Studios in pictures — 34 boulevard de Clichy

34 boulevard de Clichy belongs to a Parisian tradition born in the 19th century: the artists' colonies, those clusters of studios designed to meet the very specific needs of painters, sculptors, engravers and photographers — constant north light, sufficient ceiling height for large canvases or monumental sculptures, direct access from the street or courtyard for bringing in models and materials. The gallery below brings together views of contemporary Parisian studios that still preserve their original characteristics intact: metal-framed skylight, exposed timber framing, spiral staircase serving the sleeping mezzanine, terracotta tile floor, and planted paved courtyard.

Gallery

Artist's studio living room with verdigris-green metal skylight, wooden spiral staircase, terracotta tile floor and exposed timber framing — Living room, studio skylight and spiral staircase.

Oak dining room and open kitchen, bathed in light from a green metal studio skylight — Dining room beneath the skylight.

Plunging view from the mezzanine onto the dining room, paper globe pendant above the wooden table — View from the mezzanine.

Oak table and chairs beneath a large white Japanese paper lantern, in front of a studio skylight — Table and Japanese lantern.

Overall view of a studio with wooden mezzanine, spiral staircase, green studio skylight and vintage cinema poster — Overall view of the studio.

Contemporary loft with black industrial mezzanine, metal staircase, glass floor and green designer chair — Reinterpreted studio, contemporary loft.

Studio living room with leather butterfly armchair, sheepskin, glass floor and Scandinavian sideboard — Living room, butterfly armchair and glass floor.

Bedroom on mezzanine with double bed beneath a large sloping skylight, light wood floor and exposed timber framing — Mezzanine bedroom beneath skylight.

Plunging view onto a studio living room with picture gallery, round coffee table, butterfly armchair and green chair — Plunging view onto the living room from the mezzanine.

Paved flowering courtyard of a Parisian artists' colony, red brick façades, green studio skylights and pink camellias — Paved courtyard of an artists' colony.

Façade of the rear-courtyard studios at 34 boulevard de Clichy, with a blue door, a central green door numbered 15 and a red door numbered 14, fir-green painted wooden frames and green grilles — Façade of the rear-courtyard studios — doors 14 and 15.

Interior of a loft-studio at 34 boulevard de Clichy, with mezzanine, white spiral staircase, wooden floor and technical ceiling — Contemporary loft-studio with spiral staircase.

View looking up at the north-facing skylight of a studio at 34 boulevard de Clichy, white metal structure, sloped glass, glass floor — North-facing skylight seen from the mezzanine.

Studio 4 — Michel Batlle (Toulouse lineage)

Studio 4 of no. 34, which successively housed Henri Marre (1858-1927), his daughter Sébastienne Marre and then Michel Batlle (b. 1946 in Toulouse, painter and sculptor, French pioneer of Body Art) — that is, almost a century of Toulouse art in the same room. Seven views of the studio from the time when Batlle occupied it, populated with his works.

Overall view of studio 4 at 34 boulevard de Clichy, skylight, staircase up to mezzanine, kitchenette and desk corner — Studio 4 — overall view.

Desk corner of studio 4 with Avatars sculptures by Michel Batlle, pierced metal bodies, and canvases on the walls — *Avatars* sculptures and desk.

Living-kitchen of Michel Batlle's studio 4, several Avatars sculptures and colourful canvases — Living-kitchen, works in place.

Detail of the iron and wired-glass skylight of studio 4 — The skylight, seen from below.

Inner courtyard of 34 boulevard de Clichy with Japanese rose in yellow bloom — Courtyard with Japanese rose.

Bedroom-mezzanine of studio 4 with double bed and art bookshelf — Bedroom-mezzanine.

Bathroom with baroque mirror framed by black sculpture and painting on the wall — Bathroom, mirror-sculpture.

Cross-cutting reading

A few constants run through all these views. The studio skylight first — often with a slender metal structure painted green or grey, sometimes with frosted cathedral glazing to diffuse the light without dazzling. The ceiling height, which makes it possible to shift the sleeping function up to a mezzanine and keep the floor space for work. The terracotta tile floor, which resists splashes of clay, plaster or paint. The planted paved courtyard, finally, which serves at once as access, storage area and social space — that is where the studio neighbours of Pottier, Manet, Dargaud, Feitu, Marre and Guth crossed paths, greeted one another and bickered.

And then, in studio 4 at the time of these photographs, this mirror play between the work and the place: Batlle's Avatars sculptures inhabited the room like a troop of figures of wood and iron, set on the floor, traversed by sticks and bars; the faces of Cultural Wars looked out from the walls; the baroque-sculpture mirror doubled the room; and the skylight beneath which Henri Marre painted a century ago still received, in the constant north light, the gesture of a Catalan painter born in Toulouse.

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The studios in pictures

Gallery

Studio 4 — Michel Batlle (Toulouse lineage)

Cross-cutting reading