Birdman of Montparnasse

I was in the Montparnasse cemetery the other day while doing some research for a new Eye Prefer Paris tour. Although not as famous or as flashy as Pere Lachaise, Montparnasse cemetery is the resting place for France’s intellectual and artistic elite. Simone Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre share a tombstone, and others buried there include poet Charles Baudelaire, playwright Samuel Beckett, sculptor Constantin Brancusi, photographer Brassai, writer Margaret Duras, film director Jacques Demy, singer Serge Gainsbourg, actress Jean Seberg, and writer Susan Sontag.

While walking along the serene paths in the cemetery on a humid, gray Thursday, this brilliant flash of mirrors and iron appeared in between the sobering, stone tombstones. On the bottom it said “A mon amis Jacques, un oiseau quai s’est envolé trop tot” (To my friend Jacques, a bird that flew away too soon”). My research didn’t find who Jacques was, but the sculptor was Jean Tinguely, who was famous for his collaborations with Yves Klein and Niki de Saint Phalle.

I also found a most peculiar website: www.findagrave.com, with links such as famous grave search, claim to fame, and search 21 million grave records. To show your support, you can shop at the grave store where you can buy T-shirts, travel mugs, baseball caps, and greeting cards with the Find a Grave logo and a photo of a tombstone on them.

Montparnasse Cemetery
3 boulevard Edgar-Quinet, 14th arr.
Metro station: Raspail

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour
includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.

Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Comments

[Stu]

Poor Jean Seberg. I have a rare copy of her biography, "Played Out," and I'm one of the editors of her wikipedia article.

[MadAboutParis]

You hit the jackpot, RICHARD!!!!!
That is my favorite grave in the whole world! I discovered it on my first visit to Montparnasse Cemetery (2001) and I have made a pilgrimage to it on each return visit.
Not to question your research, but I wonder how you determined that it was a Tinguely sculpture? Since the quote at the bottom is signed Niki - I just assumed that it was the work of Niki de Saint Phalle.
One of these days I hope to be able to spend longer than a week in Paris and devote the extra time to do some research regarding who Jacques was.
A plus tard,
Mary
PS - here in Cincinnati, I'm a docent at Spring Grove Cemetery (www.springgrove.org) and along with Eye Prefer Paris, FindAGrave.com is in my Top 10 favs.