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.
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.
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.”
Paris authorities are to cut the amount of advertising on city streets by 30% and ban all adverts within 50m of school gates.
Read the rest at The Guardian. Image, Simon Daval.
My last trip to Paris was about rediscovering the city’s artistic and architectural beauty. With my brand new digital camera and lenses, I wanted to focus on the details. In this case, as the album title suggests, the numerous faces that look at you everywhere you go.
See all the faces of Paris Visages. Seen @Brainpicker.
See JR’s work at the Pompidou Center right now, and don’t miss this chance to get your own GIANT passport photo printed out while you’re there (only until September 5th). JR encourages you to stick it on a building!
See more pics at Frenchies in Paris (article in French). We’ve covered JR on the Gazette before: here and here.
Female. Lesbian. Jewish. Born in the French provincial city of Nantes. Working with Surrealist motifs which were barely acknowledged as such by the Surrealists, who – for all their talk of revolt – regarded women as little more than exotic furniture.
Learn more and find a link to the exhibit info at Strange Flowers.
Wouldn’t you much rather have living, breathing Paris in your pocket? Be able to see fresh photos taken by the people who live there every day?
If you have an iPhone (or iPod touch with a camera) you should download and install Instagram. It works like Twitter, kind of, only for photos. You can follow real Parisians and wake up every day to stunning glimpses of Parisian life.
Screenshot taken from Instadesk, Mac desktop app for Instagram. The names of the Instagrammers who took these photos are in the comments.
Composed of just over 2,000 images, strung together in a complex time-lapse manner, its clear a lot went into the making of this visually stunning project.
Read the interview with the creator, Luke Shepard, at Intelligent Travel Blog.
Photographer couple Max & Charlotte have created a series of Where’s Waldo-inspired photos at iconic locations all over Paris. We’re not sure there actually is a Charlie to find in these photos, but it’s tons of fun to study the details.
Seen @pollyvous
Despite the crowds, the noise and the distinct odour of piss, I was in love. The kind of love which inspires one to risk life, limb and deportation to get up close and personal.
via sleepycity via BoingBoing
The Steins are responsible in many ways for the turn-of-the century revolution in the visual arts through their adventurous patronage, deep ties to leading minds of the era, and legendary Paris salon gatherings.
Buy Paris France by Gertrude Stein at the Francophilia Amazon Store.
via artdaily.org, image: Gertrude Stein by Picasso
Every year French lingerie company Aubade puts out a sexy calendar using some of the year’s ads. And you can download the calendar from the Aubade site! On this page, under Téléchargements, click Calendrier (couverture + les 12 mois).
Watch the amazing video of subversive photographer JR’s Women are Heroes project in Africa on the TED Blog, where you can read about this and his other powerful projects all over the world.
Image: Thriving Too
