Get Drunk with Charles Baudelaire
Advice for those who might be overthinking all this: Get Drunk, Enivrez-vous, by Charles Baudelaire, as read by Dustin Hoffman, Serge Reggiani and Isabelle Orliac.
Matrimoine in Paris: A Guide to Women Who Made French History
Cherchez la femme? Even in Paris that’s not an easy task from a historical standpoint. Psychologist, author and feminist Edith Vallée sets out to rectify that in Le Matrimoine de Paris, a new guidebook that tracks the city's female history-makers through 20 itineraries, 20 arrondissements.
Contraception in France, where the Pill is Queen, and the Condom King
Books tell us how the idealized Parisienne dresses, what she eats, where she strolls, how she flirts and how she raises her children. But they fail to follow our perfect pouty-lipped Parisienne to her doctor’s office, where she discusses birth control and STDs, or to the boutique in the 11th arrondissement where she shops for condoms.
Accessible Paris: An Interview with Architect Edouard Pastor
Meet architect Edouard Pastor, one of France’s leading experts on accessibility for those in situations of disability. He has been involved in audits and accessibility programing for a number of high-profile monuments in Paris, including the Eiffel Tower, the Palais Royal and Comédie Française Theaters, the Pompidou Center and others.
Understanding France: National Commemorations of 2018
A selection of 30 of France's 2018 National Commemorations—of saints, queens, and musicians, assassinations, treaties and war, slavery, gastronomy and science—that give insights into various aspects of French history, culture and politics.
Sylvie Deschamps, France’s Master Artist of Gold Embroidery
An interview with Sylvie Deschamps, France's Master Artist of gold embroidery and director of the Bégonia d'Or workshop in Rochefort, an upriver port town in western France. Includes demonstration video.
Camille Claudel’s Great-Niece Shines Light on the Sculptor’s Life and Work
The Camille Claudel Museum in Nogent sur Seine, 65 miles southeast of Paris, not only brings the sculptor out of the shadows of her Auguste Rodin, it also shines light on Claudel’s work as a talented and innovative sculptor in her own right. An interview of Camille Claudel’s great-niece, Reine-Marie Paris, by Janet Hulstrand.
The Painter’s Wife: Aline Charigot Renoir and the Renoir Home in Essoyes
As the village of Essoyes in southern Champagne prepares to open Renoir’s home to the public and the surrounding department of Aube celebrates this as the Year of Renoir, Janet Hulstrand, a part-time American resident of Essoyes, examines the life of Aline Charigot Renoir, wife of the artist and mother of three artists.
Beyond D-Day: Falaise, Normandy Examines the Fate of Civilians in Wartime
Of the 20,000 Normans who died as a direct result of WWII, the majority were killed by Allied bombardments. The effect of war on civilian populations is now the subject of a museum in Falaise, birthplace of William the Conqueror and site, with its surroundings, of the final combat of the Battle of Normandy 1944.