The Daum Collection, Nancy Part 2

 

I wasn’t much of a fan of art glass before coming to France. 

After visiting the Daum Collection I was converted.

This grouping of 300 examples (another 600 are in storage) in the basement of the Nancy, Musée des Beaux Arts 

Is perfectly presented and perfectly lit.

A purely visual experience.

Placards and labels are thankfully minimized. A tiny bit of background - a notary public, Jean Daum moved to Nancy and bought a glassworks factory in 1876. With the assistance of his two sons, they produced both household and artistic pieces. 

They invited artists like Jacques Gruber and Henri Bergé to create exquisite glassware that evolved into Art Nouveau styles and onward.

You are drawn into an almost a trance-like state By the colors, the shapes and the luminosity.

The perfect transition from the Daum collection is a visit to the museum’s Yayoi Kusama’s Fireflies mirrored room. Only 2 people at a time. You close the mirror door and stand on a narrow platform surrounded by water, mirrors, hanging lights and a sense of infinite space. A unique experience.

Onward to one of Nancy’s 8 Christmas marchés. With directions from the tourist office I found myself at Le Grand Village de Saint Nicolas. 

Here the lights sparkle just as bright. There are other artisan markets. 

This marché is for food and fun. 

From red steaming pots of spiced wine/vin chaud. 

Make your way to the glassy red Saint Nicolas candies at Confiserie Lefèvre-Lemoine, near the train station. 

Cross the threshold into a time machine. You are instantly 5 again. Bergamot and mirabelle. Did you get the impression the town of Nancy is a magical feast for the eyes and the tastebuds. It certainly is😊 and just an hour and a half from Paris. I hope you will visit next trip. Thanks for reading Parisbreakfast. If you'd like to receive Parisbreakfast letters 💌 maps and watercolors in your mailbox 📮 look in my Etsy shop. ❤️🎄🐻 ❤️🧣

Nancy - Art Nouveau

I visited NANCY in the Lorraine 6 years ago. Last Wednesday I showed Carolyn the golden ironwork gates of PLACE STANISLAUSin the center of town are spectacular.

We were lucky to have a beautiful sunny day.

Blue art nouveau ironwork is all over the city, sometimes used in the most mundane ways for cellar grills and trashcans. This building has a wonderful balcony hard to capture from street level.

A must visit in Nancy is the musee de l'Ecole de Nancy.

Trying to catch that special shade of dusty blue paint. I asked if there was a specific name for 'bleu de Nancy'. No one seemed to know. Not even Google has an answer. You won't see this in any other French city besides Nancy.

Nancy was a hotbed of decorative talent turn of the century. Particularly glassware by Daum, Gallé and Gerber. I wanted to see The Daum Collection (600 pieces) at the Beaux Arts museum but they were stored away because of a recent flood.

I'm definitely going back to Nancy. I think I've entered my 'glass' period.

I remembered having a terrific lunch last visit at Brasserie Excelsior and off we went.

The fish stand is just inside the front door. I made up my mind instantly.

My plateaux de fruits de mer. France has over 3,000 miles pf coastline. You can't go wrong ordering seafood, especially shellfish.

More glassware. A good way to kill time while you wait for your course is sketching the classic carafe d'eau or water jugs. They differ slightly in every French restaurant.

The Brasserie's tap water was perfection by the way.

This is a heritage building with all the original decor by Nancy's top artisans.. The food is excellent. We got there at midi /noon and watched every seat fill up with locals and tourists.

Dessert was waiting across the street at the old confectionary shop.

Maison Lefevre-Lemoine was founded in 1840. They are still making the same Lorraine specialties based on local bergamot and mirabelle flavors. And very nice chocolates too. Are you enticed? Nancy is a short 1 1/2 hour TGV ride from Paris to Gare Saint Léon placed in the town center. An easy and fascinating day trip.

Mirabelle plums are everywhere at this time of the year in Nancy. Hurry up! Thanks for reading Parisbreakfast. If you'd like to receive Parisbreakfast letters, maps and a carafe d'eau in your mailbox, look in my Etsy shop. I'm off tomorrow for more shellfish. This time in Rockland, Maine. Painting rocks and lobsters...I better go pack!

Les Mirabelles de Nancy

If you plan to be in Paris in September puleeze eat a Mirabelle! One of the great joys of Paris is eating seasonally, but you'll have to go to the morning marche to get the hang of what's in and what's out.

These are so tiny plan on eating quite a few if you're hungry.

On the other hand you'll notice the price can cascade from 1euro a kilo (if you're at marche d'Aligre where they'll insist you taste one) all the way up to 7,95 euros a kilo (2.2 pounds - that's a lot of Mirabelles. Get the jam jars out.

The window of opportunity is small for these babies.

They first appear in late August from the Lorraine area (the Metz Mirabelles have a distinguishing touch of red to them). If you should go to Nancy just an hour or so away from Paris. Mirabelles will hit you over the head in Nancy in every form. Tartes, Eau de Vie, preserved in liquer, confiteur of course and hard candies and even marshmallows. Yellow, yellow and more yellow prevails in Nancy. I wish I'd known there was a 2-week celebration in Metz end of August with much dancing in the streets, floats and Mirabelle dessert contests. I'd have gone in a flash.

Luckily you can find Mirabelle tartes in most boulangeries.

Boulangerie au 140 (140, rue de Belleville and a favorite of Trish Devine) is the cousin/sister of haute couture patisserie de l'Eglise around the corner. *Note they won best baguette in 2001. This is an award that never goes away.

Also look around while you're on line for your tartelette. A 3-day Edith Piaf festival is just on the horizon in Belleville. I've yet to visit her little museum here. Too much to do! More to come on the fete I promise

Patisserie d'Eglis was closed at 8:55 so I ran to marche Pyranee for some plums.

The church is appropriately reflected in it's doorway.

Later I came back to see if they had any Mirabelle tartes. They did. This is unusual. Most of the 'haute couture' patisseries for some strange reason do not have seasonal fruit desserts other than the standard fraise et framboise. I've yet to figure this out. Tons of chocolate and whipped cream - always. Seasonal fruits - rarely.

A comparative analysis begins.

The boulangerie tarte wins the days for crunchier more caramelized crust. The fancy tarte is almost a 'crumble' but not quite. The shortbread crust is excellent but not as crunchy. Fruit on both are running neck and neck winning.

Plums or pruneau are pretty divine this time of year in France so please don't miss out. On The left you have the almighty and nearly unpronounceable Quetsch (a combination of kvetch and wetch) ready to eat right out of the paper bag. On the left the lovely green Reine Claude, a tad larger than the Mirabelles.

Also equally unpronounceable and requiring long cooking, the Coing(pronounced like a duck's quack but without the K).

I'm seeing Girolle mushrooms are in. But wait they are NOT from France. Wait a bit on these plus the price is out of sight as are the very French, fresh walnuts at 9,95 a kilo.

What to wear when eating French plums? This squirrel cardie of course (even if it is English). I've yet to encounter a live French squirrel.  At the Agriculture Salon they said French squirrels are noted for their shyness. Hmm…Maybe a few could come to New York and mingle?