The Paris-L.A. Connection

French-American cultural relations, contrary to some reports, do not consist exclusively of French resistance to American popular culture. True, the much-publicized coolness of French critics had something to do with the poor performance of EuroDisney. And French trade negotiators insisted on protecting their fellow citizens from the U.S. films they love too well.

But popular culture is not the whole of culture. In arts and sciences, France and the United States have had lively relations since Jefferson and Franklin were the toast of Paris. In this century, the “Lost Generation” of post-World War I American writers in Paris was followed by a post-World War II generation of only somewhat less famous writers--James Jones, James Salter and others. Paris has played a particularly important role in providing a refuge and an intellectual reception for black American writers and musicians.

From its founding in 1931, the independent, non-governmental American Center in Paris has been a kind of clubhouse for American artists and writers living there and a magnet for Parisians interested in America.

For the last seven years, the center has been closed while it built itself a new home. Tuesday, the new home opened--a spectacular building designed by Los Angeles-based architect Frank O. Gehry and offering “Pure Beauty: Some Recent Work From Los Angeles” as its inaugural show. (The art exhibition will open in Los Angeles Sept. 25.)

The warm reception Parisian critics have accorded the new center comes as a double reminder. First, culture and entertainment, though they overlap, are not quite the same thing, and the French reaction to American entertainment does not predict, either way, the French reaction to American culture. Second, though Los Angeles may rightly aspire to be the capital of the Pacific Rim, American institutions are obviously of European--and in important regards of French--descent, and the old ties still bind.

On a globe, no point can claim centrality. Is Los Angeles--eight time zones east of Beijing and nine west of Paris--central or twice peripheral? Whatever the answer, the American Center in Paris, celebrating Los Angeles as it reopens, deserves an appreciative look back. The City of the Angels may have much to learn, even at this late date, from the City of Light.