CMS Paris

Archive of the Mendocino Heritage Artists

Charles Marchant Stevenson & Matt Leach: Paris 1991

Back in Town: Europa & the Girls

Back in Town: Europa & the Girls (1992). Charles Marchant Stevenson and Matt Leach celebrate the Musée d’Orsay’s heroic sculptures of the Six Continents Acrylic on canvas (21” x 48”). Signed on the back: Stevenson/Leach. Original artist’s frame. SKU: CS199212*

The Continents are six cast bronze allegorical figures of magnificent women seated on a low wall on the south side of the esplanade of the Musée d’Orsay. Back in Town: Europa & the Girls shows first four: (left to right) l’Europe, l’Asie, l’Afrique, and l’Amérique du Nord. Why the title? Here’s the story.

The Continents in the courtyard of the musée d'Orsay (left to right): l'Europe by Alexandre Schœnewerk, l'Asie (Alexandre Falguière), l'Afrique by Eugène Delaplanche, l'Amérique du Nord by Ernest Eugène Hiolle, l'Amérique du Sud by Aimé Millet, and l'Océanie (Australia) by Mathurin Moreau. Photo: Kirsten Steen
The Continents in the courtyard of the Musée d’Orsay (left to right): l’Europe by Alexandre Schœnewerk, l’Asie (Alexandre Falguière), l’Afrique by Eugène Delaplanche, l’Amérique du Nord by Ernest Eugène Hiolle, l’Amérique du Sud by Aimé Millet, and l’Océanie (Australia) by Mathurin Moreau. Photo: Kirsten Steen

Liberty

Liberty (1991). With reverence, a young man salutes Liberty, and honors those fallen in her cause. Background: Eugene Delacroix's masterwork Liberty Leading the People. The model is Stevenson/Leach partner Matt Leach. Gouache (10” x 13”). Signed: Stevenson '91. Stevenson/Leach Studios. Mat and narrow gold metal frame.SKU: CS199120
Liberty (1991). With reverence, a young man salutes Liberty, and honors those fallen in her cause. The model is Stevenson/Leach partner Matt Leach. Background: Eugene Delacroix’s masterwork Liberty Leading the People. Gouache (10” x 13”). Signed: Stevenson ’91. Stevenson/Leach Studios. White mat and narrow gold metal frame.SKU: CS199120
Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix (1830), commemorating France's July Revolution of 1830. The painting has been moved from the Louvre in Paris to the new Louvre-Lens museum in Lens, Pas-de-Calais (2012). Oil on canvas (9.8' x 11.9').
Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix (1830), commemorating France’s July Revolution of 1830. The painting has been moved from the Louvre in Paris to the new Louvre-Lens museum in Lens, Pas-de-Calais (2012). Oil on canvas (9.8′ x 11.9′).

The Three Shades: Matt Leach in the garden of the Hotel Biron

The Three Shades: Matt Leach in the garden of the Hotel Biron (1991). Watercolor (15” x 10”). Signed: Stevenson. Stevenson/Leach Studios. White mat and narrow gold metal frame. SKU: CS199119*

Auguste Rodin’s Three Shades, an innovative grouping of three identical nude figures, was first used to cap Rodin’s monumental bronze doors, The Gates of Hell, where they point to the inscription: Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate [“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here”] (Dante, Canto 3, The Inferno). Rodin enlarged the figures for the stand-alone grouping in the garden of the Rodin museum, at Hotel Biron in Paris. More about The Gates of Hell and The Three Shades.

The Three Shades, detail from the Gates of Hell at the Rodin Museum, Hotel Biron, Paris (1880).
The Three Shades, detail from the Gates of Hell at the Rodin Museum, Hotel Biron, Paris (1880).

Garret

Garret (1991). Charles Marchant Stevenson and Matt Leach commemorate sightings of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, their ghosts relocated from the Ritz, and still spatting, in a Parisian garret high on the corner of rue Tournefort and rue du Pot de Fer. Inscription: F.Scott and Zelda at home in Paris. Watercolor (14 x 10). Signed: Stevenson '91. Stevenson/Leach Studios. White mat and narrow gold metal frame. SKU: CS199122*
Garret (1991). Watercolor (14 x 10). Signed: Stevenson ’91. Stevenson/Leach Studios. White mat and narrow gold metal frame. SKU: CS199122*

Charles Marchant Stevenson and Matt Leach commemorate sightings of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, their ghosts relocated from the Ritz, and still spatting, in a Parisian garret high on the corner of rue Tournefort and rue du Pot de Fer. Inscription: F.Scott and Zelda at home in Paris.

Matt Leach in Paris

Matt Leach in Paris. Watercolor (14” x 11”). Signed: Stevenson '91. Stevenson/Leach Studios. Mat and narrow gold metal frame. SKU: CS199125*
Matt Leach in Paris (1991). Watercolor (14” x 11”). Signed: Stevenson ’91. Stevenson/Leach Studios. Mat and narrow gold metal frame. SKU: CS199125*

Matt Leach stands by of the last remaining wall mounted Wallace Fountain (Rue Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and Rue Cuvier). For over a hundred years Wallace Fountains have provided Parisians with clean drinking water. Learn more about Sir Richard Wallace’s gift of fountains.

Paris in Mendocino

Paris in Mendocino (1992). Matt Leach brings Paris home to Mendocino, setting the Eiffel Tower in Heider Field, behind the Mendocino Post Office. Acrylic on canvas. Signed: Leach. Stevenson/Leach-Studios. SKU: CS199209ML*

Paris 1991

Left to right: Matt Leach, Isis Hall, Carol Goodwin Blick, Charles Marchant Stevenson (Paris 1991). Photo by Bob Blick.
Left to right: Matt Leach, Isis Hall, Carol Goodwin Blick, Charles Marchant Stevenson (Paris 1991). Photo courtesy of Bob Blick.

1991 found Charles Marchant Stevenson and Matt Leach traveling in Sicily with Lucia Zacha, then living in Paris for several months in 1991-1992. Here they are in late December 1991 with Mendocino friends.

The Paris Archive

The paintings here are just a fraction of artwork done by Stevenson/Leach, during their stay in Paris or inspired by it. If you have one of their Paris paintings, please contact us with photos to add to the Archive. Thank you.

LINKS
Charles Marchant Stevenson: Artwork
Stevenson Leach Studios
Charles Marchant Stevenson
About Charles Marchant Stevenson
Mendocino Heritage Artists
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