The Liberation of Paris

"Crowds celebrating the liberation of the city" Robert Capa (August 25, 1944)

Today marks the seventieth anniversary of the Liberation of Paris on August 25, 1944, an event which had begun a week earlier with an uprising by the French Resistance. The arrival of the Free French Army of Liberation and Patton’s Third Army on the 25th saw the capture of the military governor of Paris, General Dietrich von Choltitz, and subsequent surrender of the Germans. After four years of occupation, the City of Lights was free. Covering the momentous event for Life Magazine was famed war photographer Robert Capa.

"French soldiers fighting against the Germans during the liberation of the city" Robert Capa (August 25, 1944)Capa, who had already taken some of the most famous photographs of the war, was determined to be among the first to enter the city that he had once called home. After some frustrating attempts to follow the US Army, Capa went in with General Leclerc’s French 2nd Armoured Division. Travelling in a jeep with Time correspondent Charles Wertenbaker and their driver, Pvt Hubert Strickland, Capa entered Paris shortly after Leclerc’s tank at 9:40 am.

"Soldiers of the French 2nd Armoured Division being welcomed as they travel down Les Champs-Elysées" Robert Capa (August 26, 1944)

"German troops started shooting against the parade celebrating the liberation of the city" Robert Capa (August 26, 1944)

There was much rejoicing as troops drove into the city. Parisians flocked into the streets, greeting liberators with hugs and kisses, and shouts of “merci.” Many broke into song, many cried. Sniper attacks throughout the day brought temporary halts to the celebrating but nothing could stop the jubilant feeling in the air. Capa took photos of it all, revellers and collaborators, Resistance fighters and German soldiers. The next day he rode in General Charles de Gaulle’s parade down the Champs-Elysées. When sniper bullets rang out, he stood taking photos while people ducked for cover.

Having already set up a temporary Time Inc. office at the Hotel Scribe, Capa and Wertenbaker were soon joined by fellow photographers and correspondents who continued to arrive daily. Ernest Hemingway, who had already liberated the bar at the Ritz, stopped by as well. Capa would stay on in Paris for two months before leaving on another assignment.

"Capa on the back of a jeep. pointing his camera at the photographer. George Rodger is to his right." Ralph Morse (August 1944)

Capa would go on to cover the rest of the war. But he would never forget August 25, 1944, later referring to it as “the most unforgettable day in the world.”

To see more images of the Liberation of Paris, visit here.

Happy Birthday, Mrs. Parker!

"Dorothy Parker behind Harold Ross' house" Florence Vandamm (1924)

Dorothy Parker was born on August 22, 1893 in Long Branch, New Jersey. She was a great American wit, writer, defender of civil rights, cocktail drinker, lover of dogs, and my longtime role model. In honour of her birthday, why not pick up a copy of The Portable Dorothy Parker or read the interview she gave to the Paris Review in 1956. And be sure to raise a glass (or two) and say, Happy Birthday, Mrs. Parker!

Time Doth Flit

"Emma Smith" Robert Doisneau (1948)

“Time doth flit; oh shit.”—Dorothy Parker

You said it, Mrs. Parker. Here we are, already half-way through August, summer almost gone, and my best laid plans for this blog have gone astray. I am blaming this solely on the fact that all I've done this summer is work—no vacations, no long weekends, no long rambles with the camera. Just work. But with things starting to settle down into a routine more or less, there should be some new tales popping up here shortly. Until then, please be patient with your tired author; there's a list a mile long of posts I want to share with you and promise to do so. Until then, please be sure and follow me on twitter and instagram where I've managed to make more routine appearances.

Farewell to a Legend

This is a week filled with sadness. First came the terrible shocking news about Robin Williams and now, less than 24 hours later, the announcement that Lauren Bacall has passed away at the age of 89. The woman known for the "look" (chin down, eyes tilted upwards) and that voice was one of the last stars of Hollywood's Golden Age. 

Born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924 in the Bronx, she studied drama and worked as an usher and model before director Howard Hawks brought her to Hollywood, where he put her under contract and changed her name to Lauren Bacall (she never liked the new moniker and had her friends call her Betty). 

Her film debut was in Hawks' To Have and Have Not (1944) in which she was cast opposite Humphrey Bogart. She was 19 and the new kid; he was 25 years her senior and a huge star. Yet Bogie and Bacall had an immediate chemistry that heated up the screen, and they were paired together three more times in The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), and Key Largo (1948), becoming one of the most famous couples in film history.

Off screen the two fell in love during the making of their first film and were married after Bogie obtained a divorce from his third wife. They had two children together and remained happily married until Bogie's death from cancer in 1957.

Bacall continued to act both on the screen and stage, winning two Tonys for Applause (1970) and Woman of the Year (1981), and wrote a best-selling autobiography, By Myself (1979). Never afraid to speak her mind, she was politically active and a lifelong supporter of Democratic causes. She went on to marry another great actor, Jason Robards, with whom she had a son (that marriage ended in divorce). Yet she will forever be linked to Bogie. 

While Bacall starred in many good films, her best ones remain the four she made with Bogie. All of them are classics starting with To Have and Have Not in which she delivered her most famous lines. After kissing Bogie, Bacall starts to leave the room only to stop at the door and say, "You know you don’t have to act with me, Steve. You don’t have to say anything, and you don’t have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and… blow." The stuff of legends. Farewell, Lauren Bacall.

Summer Art

"USA. New York City. Little Italy" Leonard Freed (1956)

While my busy schedule this summer caused me to miss some art exhibits (Kara Walker at the Domino Sugar Factory), I did manage to sneak in some gallery and museum visits. Here are some of the things I saw.

The late Magnum photographer Leonard Freed had a lifelong love affair with Italy and its people and an exhibit at the Leica Gallery New York showcases some of the many images he took over a period of 50 years in Milan, Naples, Rome, Sicily, and New York's Little Italy. His photos wonderfully depict everyday people going about their daily lives—working, playing, celebrating weddings and religious holidays—perfectly capturing the essence of a place and culture. At the Leica Gallery through August 9, 2014.

"Actress Sophia Loren in Italy" David "Chim" Seymour (1955)

Contact sheets give viewers insight into a photographer’s creative process and the recent “Magnum Contact Sheets” exhibit at the Milk Gallery was a photography fan’s dream with examples from some of Magnum's greatest photographers on display including Rene Burri’s iconic images of Che Guevara, David “Chim” Seymour’s shots of a sultry Sophia Loren, Eve Arnold’s behind the scenes images of the doomed cast of The Misfits, and one of Elliott Erwitt’s famed dog shoots. The exhibit is sadly over but if you have the money to spare, you can purchase the book, Magnum Contact Sheets.

"Real Gabinete Português de Leitura (Royal Portuguese Reading Room)" Caio Reisewitz (2004)

One of the current exhibits at the International Center of Photography is devoted to the work of Brazilian artist Caio Reisewitz who creates large-scale colour photographs of locations in his country that are stunningly beautiful. One of my favourites is of the interior of the Real Gabinete Português de Leitura; it's so big you feel like you could step right inside. Also included in the show are small photo collages where urban scenes are found within the wilds of the Brazilian forest. At the ICP through September 7, 2014.

"A Certain Slant of Light" by Spencer Finch on a Sunday afternoon. Photo by Michele.

“A Certain Slant of Light” by Spencer Finch is just simply beautiful. With 365 films of colour placed onto the glass walls of the Morgan Library and Museum’s Gilbert Court and with additional ones hanging on glass panels, the result is a daily change in light patterns. Inspired by the library’s collection of medieval Books of Hours, the films have been arranged strategically to correspond with the changing seasons and the red panels symbolize important birthdays of such people as Emily Dickinson. This is an exhibit I plan on seeing again on multiple visits. At the Morgan through January 11, 2015.

"Balloon Dog (Yellow)" Jeff Koons (1994-2000)

The large Jeff Koons Retrospective at the Whitney Museum is the museum’s last major exhibit before they move to their new space in the Meatpacking District next year. While I’ve never been a big Koons fan there is much here to like: his oversized balloon dogs and giant hanging heart are delightful and there’s his sculpture of Buster Keaton and of course Michael Jackson and his monkey, Bubbles, in full porcelain glory. But then there’s “Sponge Shelf,” which is literally a stack of kitchen sponges, and pieces from the “Made in Heaven” series featuring Koons and his then wife, the former Italian porn star La Cicciolina, that just leave me shaking my head. At the Whitney through October 19, 2014.

The War to End All Wars

"Line of marching soldiers on ridge" (1917)

This year marks the centennial of the start of World War I, which began on July 28, 1914, when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia after the assassination the month before of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo. Four long years later, on November 11, 1918, an Armistice was signed and the war was over at a cost of 21 million military and civilian wounded and 16 million dead.

"The war to end all wars" saw the maps of Europe and the Middle East reconfigured; the collapse of four empires—Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, German, and Russian; and an entire generation of young men in countries like France and Great Britain practically wiped out. Meanwhile America, who had entered the war late in 1917, became a world powerhouse while Europe struggled to recover; communism and fascism both made advances and the seeds of World War II were planted with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.  

"Royal Irish Rifles ration party, Somme" (July, 1916)

This was a war like none before. Soldiers bunkered down in trenches (which at one point ran nearly 400 miles), allowing neither side to gain much traction resulting in a stalemate that prolonged the war. Meanwhile, they contended with new weapons of war including machine guns, poison gas, and tanks as well as the introduction of aerial warfare.

Yet out of the ashes of the war emerged what is arguably the most important group of writers and artists of the 20th century, the Lost Generation, whose works reflected their experiences and the effects of the war. With a jolt, World War I forced the world to leave the Victorian age behind and jump into the Modern Age. As Paul Fussell points out in his book, The Great War and Modern Memory, the romanticized language used at the beginning of the war by the likes of Rupert Brooke who described the blood of young men as “the red/Sweet wine of youth” would become "not the least of the ultimate causalities of war." 

And so with the arrival of the centennial, many ceremonies will be held beginning this week. Today, European leaders and royalty gathered in Liege, Belgium to mark the day that Germany invaded Belgium and Britain in turn declared war on Germany.  And in Britain, lights were turned out for an hour and a single candle lit, a nod to what their then foreign minister, Edward Grey, said at the time, "The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.”

"British soldier inspecting grave of fellow soldier near Ypres." (circa 1918) 

Remembering World War I is important—there are connections that can be drawn to events happening in the world today and lessons to be learned. Above all, World War I reminds us of the horror that is war and that battle is anything but glorious.

In the words of the brilliant poet Wilfred Owen who was killed in action on November 4, 1918, just one week before the end of the war:

“If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory

That old lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori.”