Paris in July: Paris: Impressions of Life 1880 - 1925

There is a regional city a couple of hours away from us called Bendigo, and it is a place I love to visit. At the Art Gallery, they often have really interesting exhibitions. In the past they have held exhibitions about Elvis, Wedding Dresses, British Royal Portraits and more. This year, the exhibition is called Paris: Impressions of Life 1880-1925 and of course we had to visit.

There were several themed rooms for visitors to walk through, starting from the Market Town Show, through Public Gardens, along The Seine, into Montmartre via the Eiffel Tower and the Champs Elysee. There was a really interesting mix of art, promotional posters, fashion, and historical photos of some of the most familiar landmarks, although they looked a bit different .

My favourite room, and the one that I want to share the photos of today were all the different signs that used to be outside shops to tell people exactly what was sold in the shop! Some of them are more obvious than others! I love the ornate key, and the snails, and yes, the shop sold snails!

The items in this collection come from Musee Carnavalet which is the museum of the history of Paris.  When we visited Paris, I did hear about this museum but we were unable to squeeze it in. We had already added it to the list for the next time we visit Paris. This exhibition has definitely ensure that will be a must do!

After a quick lunch, we were also lucky in that we got to attend a fascinating talk by famous French Australian chef Gabriel Gate.He was talking about both the history of restaurants and food and his own career in food, using some of the illustrations from the exhibition as well as others.

Among the various things he talked about, including the different types of restaurants, and how the movement of people have bought different types of dining to Paris. For example, the Prussian wars which caused people from the Alsace-Lorraine area to move to Paris, and with them they bought brasseries, which originally was where beer was made. He also spoke about other types of restaurants such as bouillon restaurants, some of which are still open today, as well as much fancier restaurants like Le Cafe Riche

The 1900 World Exhibition was another key event bringing millions of people into the city and creating work. He shared a photo of a banquet that was held in 1900 was the Banquet des Maires where 22000 local maires were invited to Paris for a 6 course meal, served over the course of 90 minutes.

One of the statistics shared was that in 1789 there were around 100 restaurants in the city but by 1900 there was around 3500 eateries in the city. A lot of those very early restaurants were opened by the chefs who worked for the aristocracy but the French Revolution saw those chefs moving to the city. 

In terms of his own history, Gate started working in kitchens in 1974 and he talked about how different that world was. When he started work there were still ovens that were heated using fires, you had to break up your own chickens and there were very specific rules about behaviour. For example, he worked in a restaurant where the kitchen was downstairs and under no circumstances were the downstairs staff allowed in the dining room. The only time he even saw the dining room was on his last day working there.

There were so many interesting stories that were shared as part of this session, and I am so glad that we took this opportunity to hear Gabriel Gate speak. I could have listened for much longer!

It was a great day out!