Studios: Atelier Crisis

Once upon a time, Paris was an artist's paradise. The ambiance was inspirational, the scenery delicious and, most important, around every corner waited a spacious, high-ceilinged studio flooded with the luminescence of the Parisian sky. Dirt cheap, too. The School of Paris was virtually born in the Bateau-Lavoir, a Montmartre dump so named for its ramshackle resemblance to a laundry barge. Picasso, Juan Gris, Utrillo and Braque all lived there before World War I. La Ruche (The Beehive) in Montparnasse was a roachy, twelve-sided wooden structure with wedge-shaped studios where Modigliani, Soutine, and...

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