Paris at Random

Question: Which of the following is NOT a memoir of Paris?

Answer: Émile Zola’s Nana is a classic novel, not a memoir.

Question: Who flew an airship or dirigible around the Eiffel Tower?

Answer: Brazilian inventor and aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont was often seen floating over Paris boulevards in his steerable balloons.

Question: What two Russian painters studied Cubism in Paris with Le Fauconnier and Metzinger?

Answer: Friends Popova and Udaltsova, both painters, traveled to Paris in 1912 and returned to Moscow in 1913.

Question: Which Irish writer lived much of his life in Paris and won the Croix de Guerre for his resistance work during World War II?

Answer: Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot was first produced in 1953.

Question: Which American writer regularly sent a “Letter From Paris” that was published in The New Yorker?

Answer: Writing under the pen name “Genêt,” Janet Flanner commented on French politics, art, theatre, and culture, and various personalities.

Question: What ballet by Igor Stravinsky caused the audience to riot on its opening night in Paris?

Answer: Stravinsky’s music for The Rite of Spring was daring, rhythmically innovative, and disturbing to those theatergoers who were accustomed to predictability in their ballets.

Question: Which French actress and dancer made her debut in An American in Paris?

Answer: Leslie Caron made her debut in An American in Paris. She was recruited for the film by dancer Gene Kelly.

Question: Who led the Fauves, a group of artists who rejected traditional renderings of three-dimensional space?

Answer: Matisse arrived at the Fauvist approach after experimenting with the approaches of Gauguin, van Gogh, and Seurat.

Question: What is the name of the painting style Picasso and Braque invented after Picasso moved to Paris?

Answer: Picasso and Braque invented the Cubism style. They presented multiple views of people and objects on one canvas. The technique known as collage was also much used by Picasso and Braque, but it’s a technique, not a style.

Question: Which Parisian singer who was reared in a house of prostitution popularized the French ballad or chanson?

Answer: Edith Piaf popularized the chanson. Her diminutive size and big voice won her an international following.