Clervaux, Luxembourg: visiting The Family of Man

On July 28, Sophia and I boarded a train bound for the small town of Clervaux in Luxembourg. My dear friend Lynn had asked me several months ago if I would like to meet her there to visit a unique photography exhibit known as The Family of Man.  I am always up for adventures that involve new discoveries and opportunities to spend time with good friends, so the answer was a resounding “Yes!”

Lynn was driving from her home in Bendorf, Germany, with her daughter Natalie who is exactly Sophia’s age and also preparing to leave home for university.  Both of our daughters will study psychology: Sophia in Glasgow, Scotland and Natalie in the city of Luxembourg…..but I am getting sidetracked!  

Our train was bound for Liège, a pleasant Belgian city in Wallonia that I had visited with Lynn in May. She had a personal curiosity that drew her there as one of her ancestors had spent her childhood in Liège, and had memories of sliding down the famous Montagne de Beuren in winter. The ‘Montagne’ is actually a stairway of 374 steps lined with houses whose doorways open onto the steep hill with an average grade of 28%.  We made the climb, and had a commanding view of the city and its river La Meuse.  But that was another trip… I have been sidetracked once again….back to our train journey to Luxembourg….

 

It was a beautiful summer day, and after a quick train change in Liège (only 6 minutes between!), we were soon gliding along through the Ardennes.  The Ardennes are located in southeastern Belgium, and are the closest Belgium gets to having mountains, though they are more like rolling hills.  They are beautiful in any season, covered with forests and rocky outcroppings.  The Meuse River winds its way through this region carving out a natural path through the mountains that our train seemed to follow.  From the window, I spotted kayakers here and there, and I was surprised to see that the river looked high despite our mild winter. 

Approaching the chateau of Clervaux

Upon our arrival at the Clervaux train station, I had requested to be picked up by our hotel which offered a free shuttle service.  Sophia and I stepped off the platform and walked around the tiny station to the front entrance, looking for the type of shuttle van one normally expects…..nowhere to be seen.  I noticed a man dressed neatly all in black leaning against a black car. He appeared to be smiling at us, but I remained unconvinced until he made a slight gesture toward us.  “Vous êtes de l’Hôtel International?” The reply was affirmative, and it was only as we stepped into the vehicle that I saw the name Jaguar on the door!  

Lynn had reserved rooms in a hotel with a pool and spa, so we had the chance to go for a swim later that afternoon before dinner.  In the meantime, we met up with her and Natalie shortly after arriving.  We took a quick look around the town center, had lunch, and then decided to head out in Lynn’s car to search for a community garden that she had read about in the city of Wiltz.

http://tourisme.wiltz.lu/attractions-gggg/culture/jardin-de-wiltz/

We reached Wiltz with no difficulties, but despite posters advertising “Le Jardin de Wiltz “prominently displayed around the town, there was no indication of how to get there…not even an address! I approached a man at a bus stop, but he was not the ‘garden type, ‘and had no idea what I was talking about.  A second attempt was more promising.  An older gentleman responded to my query, and in heavily accented French explained that we were in Wiltz-Bas (Lower Wiltz) and the garden was in Wiltz-Haut.  He pointed to the road leading up a steep hill behind us, and said we would see indications along the way.  Once more we set out, but still found no indications in the upper town. We found ourselves turning the car around in the parking lot of an industrial plant where an exiting employee, seeing our German license plates, gave directions to Lynn in German.  After another tour of the countryside and a brief rain shower, and passing once again in front of the aforementioned factory, we finally parked and walked to the garden, undaunted. Built in terraces into the side of a steep hill, Le Jardin de Wiltz was initiated in 1983 as a cooperative effort undertaken by handicapped and unemployed artists and artisans and it is still maintained by the cooperative today with the goal to promote projects which integrate art, social integration, education, and rural development.  We found it charming and original in its use of local stone and recycled materials to create an atmosphere of calm and beauty.

 

       

 

crocosmia

Lady's Mantle

These handhewn stones looked like grave markers...so I photographed them in color accent!

  Our main objective for this trip was to visit the permanent photography exhibit housed in the Chateau of Clervaux.  It opened only at 12:00 on Wednesday, so after breakfast, we determined to hike up to the Benedictine Abbey of Clervaux, located just above the town and connected by a footpath through the forest.  The monks live in a quiet communion of strict prayer, but welcome visitors who wish to join them for short stays to experience monastic life.  They sing Gregorian chant, and have several initiatives to help sustain them, including the roasting and packaging of coffee beans, and the production of their own delicious natural apple juice.

http://www.abbaye-clervaux.lu/fr/bienvenue/

I forgot to mention that on our way up the path, we were joined by a little furry friend who insisted on following us all the way to the abbey, where he then paused and retreated when we entered the abbey grounds.  (See photos!)                              

 

l'Abbaye Saint Maurice in Clervaux

 We descended to the village and began our visit of The Family of Man, an exhibit conceived and created by the Luxembourg-born Edward Steichen.  The exhibit was originally shown at MOMA (The Museum of Modern Art) in New York in 1955, and was met with such enthusiasm that the 503 photographs by 273 artists from 68 countries was duplicated and toured the world throughout the 1950s and 60s postwar period, viewed by more than 10 million visitors.  The exhibit found a permanent home in Clervaux, remaining in Luxembourg as the bequest of Steichen himself.

The Family of Man seeks to illustrate the common threads of humanity that link us all, traversing life’s stages from birth to death and examining human relationships , joys, trials and tribulations as they are experienced by people everywhere.  The exhibit declares itself as “a manifesto for peace and the fundamental equality of mankind throughout the world.” Though some of the images are by renowned photographers such as Ansel Adams, Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, and Dorothea Lange, the majority were culled from over two million submissions made by amateur and professional photographers from all over the globe.  From this enormous cache, the curators had the difficult task to reduce the number to 10,000, and ultimately to the 503 images which form the permanent exhibit.  In his introduction to the exhibit catalogue, Steichen wrote: “The Family of Man has been created in a passionate spirit of devoted love and faith in man.” 

It was in this spirit that we toured the exhibit, innovative in its day for its mounting of images on frameless, matless stretchers with no glass between the photograph and the viewer. In some instances, smaller images were superimposed onto larger ones, and interspersed among the photographs were quotations that enhanced and unified the images into relevant themes. 

I include some which particularly moved me  here:

…and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes

and then he asked me would I yes…

and first I put my arms around him yes

and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts and all perfume yes

and his heart was going like mad

and yes I said yes I will Yes.

-          James Joyce

(Kate Bush wrote and performed a beautiful song based on this passage.  You can listen to it here. "Sensual World") 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1DDndY0FLI

With all beings and all things we shall be as relatives      -Sioux Indian

 

The land is a mother that never dies     -Maori

photograph by Ansel Adams, mounted directly on the wall of the museum

 

This is the fire that will help the generations to come, if they use it in a sacred manner.  But if they do not use it well, the fire will have the power to do them great harm.    –Sioux Indian

 

Sing, sweetness, to the last palpitation of the evening and the breeze.  –St. John Perse

Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul.   –Plato

 

But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.  –Thomas Paine

…the wise man looks into space, and does not regard the small as too little, nor the great as too big; for he knows that there is no limit to dimensions.      –Lao-tze

 

As the generation of leaves, so is that of men.      –Homer

…I am alone with the beating of my heart…    -Lui Chi

Photo of the American Depression by Dorothea Lange

Behold, this dreamer cometh          -Genesis 37:19

……To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty…      -Albert Einstein

….I still believe that people are really good at heart.    –Anne frank, “Diary” (14 years old)

You are the young wonder-tree plant, grown out of ruins.   –Baronga----African Folk Tale

 

….the mind is restless, turbulent, strong and unyielding….as difficult to subdue as the wind.   –Bhagavad-Gita

Fill the seats of justice with good men, not so absolute in goodness as to forget what human frailty is.

 –Sir Thomas Noon Talfound

I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves.    –Thomas Jefferson

Behold this and always love it!  It is very sacred, and you must treat it as such…       -Sioux Indian

Flow, flow, flow, the current of life is ever onward….     –Kobodaishi

O wonderful,

wonderful,

and most wonderful wonderful!

and yet again wonderful…

-William Shakespeare

 

Natalie, Lynn and Sophia

Yes indeed!  Wonderful!

Guillemins Train Station designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava in Liège, Belgium

 

On the train ride back to Brussels, I snapped a few shots of the Liège Guillemins station from the train window. It was designed by the well-known Spanish architect  Santiago Calatrava in 2009.  The steel, glass and white concrete construction resembles as do many of Calatrava’s designs, the skeletal frame of a giant whale.  It is airy and light as it overarches  the station’s nine tracks and five platforms.  As we traveled homeward, my sweet companion took a rest, and her image was very dear to me…..a parting image for this blog.