We intend with this subscription and through this Association to request for Paris City Council to relocate the statue of Balzac by Rodin which is now at Carrefour Vavin in Paris (6th Arrondissement) to a new location close to the Maison de Balzac (House of Balzac) in Passy (Paris 16th Arrondissement) in line with the spirit of the movie.
“The statue at Carrefour Vavin has shrunk since I’ve known it. Of course, because the trees around it have become bigger and bigger ! “ – Nicole MOZET, Director of the “Groupe International de Recherche Balzacienne” and Professor Emeritus at Paris VII University.
Droits Réservés
Manifesto for a cultural, historical and tourist project for PARIS around “in Balzac –
The movement of Balzac bronze Vavin crossroads near the site of the Maison de Balzac in a new “green route” for tourists in Paris.
the history of Rodin’s Balzac, since the death of the writer and the command received by Rodin forty years after the death of Balzac, was marked by public subscriptions who had success very different but all have ultimately contributed to that this statue is now in thirteen places in the world (four continents) in the form of bronze.
The location of the Paris Rodin’s Balzac also experienced vicissitudes, bans, negotiations and choices or absurd that after 1898, the City of Paris and the Writers’ Guild of France refused to Rodin originally planned location at the Place du Palais Royal.
From these two fstatements is the idea of creating an Association “Rodin in Balzac.” One of the two objects is to try to ask the competent authorities (the City of Paris) to move this statue in Paris in the sense an ultimate reconciliation between these two great French artists.
One reason is that the relentless statue crossroads Vavin is almost “invisible”. Testimonials cascade from one another as we work to draft the film on the statue, and we can recall some elements found in our research. The press, elected officials are alarmed them regularly since the sixties. Always in vain.
In September 1967, Le Figaro littéraire regrets that Balzac is not the best place.
Three years later, a consultant from Paris (Bulletin municipal officiel de la Ville de Paris from 13 May 1970), which draws attention to “the unfortunate situation in which the” Balzac “Rodin, boulevard Raspail … hidden under the trees, the statue is almost invisible at the time it leaves and is also disfigured by both signs by lighting inappropriate. “
The Commission of the ancient Paris in 1971 concluded that the situation is indeed very beneficial.
But nothing is done and in 1981 it was the turn of the World tostress that “misplaced on the earth-filled boulevard Raspail, partly hidden by parked cars, the statue of the author of TheComedy human deserves a better fate. “
Since then, nothing has changed.
That is why today, in line with this “imaginary dialogue” written for the film, we have designed and conducted between Balzac and Rodin to tell the history and present of this statue, it would be exciting, relevant consistent that BalzacRodin come to dominate Paris right next to the Maison de Balzac. In this face to face that even Rodin lived “physically” when he was invited to attend the inauguration of the Maison de Balzac in 1908.
100 years later, we dream of this utopia cultural make this request, this idea possible. It would be finally the culmination of a long and painful history that has been chaotic grappling Rodin, Balzac and the representatives of institutions well confused by this work so powerful and original.
We interpelons la Ville de Paris in proposing this displacement of Balzac in a draft urban and pedestrian, a course “green” in the 16th arrondissement of the House of Balzac at the EiffelTower, which would open in historic dimensions , cultural and environmental.
And of course, we will have more subscribers and members of the Association, will take over this project on its full meaning and weight to convince the authorities of the City of Paris and legitimately ask the question of displacement. But would not it be a project that would also honor the city of Paris itself and enrich the new tourist routes to reinvent?
The displacement of Rodin’s Balzac should be part of a cultural and tourist further that we present.
So after hearing about the acquisition of the house next to the Maison de Balzac Raynouard Street, we believe that this historic place finally provide a public space worthy of the statue.
The development would be ensured by the opportunity offered tocreate a city of charming promenade connecting the heart of Passy field of Mars.
Passing successively through the streets of the Annunciation, already partly open to pedestrians, using the small staircase covered with greenery, on this land adjacent to the Maison de Balzac, squirming among successive terraces, pedestrians happen in the small street Berton (the first street in Paris listed sites), before strolling through the new Parc de Passy, moving successively to the wine museum and the square of Alboni.
From there, the bridge and then walk Passy Australia led at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.
This walk, combining the Eiffel Tower, the banks of the Seine, a succession of green spaces and historical places (do we know that the cellars of the Maison de Balzac are the only habitats Troglodytic medieval Paris, and that terraces are the latest to witness the charm of bucolic hills Passy under the former regime, both the Planning has been active in the west of Paris in the twentieth century?), would attract all lovers of Paris who want to escape major tourist and want to explore areas that have managed to preserve their authenticity.
We ask this question today officially Mayor of Paris and the deputies involved in all these subjects (Arts, Tourism, Parks, etc.).
Rodin’s statue erected on the terraces near the Maison de Balzac, dominate the crowd like a figurehead, and is one of the highlights of this walk, helping to attract a new audience to a larger house Balzac. Moving the sculpture would therefore not only the work of art by Rodin, but still one of the most endearing museums in the capital and, more broadly, helping to better understand the discreet charm of the villages that survive in the open Paris.
In short, what is more simple and ambitious at the time, that this approximation of the statue, a masterpiece of world-renowned contemporary sculpture and the Maison de Balzac in this symbol of this Paris always present throughout the world by presence of the Eiffel Tower?
Help us to support this project by making a donation and joining the association and to the Committee of Support to this request, lines ubscription-join.
