Outdoor Art in Paris

Art lovers and passers-by admire paintings displayed at the Cabbage Fair, an annual open-air exhibition. The art show “could be held nowhere in the world but Paris, and nowhere in Paris but Montmartre,” The Times caption said November 13, 1921.

Montmartre is an iconic hilltop neighborhood on the Right Bank of Paris that has graced countless postcards. The Times caption for this photo reported, “This exhibition is being hailed by the “Enraged Cow,” the official journal of the free commune of Montmartre, as the greatest success, financially and artistically, that Montmartre has known.”

In the early 20th century, Montmartre had the air of a rustic village, and painters set up their easels outdoors, along the sloping cobblestone roads. Many notable artists lived and worked in Montmartre, where the rents were low and the atmosphere congenial.