A Modern Slice of Paris: Bibliotheque Francois Mitterrand

The area surrounding the François Mitterrand branch of the Bibliothèque nationale de France is one of my favorite sites in all of Paris. It’s a sparsely populated, spacious, green, modernist oasis off the tourist trail.

The neighborhood is mostly known for the four high-rise buildings in the shape of open books that host the French national library; the MK2 movie theater, with its special large seats made for couples; and a host of modern office buildings – the headquarters of pharmaceutical, telecommunications, and consulting companies.

Here are a few photos taken there last night at dusk (click on the photos to enlarge them).

I’m trying to turn it into a daily habit: a stroll around Paris with my camera during the “magic hours” when the sun is setting. This weekend I walked around the Ile Saint Louis, a tiny island right in the middle of Paris. Here are a few pics.

On Wednesday night I caught a glimpse of the opening shots of Bertolucci’s “Last Tango in Paris” – an iconic film of the 1970s that I had already watched a couple of times before, while living in the United States, at a time when the only French words I could muster were bonjour and merci.

Curiously enough, the first images that would come into my head when I thought of “Last Tango” were the opening shots filmed on the bridge Bir-Hakeim, when Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider first cross paths. I say “curiously enough” because the film is mostly known for its racy scenes. But what stuck with me was the oversize mystique of Paris: one could almost say that the architectural elements of the city are the third main character of the film.

Yesterday evening, after a rather fruitless walk around the Butte aux Cailles neighborhood with my camera, I decided to venture out to the 7eme arrondissement and check out the Bir-Hakeim bridge instead. I had been on it a few times before, mostly passing though hurriedly without really paying attention to its details. Well, its perspective is absolutely breathtaking. Last night I spent a good half hour on it, snapping dozens of photos of all the different possibilities its pillars and structure offered.

Here is a selection of my photos.

The intersection of rue Mouffetard and rue Jean Calvin is one of my favorite spots in all of Paris. Whenever I walk by I pause in awe in front of the stencil of Alfred Hitchcock made by artist Jef Aerosol.

I started developing a keen interest in film during my teenage years and Hitchcock was my very first favorite director (that is, before I discovered Fellini’s “8 1/2″). I would watch Vertigo, North by Northwest, Rear Window, Dial M for Murder and the Birds ad nauseam, taking an immense delight in his cameos. “Hitchcock” – the book-length interview of the director by François Truffaut was practically my bible during film school.

So, the combination of Paris’ irresistibly charming Quartier Latin and Alfred Hitchcock’s image on rue Jean Calvin have always had a spellbinding effect on me. Throughout my years in Paris, I have stopped in this very spot numerous times, taking photos of the stencils and the passers-by, all the while learning important lessons about the value of patience for photographers and staying glued to one spot waiting for the right moment.

From the summer of 2007:

Since this photo was taken, the condition of the stencil steadily deteriorated: vandals drew on Hitchcock’s face, and gave him a Hitler-like mustache, making him virtually unrecognizable.

So, it was with great delight that last weekend I noticed a restored stencil of the legendary director. And, totally serendipitously, I bumped into Jef Aerosol himself (we had become acquainted back in ’07), as he was dashing around rue Calvin, restoring his pochoirs and working on new ones. The light was too poor on Saturday to take photos. But last night, as I was walking home from an apero on place de la Contrescarpe, I found the perfect moment to immortalize the restored stencil: a glowing orange sky at dusk.

My 50mm fast lens doesn’t quite do it justice because of the shallow depth of field, mais c’est la vie!

Links:

- Jef Aerosol’s official website
– Jef Aerosol photo pool on Flickr

Last Saturday was the Nuit Européenne des Musées (European Evening of Museums): a grand total of 2,200 European museums had special evening hours, staying open till midnight, and offered free admission to all visitors, along with special programs.

I decided to visit the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle. Here are a few photos from the evening.