Thursday, April 22, 2010

Motherhood


Of course I took this photo because of the lipstick touch that I found pretty funny. But I also think this sculpture is pretty interesting. It's called "L'éducation Maternelle" (Maternal Education, or something like that...) and it was made by Eugène Delaplanche, a French sculptor from the 19th century (this sculpture was made in 1875). If you want to see it for real, it's located very near the Sainte Clotilde church of Tuesday, in a little garden called Square Samuel-Rousseau. BTW, talking about children in Paris, don't forget the book of Sheridan Becker (and 2 other co-authors) that I photographed here if you come with your little ones...

18 comments:

  1. That lipstick is a great touch. Could her name be Maybelline?

    And here is Eugène Delaplanche's depiction of the same woman after receiving her kid’s cell phone bill.

    This must be his sculpture of a plumber. I can see her using a snake. And she possesses the requisite anatomical feature.

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  2. Tall Gary -- LOOOL -- a trifecta -- you always make me laugh!

    Eric -- funny photo,too -- and I just bought my Mother's Day card!

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  3. Lovely statue. I really appreciate mother/daughter stuff now that I'm a mother/daughter. :)

    I'll have to pick up that book. On second thought, I heard my 9-year-old tell someone that I think she needs to work on her manners before I take her to Paris (which is true). Then she said she didn't care about Paris or manners...she just wants to "enjoy her youth." I'm not even sure what that means, but if it means I don't have to drag her around Paris, yippee for me!

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  4. The city authorities are missing out on an easy opportunity to impress. I vigorous rub down with a wet cloth, would transform this beautiful statue.

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  5. Good to know about this book, though me and my son had lots of fun last year basing solely on my own knowledge :)
    I noticed that children are quite interested in sculptures. Other than that, boys especially, they like either funny things (like Stravinsky's fountain) or scary things (guillotine, Henry IV's death spot etc).

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  6. This is a great photo, Eric! I love the eye-catching pink touch!

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  7. I have seen this application of lipstick to statues in Paris before. I really like the look...it lets you see the dirt. LOL!!

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  8. Anonymous, just a gentle wipe with a wet cloth.
    Perhaps there could be a bit of role reversal going on here, with the GIRL saying to the MOTHER, "Go upstairs and wipe that muck off your face, right now!"

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  9. That's a lovely motherhood representation. I'm curious about a fatherhood representation as children are now not exclusively their mother's worry but also their father's.
    My youngest is about this size and very tonic. But sometimes she acts with me a bit like smaller than she is. That's obviously a little trick to pull my attention on herself ; then I can't resist of course. Who could?
    This morning I had a visit at my favorite doctor's who gave my chidren birth (motherhood is well chosen today, hey!). He warned me about ... me. Yeah, I'm aging... he told me I was cheating with myself. Huh ?! He's always frank. :)

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  10. Interesting photo, Eric! I think it is funny that someone would think to do that to a statue. As a mother of a daughter and a son, I think that pose goes with my son more often as I explain why he can't do something that would be dangerous, but my daughter is the one who needs at least 100 hugs a day! (Since I'm sick, she's going into withdrawal big time!) But I'm sure she'll catch up when we're all well.

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  11. She's just another chic Parisian,looking beautiful with no makeup and just a dab of lipstick.

    Seriously tho, all ancient statures were painted in lifelike colors. This portrail in the end is not so off, ahem, color.

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  12. I can only stop laughing at TG's links long enough to ask if anyone else wonders whether it was actually Eric who put the lipstick on this gentille maman. Yeah, probably not—but that would be funny.)

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  13. That is certainly very hard to produce an expression on statues faces and though here, I think there's quite an expression on them. A sweet, gentle expression even with the dirt and the pink touch.
    Like Christie, I love giving hugs to my daughter too. Really need it. 100 a day would not make me afraid of! ;) xo

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  14. FYI everyone: I did NOT put the lipstick on the statue! It' was there where I walked into the garden.

    Non mais !

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  15. HAHAHA Eric I don't think anyone truly believed you put the lipstick on the statue!

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  16. What a wonderful sculpture!!! I've added this to my list of places to visit when i am there next year.

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