The story behind the Resting Place photograph
Taken from Dawn Cole's blog:
Discovering Casino Marie-Christine, Le Havre
The story of the building in the photograph that I have written about in my post A recent discovery is beginning to unravel even more.
No2 General Hospital, Casino Marie-Christine, Le Havre, 1918/19
Earlier this week a French visitor to my blog, left this comment on the page:
Thank you for this photo. It’s beautiful. This is the Marie-Christine Le Havre casino. The photograph was taken in the large living room. In the background is the entrance hall. It was the home of my great grandfather. He saw the same scenes but in 1939-1940.
And posted this photograph: http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=208187Photo026.jpg
Something that had not really registered before is that Clarice worked at 2 hospitals that had, before WW1 operated as Casino’s. I find this interesting from the perspective of ‘The King’s shilling’ project which I have recently begun to develop in the context of flipping a coin – luck and probability – all relevant to the Casino. Strange how things connect.
Alexandre Boucher-Baudard has since emailed more information and images, some connecting with WW1 and others from around 1950. Really pleased that these have enabled me to identify several other photos from the archive that were clearly taken outside the Casino. The images Alexandre sent are below and click here 1914-1918 le havre_casino for a little about the history of the Casino (the English translation is further down the document and apologies as it is a Google translation)
It is the plan, funding permitting, to take the Resting Place project to France next year and Le Havre is now on the list of potential places for a performance. Although Clarice’s entries in her diary stop before she goes to Le Havre it seems right to include this place in the project, almost as an unwritten piece of her story and maybe a silent part of the project.
