French Cafés in Free Fall

Steven Erlanger in today's New York Times reports a frightening statistic : "In 1960, France had 200,000 cafes," said Bernard Quartier, president of the National Federation of Cafes, Brasseries and Discotheques. "Now it has fewer than 41,500, with an average of two closing every day."

The culprits are largely the ban on smoking in cafés and restaurants, and of course the hellish descent into economic depression. Oh, yes, young people go to the supermarket, get a 3 euro bottle of plonque and sit at home with their cigarettes and get loaded while watching reality tee vee.

Ad Reinhardt : 1955

Ad Reinhardt in his New York studio in 1955.

The show, "Imageless," at the Guggenheim Museum starts with a story about a gift to the museum of one of Reinhardt’s “Black Paintings.” The black paintings are delicate: the mere touch of a finger leaves a permanent imprint. Their fragility contributed to them being perceived, and valued, as pure things in a corrupted world. From an article by Holland Cotter in the New York Times.

Photo: Photograph by Walter Rosenblum. Thomas Hess papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Americans Today

"A household with income under $13,000 spends, on average, $645 a year on lottery tickets, about 9 percent of all income."

– David Brooks, New York Times, 10 June 2008.