the courttyard is a flesh colored version of Rodin's The Thinker. Maybe a little thinner than the bronze version. This is my first visit to Paris and I'm with my husband and kids and a French woman we knew from our hometown and we're all staring at the sculpture. We're from Colorado, and so is an artist named John D'Andrea, who made life-like sculpture by making a mold of people, casting their form in plastic and then meticulously painting them to look realistic.
The Thinker stands up and then strikes the pose of Michaelango's David and we realize it's actually a man. Then, he became a Duane Hansen sculpture covered by a trench coat as police hauled him off for indecent exposure. Our Parisian guide and friend is embarrassed. She feels bad that the city has made a bad impression on our kids. But she's wrong.
Back in school, when asked, 'what was your favorite part of the trip to Europe?' my nine-year-old daughter says, 'The Naked Man at the Louvre.'
PARIS -- Here we are, Art Tourists in Paris, and the last thing we want to see are realistic paintings inside a museum after climbing up from the dank metro at the Louvre stop. It's Indian Summer even though Parisians would call it Summer of St. Martin, and the sky is only minimally covered by what I'd come to think of as Paris Gray. So we just stroll around the Louvre plaza and see the new I.M. Pei pyramid.
Across the courttyard is a flesh colored version of Rodin's The Thinker. Maybe a little thinner than the bronze version. This is my first visit to Paris and I'm with my husband and kids and a French woman we knew from our hometown and we're all staring at the sculpture. We're from Colorado, and so is an artist named John D'Andrea, who made life-like sculpture by making a mold of people, casting their form in plastic and then meticulously painting them to look realistic.
The Thinker stands up and then strikes the pose of Michaelango's David and we realize it's actually a man. Then, he became a Duane Hansen sculpture covered by a trench coat as police hauled him off for indecent exposure. Our Parisian guide and friend is embarrassed. She feels bad that the city has made a bad impression on our kids. But she's wrong.
Back in school, when asked, 'what was your favorite part of the trip to Europe?' my nine-year-old daughter says, 'The Naked Man at the Louvre.'
