Description: This is a vibrant and fascinating Vintage Modern French Paris JAZZ Cityscape Oil Painting on Canvas, depicting the Place d'Italie, a public space in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, France. This colorful painting depicts a wonderful cityscape scene, with a billboard for "Au Claire de Lune ROMANO," painted on the side of a large building. This was a performance that featured Jazz legend Miles Davis (1926 - 1991), who performed his act with Marcel Romano in Paris in 1957. Multiple figures bustle about the sidewalks below, and a pinkish hued cloudy sky is visible overhead. This piece is signed and dated: "S.R. Perry '57" in the lower right corner. I could not find any information on this artist, but perhaps you know more about him or his work? Approximately "22 1/4 x 26 1/2 inches (including frame.) Actual painting is approximately 21 x 25 1/4 inches. Good condition for decades of age and storage, with moderate scuffing, edge wear, light craquelure, and speckles of paint loss to the canvas and frame (please see photos.) Acquired in Los Angeles County, California. If you like what you see, I encourage you to make an Offer. Please check out my other listings for more wonderful and unique artworks! About this Artwork: Au Clair de la Lune (1957)In November 1957, Miles Davis was invited by French impresario Marcel Romano to participate in a three-week tour of France. The tour was largely a bust -- the group played only a few gigs -- but while Davis was in Paris, in addition to participating in a memorable session that yielded the haunting soundtrack to Louis Malle's classic Ascenseur pour l'échafaud, he performed with René Urtreger and Barney Wilen in a variety show directed by Jean-Christophe Averty.The show was broadcast at 9:07 pm local time by Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF) on Christmas evening 1957. The broadcast comprises a number of Christmas-themed comedic skits introduced by Jean Carmet -- Le Réveillon du Journaliste (featuring Roger Carel along with Francis Blanche, Pierre Doris, Judith Magré, and Nono Zammit), Le Réveillon des Comédiens (Roger Carel and Jean Bellenger), Le Réveillon du Boxeur (Henri Salvador), and Le Réveillon du Psychanaliste (Louis de Funes, Pierre Mondy, and Pascale Roberts) -- and concludes with a 17-minute segment, Averty's Au Clair de la Lune.Au Clair de la Lune was filmed in Buttes Chaumont studios in Paris on December 7. Between the opening and closing remarks, during which the Davis-Urtreger group plays "What's New?", it featuresKeïta Fodeba and Ballets Africains (3:50);Paul Braffort singing and playing the piano (1:37);the Davis-Urtreger quintet's variation on "Dig" (3:51);Giani Esposito singing and playing a hand drum (1:55); andJuliette Gréco walking around the stage and singing into a telephone (3:23).The performances take place on a set with a stylized lunar landscape with the sun, planets, and even twinkling stars in the background. Between the performances we hear Sputnik-like beeps. The overlays and graphics during the announcements and between artistic performances are very strange, combining astronomical and zodiacal images with what looks like Alice in Wonderland. Plus St. Nicholas, of course. (Averty would go on in 1970 to direct Alice au pays des merveilles, his very weird adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.) Organising the recordingDavis, an already well known and highly regarded jazz performer and composer, had received an invitation in 1957 to go to Europe as a solo artist to perform in a three week tour of Europe. Davis had just abandoned his first great quintet of 1955-56, including the legendary saxophone player John Coltrane, due to their addiction to heroin. He was beginning to try and live a healthier life, although he was still using cocaine. Additionally, Davis had been experiencing an immense amount of racism, on a daily basis, during his time performing as a jazz artist, therefore he was happy to have the opportunity to leave America for a while.Marcel Romano, promoter and jazz enthusiast, picked Davis up from the airport in November 1957 with the initial intention of telling him he would feature in a film about jazz. However, this plan fell through before Davis had even arrived. Instead, the film technician for the project, Jean-Claude Rappeneau, who Romano had hired for the project, mentioned that he had been working on a feature film with the young director Louis Malle who had an interest in jazz music. Romano told Davis about the film and said that Davis seemed interested in the project so they organised a private screening for him. Davis took notes, asking questions about the relationships between the characters and explanations of the plot. He wrote later in his autobiography that that he agreed to the job because he had never written music for a film before and it was a great learning experience for him.While touring through Europe Davis asked for a piano to be brought to his hotel room and over the next two weeks he begun to improvise some themes that would be used in the movie. Davis chose to use his band of musicians that he had been performing with on his European tour for the project. The band was composed of Barney Wilen, saxophonist, René Urtreger, pianist, Pierre Michelot, bassist and Kenny Clarke, drummer. They had only been informed about the project a couple of days prior and went into the session unprepared, having not even seen the film yet.On the 4th of December, 1957, at 10pm Davis, along with his band of Parisian musicians, and American drummer, went to the Le Post Parisian studios to record the score. The band drank together for an hour, played for four hours, then took two hours of editing, and left the studio by 5am the next day having finished the score for Ascender Pour L’Échafaud.
Price: 975 USD
Location: Orange, California
End Time: 2024-12-14T00:39:08.000Z
Shipping Cost: 45 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Artist: S.R. Perry
Signed By: S.R. Perry
Size: Medium
Signed: Yes
Period: Post-War (1940-1970)
Title: "Place D'Italie"
Material: Canvas, Oil
Region of Origin: California, USA
Framing: Framed
Subject: Cabaret, Cathedrals, Cityscapes, Community Life, Concerts, Hotels & Restaurants, Landscape, Men, Monument, Operas, Paris, Silhouettes, States & Counties, Tourism, Women, Working Life
Type: Painting
Year of Production: 1957
Original/Licensed Reproduction: Original
Item Height: 26 1/2 in
Style: Expressionism, Figurative Art, Illustration Art, Impressionism, Modernism
Theme: Advertising, Americana, Architecture, Art, Cities & Towns, Continents & Countries, Cultures & Ethnicities, Events & Festivals, Exhibitions, Famous Places, History, People, Social History, Travel & Transportation
Features: One of a Kind (OOAK)
Production Technique: Oil Painting
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Item Width: 22 1/4 in
Handmade: Yes
Time Period Produced: 1950-1959
