It was raining hard our last day in Paris, so instead of wandering around Montmartre, we decided on Musée Quai Brainly. This museum houses primitive art from all over the world. Its design was very controversial–there is a long ramp up with nothing to see, and then you are in dimly lit halls with many small, box-like rooms. But the content of the halls is so stunning that I forgot the strangeness of the museum. Paintings, totems, sculptures, clothing, ornaments…it is all there and all amazing. But one of the most stunning exhibits was right at the entrance, a VW bug covered with Huichol beading. Almost anyone who has seen Mexican crafts has seen little bowls or figurines with thousands of colorful beads pressed into wax. This was a whole car, mirrors, hubcaps and all, decorated with the rivers, serpents and birds of Huichol artisans. 
If you get a glimpse of the process…you have some idea of how astonishing this work is.
This seems to be making the rounds of museums, a traveling exhibit in more ways than one, so perhaps you’ll have a chance to see it. In any case, this museum was a real change of pace from the impressionist works we’d been absorbing for the past few days, and well worth it.
The artists are Framcisco, Kena, & Roberto Bautista – Diago, Emilio & Victor Gonzalez, Alvaro Ortiz & Herminio Ramirez
Thank you so much for this information. this is really stunning work.
At first I thought to myself, why a Volkswagon bug? My very next thought was a memory of being in Mexico City and it was bumper to bumper with lime green bugs. As I think back it seems that Germany had a lot of Volkswagon factories in Mexico. A very cheery sight, viewed from a distance it looked like a cubist type painting with the predominant color: Lime Green. How could I have forgotten that. No matter, at least I still have a memory, for now.
Hey Meryl, by the photographs you posted it looks like you had a wonderful time in France.
We did! Great art, great food, great weather, and superb company.
Oh, yeah, I liked the Olds poem. I liked the way with each line my brain made a map, at first vague and sketchy, and then with each line, the map became more detailed and towards the end it became 3-D.
And I like the way your brain works!