Sunday, March 18, 2007

Musée d'histoire Naturelle, Paris


The Jardin des Plantes is bordered by three interesting places. The Menagerie, the vast Grand Galerie de Evolution & the antiquated Musée d'histoire Naturelle. The third contains thousands of excellent skeletal displays but is hotter than a green house in summer. I managed to make some quick sketches before I passed out!


Hidden in the back in dusty old jars I found these freaky specimens!

Cyclops Piglet




Two-faced pigeon






Cyclops Kitten






Double-headed duckling





Back in the autumn of 2005 I first encountered the sculpture of Emmanuel Fremiét at the Henri Rousseau exhibition, Tate Modern. On a subsequent trip to Paris I found another of his powerful animal sculptures outside the Musée D'Orsay. When I moved to the city last summer I figured I could find more examples of his work.



I came across this OrangUtan Attack! in the entrance hall of the Musée d'histoire Naturelle.









Then I found this one close by in the Jardin des Plantes.

In the basement of the Grand Galerie de Evolution there was a special exhibition on dragons. It was disappointing. This guy was the most interesting exhibit.





18 comments:

Piotr said...

wow intense matt! don't mess with an ape or ccccat!

DON LIN said...

how u doing Mat?

"When Animals Attack Humans 1"

Emmanuel Frémiet produced the famous template of an ape carrying off a woman which we all recognise now as King Kong.

Great drawings , fascinating subject.
cheers



Lindon

Jampix said...

Exellent draftsman ship, they're a pleasure to look at

Fab stuff!

boris said...

Bon trimestre, poursuivez vos efforts.

Antoine said...

bin didonc !!!

Jotodo said...

Wonderful post as always. Love the action.

limbolo said...

Splendid beasts, creatures, drawings and graphics, Monsieur Matt.

Matthew Cruickshank said...

Superb investigative work Mr Jones. And your studies of Elliot on a Friday night are terrifyingly accurate- down to each hair. Have a glass of Vin Rouge and celebrate this body of work.

Watson.

chenguin said...

good observation. you remind mein of vrubel. art line quite goods and accurate.

the deform pig look like mein granddaughter Viiluuphukminow. she unfornate one eye in middle of head. i put bet on bookies she wills be spinster when adult. she no marry.

Uli Meyer said...

Fabulous work as always, Mr. Jonez.
How's the boarding going? Still having fun?

Matt Jones said...

Thanks for the messages everyone. Uli, I'm having a great time. Learning a lot & improving. Sketching out & about more than ever & the weather is fine. Can't wait to catch up with you in Annecy.

Matthew Cruickshank said...

Terrificulus

pierre alary said...

tes petits croquis sont beaucoup jolis mon ami . eux plaire beaucoup . donner a moi envie amour.

MikeS said...

If I was going to be in Paris like originally planned, I'd have stopped by that museum to see these for myself!

You're a chef cooking up a sketching storm monsieur.

Unknown said...

Beautiful Monsieur Jones, beautiful!
I heard that you'll be with us in London for the openning of our exhibition...merveilleux!

Boris Hiestand said...

lovely!

Cuentos de Antiguamente said...

Beautiful BLOG, Matt.
And your sketches are amazing!!
Best.

Robert said...

Dear Matt
Great blog! Great work!
The sculpture I assume to be a Emanuel Fremiet . I haven’t seen it before, probably because it is some time since I last was in Paris.
This guy was somewhat bizarre as this is not the only work he did dealing with this subject see here:
http://harangue.lecture.unimelb.edu.au/ilectures/ilectures.lasso?ut=918&id=26583
I wonder if you know where the photos are which it mentions.
Wikipedia have a picture of his famous work here
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Fremiet-pan.png