Swiss Tags (Flon/Lausanne)

Special swiss tags found downtown Lausanne on the way back from watching Une Education (movie that I would not recommend)... I can't help compare with the tags we took from Marseille (oct 08).

I never realized before I moved here how much the swiss are major fans of traditional papercutting art. "...Paper Cutting in Switzerland traces back to around 1800. Some of the most popular artists in Switzerland were- blacksmith Johann Jakob Hauswirth (1809-1871), Louis Sagy (a postman), Christian Schwizgebel (1914-1993). Schwizgebel mostly worked on animal life. His prized ornamental cuttings (see picture above) are considered true masterpieces. These folk artists laid the foundation and are still models for today’s artists..."

Lodeve. Bioules

Still during our week end in the South. We went to Lodeve (an hour from Montpellier) to see an exhibition from Vincent Bioules. It was dedicated to landscapes. He is the main instigator, with Claude Viallat, of a french movement in the 60's, called "supports/surface". He painted mostly abstracts until the late sixties with Claude Viallat. In the mid seventies, he went back to figurative painting. At 70 years old, he's now considered the best french landscape artist. His principal source of inspiration are the Nabism (like Edouard Vuillard) as well as Matisse.

Funny anecdote:

As we were entering an art gallery in Montpellier to see a Stephane Bordarier's exhibition, Vincent Bioules was sitting in the back corner of the gallery. Sam chatted with him about Hodler (Swiss painter) and we told him we were going to Lodeve the next day to see his paintings... Great coincidence!

Berne. Giovanni Giacometti.

Yesterday, we drove to Berne (an hour from Lausanne). It's fun to go just 100 kms from home, whithout crossing a border, and be in a place where people talk a foreign language (german).

One thing with Switzerland that I have hard to adjust to is the opening hours for stores and public places. Especially on Saturdays. Sleeping in on Saturday is not an option or you can get frustrated really quick...

We got to Berne around 2.30pm. Found the art museum to see a Giovanni Giacometti's exhibit that Sam was interested in. Giovanni Giacometti is Diego's father. Above is the painting I liked the most from the exhibition.

We spent a couple of hours to discover Giacometti and take a quick look at the permanent collection of this great museum. Next thing I know, we get out of the museum when it closes - 5pm - to find out that everything else in town is closed as well. It's freezing cold, dark and shopping is not an option. So much for visiting Berne!

This is Berne after 5pm on a Saturday...