Café Deux Magots

Created 1982

Crayon on cotton board

Whenever I visited Paris, I was on my own. I did not want my two weeks in my favorite city to be determined by another, no matter how dear. I would head out from my hotel on rue de Lille and zig zag my way to the Jeu de Paume where the Impressionists were displayed; either that or Musée de l'Orangerie. After passing slowly through, I would find my way to Boulevard Saint-Germain and just keep walking until lunch and then return over different streets at the end of the day.

I soon became aware of the morning arrangement of the tables and chairs outside the cafés. The chairs were paired, side-by-side, facing the street. I had become used to seeing two chairs arranged face-to-face in the States, sitting across a table with a companion, facing each other in conversation. Here they are close for discrete comment, shoulder-to-shoulder, mouth-to-ear as each regard the people who pass by on the sidewalk. I prefer this arrangement because it is honest and practical. Face-to-face one must take glances over the other's shoulder quickly for fear of seeming disinterested in the conversation.