“Walter Benjamin at the National Library, Paris” Last week I was in Paris. I thought I’d pay homage to some of the city’s famous inhabitants by going to see the Gisele Freund exhibit at the YSL foundation. Admittedly, I don’t much like Freund’s work — I know that’s blasphemous, but there it is. She’s a bit too worshipful of her subjects for my taste, a bit too entranced by being part of the crowd of artistes she photographed. That said, I don’t really blame her. Paris at the time was full of all the creative people one could ever hope to meet. Now, of course, the creative city has shifted to Berlin, Freund’s hometown and the city in which I now live, and I suppose that was the more interesting aspect of the exhibit to me. For Freund to be part of the crowd she had to move to Paris. Now anyone who wants to be part of the crowd has to move to Berlin. What’s the importance of a city to one’s artistic output? How much does where we live matter? How on earth did Berlin capture Paris’ energy (it sure wasn’t because of the food or the weather) and how long will it last? Copyright Gisele Freund

“Walter Benjamin at the National Library, Paris”

Last week I was in Paris. I thought I’d pay homage to some of the city’s famous inhabitants by going to see the Gisele Freund exhibit at the YSL foundation.

Admittedly, I don’t much like Freund’s work — I know that’s blasphemous, but there it is. She’s a bit too worshipful of her subjects for my taste, a bit too entranced by being part of the crowd of artistes she photographed. That said, I don’t really blame her. Paris at the time was full of all the creative people one could ever hope to meet.

Now, of course, the creative city has shifted to Berlin, Freund’s hometown and the city in which I now live, and I suppose that was the more interesting aspect of the exhibit to me. For Freund to be part of the crowd she had to move to Paris. Now anyone who wants to be part of the crowd has to move to Berlin. What’s the importance of a city to one’s artistic output? How much does where we live matter? How on earth did Berlin capture Paris’ energy (it sure wasn’t because of the food or the weather) and how long will it last?

Copyright Gisele Freund