Katie And Dive Do London Pt.4

We left Katie at Big Ben about to cross Parliament Square where she would encounter someone wonderful …

A great man needs a great gal and this is a pretty good combination.
Abe Lincoln in the distance behind Katie's shoulder nods his approval.

Here's the great man himself at the unveiling of his statue last August and here's a link to my photo post of the event should anyone need a reminder why racism is not welcome on my planet.

So … The sun is out, the sky is blue, let's hit the parks and enjoy the fresh, crisp October air.

Regular blogpals will be all too familiar with this backdrop.
The bridge across the lake in St.James's Park takes me from my office to the heart of St.James and Piccadilly, regular lunchtime haunts so I walk across here rather a lot.

The view one side takes in the Parasite House … but who cares what's in the background when Katie's in the foreground?

… while the other side leads to Horseguards Parade, Downing Street and the Eye just across the river.

For anyone who may not know, If you amble from Parliament Square into St.James's Park you can walk the length of the park and cross at the top of The Mall into Green Park, then walk across that and enter Hyde Park … miles and miles of lush greenery with lakes and trees and flowers and beautiful places to wander and sit. And all right in the heart of the West End.
It's where I often come to de-stress.

And now Katie has come to visit and has brought us this glorious sunshine! Yay!

We take a stroll along Piccadilly to pick up lunch and stop at Fortnums to admire the hampers (Lynn, stop drooling) and to pop in and buy some of their glorious tea (Katie now has a swish Fortnums bag to match yours, Mme).

Something else regular readers will be familiar with (and indeed Mme and MB) is sushi and sashimi bought from Yoshino and eaten in the beautiful surroundings of Green Park.

Why sit in some dingy basement restaurant or in a crowded sushi bar when you can breathe the fresh air and enjoy a view like this with your lunch?
It is the perfect day for al fresco and we sigh at the beauty of it all as we demolish our yummy food in the dappled sunshine under the spectacular plane trees of Green Park.

Then we head back across the grass toward The Ritz and Piccadilly, refreshed, replete and now hungry for more culture!

Halfway along Piccadilly is the arched entrance to the courtyard that conceals the Royal Academy.
And tucked away on the top floor (again, regrettably with no photography allowed) is the delightfully light-hearted and very French exhibition we are heading for.

In what must have been a lifetime of pure pleasure, Parisian art dealer M. Aimé Maeght befriended the greatest artists of his generation and built up the marvellous collection housed in the Fondation Marguerite et Aimé Maeght in Saint Paul, some of the gems from which we are about to enjoy ourselves.

Greeting us as we enter is a wall-sized Matisse, followed by a roomful of beautiful Bonnards but the main exhibition concentrates on Joan Miró's bright and gloriously exuberant paintings, contrasted with George Braque's dark late cubism, while filling the gallery space between the walls (and over our heads) are slender and elegant Giacometti figures and the wild and wonderful mobiles and sculptures of Alexander Calder.

The overriding sensation in these wonderful rooms is of pure joy and a playfulness that would never be guessed at from simply looking at pictures of these works in art history books.

A lot of the exhibits are from the personal collection of the Maeght family and include outrageously light-hearted paintings and sculptures I have never seen in any book and the sheer fun of it all is almost shocking!

In amongst the displays are videos of the family's home movies including film of the artists working and chatting and eating and a lovely little vignette of Mme. Maeght and Alberto Giacometti dancing around the studio to an old gramophone.
Marvellous!

Neither of us have ever seen a Calder painting before - only being familiar with his giant mobiles - but here are a veritable feast of them and they are real eye-openers; together with tiny mobiles, sculptures and light-hearted sketches.

There is a strangely disturbing book by Braque featuring on its cover what appears to be a false breast and - lo and behold - on reading the accompanying notes we discover that Braque purchased a box of seventy of these breasts from the United States military where they had been used (get this) to boost soldiers' morale during wartime.
Next time you meet a WWII Veteran, ask 'em about the boobs.
The world can be a wonderful place if you peer into the odder nooks and corners.

Close to my own heart, Aimé Maeght published a myriad of limited edition small press books featuring works by his favourite poets and artists, carefully chosen and beautifully executed. Many examples are on display here and I'm afraid my rare book lust gets the better of me and I go into hyperactive two-year-old mode.

We leave the exhibition with faces wreathed in smiles. This really is a feel-good show and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to see a side of modern art that is often hidden (as well as a stunning display of pieces from post-war Europe's very best artists).

And so, with a song in our hearts and a spring in our step, Katie and Dive head off down Haymarket, turning left at the bottom to find … well, we shall discover that tomorrow!

On the way, Katie goes "Oooh!" and dashes into a shop, emerging with something that is not apparently available in the States; a chunky Yorkie Bar with "It's Not For Girls" written on the side.
Which she promptly demolishes beside what has to be the pinkest sari I've seen in many a moon.

Check back tomorrow, Katie fans. We crammed so much into two days that I still have enough photos for three more posts!