A fascinating documentary on the story of the iconic Paris bookstore Shakespeare & Co.
From Google videos: Portrait of a Bookstore as an Old Man.
Biographies of great women in graphic novel format
I can just imagine how tickled I would have been at 13 or 14, in full francophile and feminine bloom, to have received a series of biographies of great women in French — and in graphic novel format.
Naïve is a small independent French publisher of books and music, and they’ve come out with this series called “Grands Destins de Femmes.” Subjects include Angela Davis, Dian Fossey, Frida Kahlo, Agatha Christie, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Aung San Suu Kyi and Virginia Woolf.
Take a peek inside the Coco Chanel bio by Bernard Ciccolini and Pascale Frey.
You can get them at Amazon.fr and FNAC.
Gallica, the best of French culture at your fingertips
Now I know what I’ll be doing for the rest of my life… As soon as I get an iPad, that is. Which may now be sooner than I had thought because the Bibliothèque nationale de France has just released Gallica for iPad. And it’s free. The app contains 240,000 books, 880,000 magazines and 470,000 images. Also original musical scores, manuscripts and other goodies. Watch the video, and download the app (French store link).
No iPad? Enjoy the riches on the web.
Maps of France, as seen by…
Alert, cultural stereotypes ahead! France as seen by Americans, Germans, José Bové, and more. Author(s) unknown. See the rest at: Cartes de France, vues par ….
Hot young French farmers
“C’est beau d’être agriculteur” was the slogan for the 2012 Calendrier des jeunes agriculteurs, created by the French agricultural union “Jeunes Agriculteurs” to promote the métier of farming. We tipped you off to the young farmers’ calendar back in 2009, but didn’t have a picture. Looks like the 2012 version is sold out, but you can still make yourself a note to get one next year, and you can see more pics from the Calendrier Jeunes Agriculteurs 2012 here, though the slideshow doesn’t include all months.
Other calendars we’ve brought you in the past: The From’Girls, promoting French cheese with sexy pinups, the Aubade calendar, featuring those lingerie ads you see in the bus stops in Paris, and the Stade Paris rugby team beefcake calendar. You can get the current versions of them all at these links!
Earliest known painting of a transvestite
An 18th-century portrait sold in New York to a British gallery as a “woman in a feathered hat” turns out to actually portray a man dressed as a woman, becoming the earliest known painting of a transvestite. (Read how they figured it out…)
Seems the makers of the 24-episode Japanese animé series, Le Chevalier d’Eon, took a lot of liberties with the Chevalier’s history! And his appearance… Watch the trailer.
Nénette, une dame d’un certain âge…
Meet Nénette who, at 40, is the oldest resident of the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes in Paris. The Parisians love her. See the trailer of the award-winning documentary about her made by French filmmaker Nicolas Philibert.
Poaching and palm oil plantations are killing off the orangutans. If you care about them, there are several ways you can help through Orangutan Outreach.
Congrès mondial acadien 2014
Save the date for the Acadian World Congress 2014! Details: Congrès mondial acadien 2014.
American women helped rebuild post WWI France
As part of a vigorous publicity campaign, the American Committee for Devastated France, a civilian relief organization, commissioned photographs and films designed to foster a humanitarian response to the plight of French refugees during and after the First World War. Full-page images ran in American newspapers and sets of prints were sold for three dollars a dozen. Among the most affecting images were portraits featuring the craggy faces of the proud, elderly farmers of Picardy and the beautiful faces of French children—some posed in shabby clothing; others neatly dressed as they engaged in volunteer-sponsored activities.
See photos, videos and more at The Morgan Library & Museum Online Exhibitions. If you live in Palm Beach FL, the photos are on exhibit till March 31 at the Wally Findlay Gallery.
A selection of Francophile designs for inspiration
It’s always fun to see the icons and concepts people choose to represent France (the usual clichés, but we love them anyway). But we’re sharing this mostly because the Quasimodo cracked us up…
See more francophile design inspirations at CreativeRoots.
Around the world with Maurice Laban
Striking vintage illustrations from a 1959 book by (evidently not French — see the comments) illustrator Maurice Laban. See more at My Vintage Avenue.
French presidential election posters 1965-2012
In this poster (De Gaulle, 1965), la République (incarnated by a little girl version of Marianne) asks to be allowed to grow up. De Gaulle is represented by the starry cuff of his sleeve.
See the rest at Affiches électorales : la bataille de limage 1965-2012.
Notre Dame getting new bells
The bells that have been ringing every 15 minutes since 1856 in the towers of Notre Dame are being melted down and reforged. The Diocese of Paris says they’re ”mediocre in quality and of discordant tonality.”
Not sure I want bells that are in tune. It’s like having perfect teeth; no character…
Read the rest at the Sydney Morning Herald.
“Metropolisson” by photographer Janol Apin
Photographer Janol Apin does a series of photos in the Paris métro consisting of visual puns based on the names of the stations. Above: one meaning of boulet is “ball and chain.”
Interactive French geography games
Some entertaining interactive games on this site. We failed miserably at the cheese game, (shot above), but had fun nonetheless!
RSS feed for comments on this post. / TrackBack URI