Blockhead Building in Nice, France - Vertical

by Liesl Walsh

Title

Blockhead Building in Nice, France - Vertical

Artist

Liesl Walsh

Medium

Photograph - Digital Photograph

Description

The "LaTete Carree" building in the Acropolis area of Nice is known as the "blockhead" building. Being the first habitable sculpture in the world, it's actually the administrative offices for the library next door. It has 7 floors: 3 in the neck and 4 in the head. Unfortunately it is closed to the public. It looks like it doesn't have any windows, but the workers inside can still see outside through a perforated aluminum sheet that covers the building. The workers can look out, but people outside cannot see inside. The blockhead building was designed by architect Yves Bayard (who designed the library next door) and the sculptor Sacha Sosno, who liked to combine art and architecture. His style was called obliteration, where he would leave parts of the sculpture missing so viewers would reconstruct the shape in their imagination. With the blockhead building he did not show the entire head; it's not even round. But we recognize it as a head since we see the shoulders and chin. Nice is a beautiful city in the southeastern part of France, in the Cote d'Azur region, sitting on the Mediterranean Sea. It is near Monaco, Eze, and St. Paul de Vence. Because the border of Italy is nearby, some of the architecture in Nice is Italian. Nice is nicknamed, "Nice la Belle", which means "Nice the Beautiful". In the second half of the 18th century the beauty and mild Mediterranean climate attracted the upper class English who spent winters here. The main walkway along the coastline is called the "Promenade des Anglais" ("Walkway of the English").

You can read about our adventure in Europe in my husband's book, "Vagabonds in France", by Michael A. Barry. Come with us as we lose our home, put everything in storage, and navigate through Europe for a few months with no return date or home to come back to. Sail across the Atlantic, dodge pickpockets, climb mountains, descend into the Paris Metro, endure nasty weather and illness, witness the flood of the century, and meet some wonderful and not-so-wonderful people. Chuckle with us as we live among the French and try to learn their ways and language. Then make it back home to an empty house we'd never seen before. The book with its 75 illustrations is available in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NCUNSEK .

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August 19th, 2016

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