The Mosaics sTroll

The Mosaics Stroll > The Paris heritage strolls
>>> (13th) >>> 186,
rue de Tolbiac
>>> Charles Mauméjean >>> 1937-1941
pa r i s h e r i ta g e : s i g h t s a n d i n s i g h t s
12 The Mosaics Stroll
a pa r i s i a n r e n a i s s a n c e
1867- 1945
The Paris heritage strolls
>>> After centuries of blazing success in Roman and Byzantine art,
mosaics fell out of favour during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance,
especially in France, where the art form lost the contest to stainedglass windows. However, in the second half of the 19th century,
archaeological digs and the first restoration projects made the mosaic
fashionable again.
>>> This revival was mostly due to Italian artists such as Facchina,
Salviati, Odorico and Mazzioli, hired from 1867 to 1875 to complete
Garnier’s splendid Paris opera house. Their work inspired French
decorators like Guilbert-Martin and the Mauméjean brothers, who
specialized in both stained-glass and mosaics in the inter-war period.
>>> The Universal Expositions, for which buildings like the Palais
du Trocadéro (1878), the Petit Palais and the Grand Palais (1900)
were raised, also showcased the work of mosaicists.
>>>The popularity of mosaics soared in the period 1870-1900.
They could be found in every Parisian edifice, and even on the streets,
thanks to Art Nouveau. During the Art Deco period in the 1920s and
1930s, with the renewal in religious art and interest in ancient crafts,
the mosaic was in its heyday. After World War II, despite a few
experiments with urban mosaics, enthusiasm for the technique waned.
The Mosaics at Sainte-Anne-dela-Butte-aux-Cailles
A stroll through the charming Butte-aux-Cailles
area is always a treat, and this one holds the
added thrill of an art-treasure hunt. The
neighbourhood church, Sainte-Anne-de-laButte-aux-Cailles, is your goal. Although
completed in 1912, the church’s interior decoration was delayed until 1937-1941.
The stained-glass windows and mosaics depicting scenes from the lives of the Virgin and
Saint Anne, by Charles Mauméjean, reflect
the church’s Romanesque and Byzantine
revival style. The business founded in the city
of Pau in 1860 by Jules-Pierre Mauméjean
prospered in the inter-war period, because
it could produce original, high-quality décors
rapidly and at low cost. Of the three brothers,
Charles, Joseph and Henri, who inherited the
firm, Charles was the most active in Paris. He
was an architect by training, and had an eye
for new artistic trends. He was in charge of
decorating the interiors of Saint-Dominique
(1921), Sainte Thérèse de l’Enfant Jésus chapel
(1927), Saint-Pierre-de-Chaillot (1935-1938)
and the columbarium chapel in the PèreLachaise Cemetery (1952).
Mosaics are everywhere (walls, tabernacles,
altars, communion tables, floors), incorporating elements ranging in size from tiny glass
tesserae to huge moulded glass cabochons.
In the chapel dedicated to the Sacred Heart,
behind the entombed Christ in relief on the
front of the altar, you will see a niche graced
by winged angels presenting the face of Jesus
and the crown of thorns. To the sides, two
large mosaics depict Christ with children and
Christ with labourers (left and right respectively). The archaic flavour of the technique
is counterbalanced by the spirited drawing
style featuring everyday objects from modern
life, including tools and factory smokestacks.
>>> (12th) >>> 79,
rue Alexandre Dumas
>>> Charles Mauméjean >>> 1943
The Saint-Jean-Bosco Church
Mosaics
The man who got the ball rolling for the
construction of Saint-Jean-Bosco church
was Father Siméoni. Designed by Rotter, it was
built between 1933 and 1937 and remains
one of the flagships of the Chantiers du
Cardinal, a church construction programme.
Despite limited and entirely private funding,
a surprisingly large portion of the budget
was allocated for stained-glass windows,
mosaics and frescoes, created by Charles
Mauméjean.
The work embeds one technique into another
– frescoes with gilded mosaic highlights,
glass cabochons, crystal mosaics beside
reshaped and moulded glass, textured glass,
opaline and glass tesserae. These tesserae
glitter everywhere: walls, floors, pillars,
ceilings, tabernacles, altars, baptistery,
pulpit, the relief of the Crucifixion, stations
of the cross, etc. The iconographic programme around the dedication to Saint Jean
Bosco and the special invocation to the Virgin
alternates between original pieces and preexisting models.
On the large mosaic panel created in 1943
in the left branch of the transept, the rare
iconography explained on the banderole
informs us of worship to “Mary Help of
Christians”. The title of “helper” (auxiliatrice
in French) goes back in history to the battles
of Lepanto (1571) and Vienna (1683)),
against the Turks.
The tesserae show remarkabe diversity in
size and colour. Lines are dynamic. The
composition is rich and animated. There is
a juxtaposition of illusionistic surfaces with
others that are more synthetic.
>>> (18th) >>> Place
du Parvis du Sacré-Cœur
>>> Lucien and Henri-Marcel Magne,
Luc-Olivier Merson and Marcel Imbs,
Maison Guilbert-Martin >>> 1911-1923
The Montmartre Mosaics
The relative obscurity inside Sacré-Coeur
is offset by the brilliance of its saturated
decor, where mosaic work reigns supreme
on the walls (semi-dome, cupola, murals)
and the liturgical furnishings (consecration
cross, stations of the cross, holy water fonts,
altar, etc.). The architect deliberately chose
mosaics over frescoes (more common at that
time) for the ability of the mosaic to resist
dampness, a real asset in dank churches.
Besides that, mosaics heightened architect
Paul Abadie’s Romanesque-Byzantine style
with clear echoes of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul,
the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna,
and Saint Mark’s in Venice. As the Sacré-Coeur
was to be a monument to French art, Italian
mosaic artists were avoided and the GuilbertMartin firm was hired to execute the vast
majority of the enamel and gilded mosaics.
Four artists participated in creating the
mosaics in the semi-dome over the choir.
In 1911, Luc-Olivier Merson (1846-1920), the
renowned Christian artist, was the supervisor;
Lucien Magne the assistant. After Magne’s
death in 1916, and Merson’s in 1920, HenriMarcel Magne and Marcel Imbs, two of
Merson’s students, took over.
The décor wasn’t unveiled until November
1923. The impressive task required a myriad
of sketches and preparatory drawings which
were then reproduced and enlarged before
being handed to the mosaicists. In just three
months, his five-man team accomplished the
incredible technical feat of covering a surface of 473 square meters (over 5,000 sq. ft.)
with 25,000 tesserae weighing 68 tonnes.
Christ’s head alone measures two meters in
height.
The mosaic work offers a symbolic summary
of sacred heart worship. In the centre, a
monumental Christ shows his heart and extends his protective arms to the Christian
world. Around him and at his feet, the Virgin
Mary, Saint Michael, Pope Leon XIII, and Joan
of Arc present him with the main proponents of this devotion, from the first Christian
martyrs up to Legentil and Rohaut de Fleury
who ordered the basilica’s construction.
Medieval reminiscences explain the red
lines festooning the composition, the blue
background enhancing the bright colours,
the height of the characters varying with
hierarchic importance, and the incorporation
of unusual architectural materials.
>>> (8th) >>> Place
de la Madeleine
>>> Charles Joseph Lameire and Auguste
Guilbert-Martin >>> 1888-1893
The Madeleine Mosaics
The Madeleine’s mosaic in its semi-dome
wasn’t part of the initial decorative scheme.
It dates from 1888-1893, a half century after
the church was completed. Father Le Rebours,
the church’s priest, wanted to make a geometric marble space warmer. Despite fears that
a Byzantine touch wouldn’t be appropriate
in the neo-classical Greek architecture and
that the colours might distract worshippers,
the Paris architectural commission gave
the plan a green light. Funding came from
the tile manufacturer, the priest, and the
parishioners.
The mosaic completes Jules Ziegler’s Histoire
du Christianisme Illustrée, seen overhead.
Spanning 120 square meters (1292 sq. ft.),
it depicts the origins of the Christian faith
in Gaul. The resurrected Christ in the centre
is surrounded by the main saints (the disciples) and those who spread the religion
throughout France. Some portraits are easy
enough to recognize: Charles Garnier as Saint
Ursin, M. Alphand as Saint Georges, the artist
himself as Saint Front. These faces stand out
on a golden background in a symbolic space
dotted with palm trees. One finds a similar
march of saints against a gold background
in the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo
in Ravenna and closer by, in Paris, at the
Saint-Vincent-de-Paul church, with a frieze
painted by Hippolyte Flandrin. Charles
Joseph Lemeire executed the sketch. Auguste
Guilbert-Martin directed the transfer to
mosaic work. Guilbert-Martin, a chemist by
training, opened his mosaic workshop in 1879
and decorated the Lycée Montaigne as well
as the Lycée Fénelon, the Panthéon, and
the Palais-Royal theatre. The tesserae were
fired at the Manufacture de Sèvres which put
its best workers on the project and set up a
workshop in the Gobelins neighbourhood.
The Mosaics Stroll > The Paris heritage strolls
>>> (8th) >>> Avenue
Winston Churchill
>>> (8th) >>> Avenue
Winston Churchill
>>> Gian Domenico Facchina >>> 1897-1900
>>> Édouard Fournier and Auguste
The Petit-Palais Mosaics
Guilbert-Martin >>> 1900
For the Petit Palais, an attraction of the 1900
Universal Exposition, Girault was aiming for
a palatial effect within the sober confines
of a public building. The mosaic, one of
the luxury elements, is both decorative and
resistant. Its geometric and leaf patterns
scroll across the floor of the galleries, pavilions, entrance and peristyle. Pretty golden
water lilies on a blue background border
the pools in the indoor garden.
These mosaics were the work of Gian Domenico Facchina (1826-1903), a native of Italy’s
northeastern Friuli region. Facchina was
trained to restore the mosaics in St. Mark’s
in Venice. He later worked in Saint-Martind’Ainay in Lyon. His new technique, involving
placing the tesserae on backing paper then
transporting the composition on site to be
set directly in wet cement, garnered him
success at the 1855 Universal Exposition
and again in 1876 during the construction
of Charles Garnier’s opera house. Given the
advantages of Facchina’s method (rapid application, low cost, and high quality), his mosaic
work spread around France and even abroad.
Facchina’s work in Paris was colossal and
ranged from museums (Galliera, Grévin,
Carnavalet) to department stores (Le
Printemps, Le Bon Marché), from shopping
arcades (Galerie Vivienne) to banks (Comptoir National d’Escompte), from schools
(Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Collège Chaptal) to
theatres (Théâtre Antoine).
The Grand Palais Friezes
Architect Charles Girault, art director of the
1900 Universal Exposition, laid out a triumphant road running from the Invalides to the
Champs-Élysées. One of the sensational new
buildings was the Grand Palais, designed by
Henri Deglane, Albert Louvet, and Albert
Thomas. Beneath the peristyle of the façade
were two enamel and gold friezes spanning
75 meters (246 ft.). Mosaic was chosen for its
durability, its colours, and its luxuriousness.
The technique also gained favour with Girault,
who in 1880, during his year as a Prix de Rome,
had had ample time to develop a passion
for the mosaics of antiquity. For the Institut
Pasteur, he built a marble and mosaic-covered
crypt inspired by the Galla Placidia mausoleum in Ravenna.
Louis-Édouard Fournier’s sketch for the
mosaic was carried out by Guilber-Martin.
It features the world’s great civilizations as
imagined at the turn of the century. Thus,
Egypt succeeds Mesopotamia, Augustus’
Rome succeeds Pericles’ Greece, the Italian
and French Renaissance succeed the Middle
Ages, industrious Europe succeeds classical
and baroque Europe. More distant civilizations’ role seems to be reduced to glorifying
colonial France whether the outposts be in
the Mediterranean or sub-Saharan Africa,
India, Indochina, China, Japan, North or
South America.
all the strolls are available on the site :
www.culture.paris.fr
Glass is a common denominator between the arts of mosaic and stainedglass windows. Both techniques involve tessellation of coloured pieces.
Both require collaboration between the paper artist and the materials artist.
With mosaics, materials can be applied to a great variety of surfaces:
pavements, walls, furniture, in civil or religious contexts. Both arts’ charms
are many and paradoxical. The materials never fade or degrade.
Their colours remain vibrant and central to the essence of polychrome
architecture. They combine durability and ruggedness with luxury, hygiene,
and splendour.
The mosaic medium is appropriate for suggesting archaic sources.
It is also a way to make a piece fit into an architectural style whether
Romanesque, paleo-Christian or Byzantine motifs may alternate
with original, modern designs.
Find all the Velib’ stations
on www.velib.paris.fr
Mairie de Paris / Directions des affaires culturelles - Graphic design :
, Juliane Cordes 01 43 46 75 00 © Ville de Paris - C. Fouin, J.M. Moser, C. Pignol - Translation: David Cox, Anita Conrade
1
Sainte-Anne-de-la-Butte-aux-Cailles
2
Saint-Jean-Bosco
3
The Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre
4
Madeleine Church
5
Petit-Palais museum
6
Grand Palais museum
Velib’ station
stations Velib’