Paris_ The Collected Traveler - Barrie Kerper [271]
La Ruche
The word ruche means “beehive” in French, and in Paris the word refers to the famous honeycomb-shaped structure housing studios for such artists as Fernand Léger, Jacques Lipchitz, Ossip Zadkine, Alexander Archipenko, Marc Chagall, Moïse Kisling, Chaïm Soutine, and Amedeo Modigliani. Academic sculptor Alfred Boucher created La Ruche just after the 1900 World’s Fair. He bought a plot of land in the fifteenth arrondissement from the owner of a bistro, Le Dantzig, that was then sandwiched between the Vaugirard slaughterhouse and an area of slums called la zone. Boucher had a vision, however; he planted trees and flowers and bought Gustave Eiffel’s octagonal wine pavilion that was left over from the World’s Fair. (This was, according to Thirza Vallois, common practice at the time; other artist quarters in Paris are still made up of such pavilions.) Boucher planned to rent each octagonal side of the pavilion as a studio—yet he was also a philanthropist, known to overlook the unpaid rents of his extremely poor tenants. La Ruche provided a roof over the heads of struggling artists, but it was only marginally better than the hovels in Montparnasse, where the “better off” artists lived.
La Ruche almost met its end in the late sixties, when the heirs of Boucher intended to sell it to the French housing authority. President Pompidou stepped in to save it from destruction, with a chorus of supporters including André Malraux and even parties in the United States. Today there are only twenty-three honeycombs in the pavilion, as opposed to the original eighty, and while visitors are permitted only in the surrounding garden (unless you happen to know one of the painters or sculptors who live inside), it is nevertheless a site worth visiting, to spend a few moments reflecting upon the artistic fervor and spontaneity that existed within. Vallois’s Around and About Paris (volume III) provides the best summary of La Ruche.
Rue Louise-Weiss
This street, and neighboring rue du Chevaleret and rue Duchefdelaville, in the thirteenth arrondissement, form a new art gallery center in Paris. Every month or so, the galleries here host an open house, which is a great and fun way to see what’s happening in the contemporary avant-garde art scene. All the galleries are located at numbers five to eleven and twenty to thirty-four on rue Louise-Weiss, and are open Tuesday to Saturday from eleven to seven (Métro: Chevaleret).
Rungis
Rungis, located seven kilometers outside of Paris near the Orly airport, succeeded Les Halles as Paris’s wholesale food market starting in 1969. Rungis (the final s is pronounced, by the way) is the world’s largest wholesale food market, an ultramodern, extremely hygienic facility, about as opposite from Les Halles as possible, and it is extremely interesting to visit. Visite Rungis (visiterungis.com) organizes visits, mostly for groups, but individuals may visit during a specified day each month. A better alternative, I feel, is to arrange a private visit with Canadian expat Stephanie Curtis (stecurtis@free.fr), who gives tours for two to twenty people, 120 euros per person, including breakfast, round-trip transportation, and visits to about seven pavilions. I arranged a visit with Stephanie for a group of my friends and we all agreed it was a really special experience. Curtis arranges to pick you up from your hotel between four and five in the morning so that you arrive at Rungis when the most activity is occurring. After a stop at a café, you set out for the pavilions—we saw those devoted to seafood, poultry, meat, cheese, and produce. (Tip: Some of the pavilions are necessarily kept quite cold, so even if it’s hot outside, bring a sweater or jacket.) Approximately five or six hours later most of the vendors are finished for the day. Though you’re technically not permitted to purchase anything at Rungis, Curtis will take you to one store on the premises where you can buy some items; the selection is limited to packaged provisions, but I bought fleur de sel, chocolate, and dried mushrooms