I recall I'd seen another Dogon exhibition a few years ago in Paris - was it at the Porte Doree or the Dapper? - no matter, I was walking by the Branly and saw the poster advertising the Dogon show and went in and up that endless, mindless, purposeless wavy staircase/thing to the exhibition space(s) thinking - "who needs this?" "Just give me a box with off-white walls like the Pinacotheque where I can see stuff not have an architectural happening." "Why do architects think we want to see their brilliance not that of the artists shown within?" I realized I was a week or two early for the Dogon and bailed out.
Across the charming bridge to the other side and the Mona Bismarck where a beautiful exhibition of Courbet landscapes (with a couple of erotic sketches thown in for us old letchers) is showing until June 4th. What a difference from the Branly - the art not the ego was the point.
2 Wows for Courbet; several groans for Jean Nouvel and a sigh for our ex-Mayor and ex-President who so wanted the Branly museum to carry his name - maybe once he finishes his probable sentence he'll be rehabilitated Alain Juppe style.
Lest this confirm my membership in the Neanderthal Club let me say I do think Frank Gerhy melded ego and art-showing in Bilboa as did FL Wright in Guggie #1.
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