Sunday 27 July 2014

Angouleme - Home of Street Art and Comic Strips.

 
 Angouleme is my kind of City ,
Art , Architecture and Cafes.

Somewhere I would like to go to again
and spend the day .

But I am going to start with Art.

I did a little bit of research on  Street Art and Comic strips

and found out about this yearly festival.


Every year since 1974 there has been a

Angouleme International Comics Festival

which takes place all over the city.

This festival is the largest comic festival in Europe
and the second biggest in the world after Comiket,
held in Japan twice a year.
 
The four-day festival is notable for awarding several prestigious prizes in cartooning. The awards were originally called the Alfred awards, after the pet auk from Zig et Puce by Alain Saint-Ogan.

 In 1989, the name changed to the Alph-art awards, honoring the final, unfinished Tintin album by Hergé.

Right in the centre of one of the many walk ways is a bust of the
Belgian cartoonist .
 
 
known by the pen name Hergé
 
Best known for his comic books
 
 
Herge  completed 23 comic books in The Adventures of Tintin series,
which he made from 1929 until his death in 1983
 
 


 
Surprising what you come across when you least expect it ,
I did wonder why this bust was here,


And then we have this fantastic mural..
 
 
Amazing how they have created such a wonderful scene,

 
 
And Art on street corners 


 
If you are ever in Angouleme , you can go to the Tourist information and
pick up a map to do a tour. The map has two walks, one of the history and
architecture and the other of the street art.  You just follow the signs !!







 
This one below is fantastic ,, I had to look twice!!



 
 
I find this fascinating and such a great way to decorate the city.




 
And I ended with this one , I think you know why..
It is Fabulous , I really thought they were windows!!

 
The Paper industry  plays a very big
part in the making of Angouleme
and they have a museum
dedicated to the history .
 
Information taken from  Google.
 Angouleme developed thanks to the paper industry. As from 1516, mills are installed in Charente to make paper pulp. During the Renaissance, François 1 commanded to do some works to facilitate navigation and granted numerous privileges to stationer. By this way, he promoted their activities’ expansion. During the 18th century, no less than 70 stationery shops exported their production in Europe. The use of wood to the paper pulp making led to the stationery shop industrialization and the decline of mills. Nowadays, the reputation of paper in Angouleme is untouched.
 
I hope that if you are interested that you will click on the many links for more info.
 
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Sunday 13 July 2014

Doors, Knockers and Shutters ... Dreaming of France

 
I have a fascination with Doors and Shutters but now
with the Door Knockers too!!
 
I remembered reading  about Doors knockers
a few years ago, funny how some posts stick in your mind.

 
This was on Corey's blog Tongue in Cheek..
A fascinating blog , French orientated of course. Corey is an American
lady who has lived in France a long time, married to French husband.
Hope you go and have a read .  If you love France you will love this blog!!!
 
I have been reading about the history and it seems that it is connected to the Muslims.
 
One story  is that the hand -symbolizing the Hand of Fatima- was not only a talisman to protect a house from evil but also a sign for other Muslims in non-Muslim countries that in a certain house lived people of their faith
 
The ‘Hand of Fatima’ is particularly common on front doors in Morocco and from there spread to France,  then the rest of Europe, during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its arrival in France  coincided with the period of Art Nouveau (circa, 1890-1910) and the European castings used for the Lady’s Hand became more sensuous and somewhat more elegant.
 
Hand of Fatima
 
 

 







 



In the picture below you can see the Ghost writing, I think that it is great
that they leave this up , to show us what it used to be.
 




 
Love this , but wonder who went through here, I am sure Diane will know!!




 
Fascinating mural and I love the colour!







 
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