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.
 
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

31 comments:

  1. What a fascinating town! I love that street art and would definitely do that walk. I always had a few Tin Tin books in my French classes when I was teaching, too.

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    1. Hi Leslie , you would love this city for sure , Lots to see , other than the Art, with a fantastic market place too . I have never been in to Tin Tin , but my friends husband is , that is what prompted me to take the photograph and find out the history. xx

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  2. Anne this is a great post you have done very well especially as we did not see many of the bits of street art that are around. Every time I go in I see some thing new :-) Think I need to spend a day in there just walking!. Take care Diane xox

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    1. Hi Diane , thank you for your lovely comments , I know we did not see much but what we saw was enough to do this post, and we did not have much time and remember it poured down ,, What we saw was great and yes I think another trip is needed :-) xoxo Take Care Anne ,

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  3. part of them is so realistic! an interesting town to visit!

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  4. I know Ola, so realistic , and certainly a very interesting city to visit, Thank you for calling over x

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  5. How cool! I love street art! So interesting to learn about this town. Thanks.

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    1. Hi Sally , how lovely to see new readers here and I am happy that you like this post, I have a few more photos of this town , which is fabulous, Thank you ,

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  6. The ones with the shutters are great. I do hope you are right and I am sure you are.

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    1. Hi Esme , Aren't they just fab, I love real shutters too , x

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  7. How abstractly realistic! The murals of the shuttered windows are so realistic that I had to look twice...Wonderful art work Anne.
    love Di..xx

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    1. Hi Trubes , as we both have said , "So realistic" I might have to go back and see more, Thanks Di , take care xxo

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  8. This is a town I have wanted to visit for a long time so it was very interesting to read your post, thanks Anne.

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    1. Hello Linda, , I never knew that , so I am happy to bring you info and photos or this wonderful city , glad you found it interesting too , xx

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  9. What a fun place. I've never heard of it. Love your photos!

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    1. HI Joy thank you so much for calling in again, It is such fun place , that I might just have to go back , glad you like the photos too, More to come, x

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  10. When I take my bookish trip around the world, I need to be sure I make it here!

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    1. Hello Deb, thank you for commenting , love to see new readers, Yes I am sure you will have to make it here , I am sure you will enjoy it :-)

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  11. Anne, Thanks so much for playing along with Dreaming of France today. I'd never heard of this city or knew anything about the artwork. I'd love to see it. Here’s my Dreaming of France meme

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    1. Hi Paulita, I think you would love this city , so much to see, x

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  12. Love street art and see it so often here in Europe. We even have one in our little town, and many in Italy.
    I wish all the world were full of such whimsy.
    xxx

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    1. Hi Lisa, So great to see this wonderful street Art , my love for it started it Paris (of course) . Keep an eye out and start a Street Art Section :-) xx

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  13. I love the trompe l'oeil on all the walls. Fabulous.

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    1. Thank you Liz, such amazing paintings, I will have to go back and see the rest.

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  14. Replies
    1. Thank you Regine, I hope that you come back to see more of my trip.

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  15. Wow..this is very interesting...love the drawings on the buildings.
    Hope you are very well and I have missed coming over to visit..my summer has been so busy. Hope you are so enjoying yours. xo

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    1. Hello Koralee, I understand totally about your summer being so busy .. we have so much going on here too, Thank you for taking the time to comment , certainly is interesting to see such fabujlous drawings and art, I hope you are well too xo

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  16. I had no idea Angoulème had such great street art – your photos are wonderful. Have you been to Brussels? There are some great paintings on the city walls too. I did not take a special tour, but just walking around you can see them. Growing up in France I had several large books of Tintin and his dog Milou. I thought Tintin’s hair was different but I see young men now wearing that style … frontal hair up – as they say “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose!”

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    1. Hi Vagabonde , I knew nothing about this city until I went for a visit . Amazing place, I have been to Brussels but not for a long time and certainly not a tour , I would love to see the art there, Yes walking around is the best , but tours are good too, in case you miss something :-). Lots of men here in the UK are wearing this style too. My friends husband as all of the books , he is a massive fan and he is from New Zealand , apart from him I have never met another fan. I am happy that you found this interesting,

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Thank you to everyone for commenting, it certainly makes my day. A pleasure to see everyone of you. Old and New.. Blogging not only opens up the world but gives us new friends.