the sweet flypaper of life

Yesterday after I heard that the New York photographer Roy DeCarava had died aged 89, I hunted out my book of his photographs from his retrospective at the The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Looking through the book reminded me the way his images captured so much grace and poetry. He was trained as a painter and printmaker but became known for his photography of African-American Harlem in the 1950s.

cocoon

The recently opened Darwin Centre is the new addition to the Natural History Museum in London, designed by the fabulous Danish architects C.F. Møller. It houses the museum’s collection of 17 million insects and 3 million plants, as well as working laboratories for 220 scientists from all over the world. The design is in the form of a huge organic cocoon, enclosed in a glass covering. The shape is a beautiful metaphor for the protection of these natural treasures.

le corbusier's cabanon

These are images taken from Le Corbusier's cabanon at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin that I talked about in the last post. I'm posting little details of the cabin rather than showing the whole cabin. I was on a tour and the cabin was so tiny that even 4 people inside made it seem very crowded. Everything is still original inside the cabin. The paint is faded and the wood is worn and there is a lovely feel that comes with the patina of age. Le Corbusier and his wife holidayed in this little cabin but always ate at the adjoining restaurant of their friends the Rebutatos. This is very much a summer cabin and I imagine that they spent most of their time outside.

le corbusier à roquebrune cap martin

Last week I finally was in the right place at the right time to be on a tour of Le Corbuiser's Cabanon at Roquebrune Cap Martin.
From the train station at Roquebrune I walked down a flight of steep stairs to the beach. It was Friday earlish in the morning and I'd not had breakfast as I'd thought I'd easily find a café. In fact there was no café in Roquebrune other than a beach café closed for the season. However, there was a guy alone at one of the café tables eating his petit dej. It turned out he was the owner and he offered to bring me a café, along with a pile of old clippings and info about Le Cabanon. After my café I climbed back up to the train station - the meeting spot for the beginning of the tour.

I was so excited to see the Cabanon I'd read so much about. Although the cabin itself was interesting, I think he refined his ideas more perfectly in the camping cabins also on the site. These are photos from these little cabins.The play of light on the bright red, blue and yellow he used, against the deep blue of the med, was superb.

I'll show images of Le Corbusier's cabin in another post.

la randonnée

A couple of weekends ago we went on a Sunday morning walk in Les Cévennes. Afterwards we treated ourselves by eating at a restaurant with the most incredible views. I'd love to have a holiday house in Les Cévennes, probably as it reminds me of parts of the south island of New Zealand. So far we've just explored around the edges of it - the bits closest to Montpellier. The autumn plan however, is to spend a weekend venturing further in and also maybe to walk the Stevenson track.

sanaa

I know there's been lots of photos taken of this year's Serpentine Pavilion but I'm going to add some more, especially as I've just received this inspiring book by the architects of the pavilion - Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa via this post from ii-ne-kore.