Fabulous Cover Photos of La Vie Parisienne in 1927
La Vie Parisienne (the Parisian life) was a French weekly magazine founded in Paris in 1863 and was published without interruption until 1970. It was popular at the start of the 20th century. Continue reading »
The Spectacular World’s Fair Exposition Universelle in Rare Pictures, 1899
The Eiffel Tower viewed from the Champ du Mars.
AALTO University/Brown University Library Center
The 1889 World Fair in Paris was symbolically important, since the year 1889 marked the hundredth anniversary of the French Revolution, and the Fair was announced as a celebration of the event. It attracted more than thirty-two million visitors. The most famous structure created for the Exposition, and still remaining, is the Eiffel Tower. Continue reading »
Amazing Black and White Photographs Capture Everyday Life in France During the Mid-20th Century
Photographer Janine Niepce (February 12, 1921 – August 5, 2007), one of the first photo-journalists in France, was a distant cousin of Nicéphore Niépce, the inventor of photography. She photographed with great talent ordinary people going about their daily lives, much like humanist photographers Robert Doisneau and Willy Ronis. Influenced by Henri Cartier-Bresson, who gave her very sound advice on photo-journalism, she joined the Rapho Agency in 1955. Continue reading »
McDonald’s Surprises Parisians By Launching These New Unique-Looking Street Ads
When you think food advertising can’t get any better than it is now, someone finds a way to one-up the competition. It does raise the question of whether there is a point in advertising a thing we can’t live without, but I digress.
McDonald’s has come out with an advert—a street billboard—in the streets of Paris that has been drawing people’s attention lately with its unconventional public ad design. Continue reading »
Eugene Atget – The Photographer Who Walked Fin de Siècle Paris
Eugene Atget (1857-1927) wandered the streets of Paris dressed in a large black cloak and floppy hat, his camera slung on its tripod over his shoulder. He drifted until something triggered a response which he stopped to photograph. Continue reading »
The Extending Mini-Skirts In Paris In The Mid-1960s
Paris Match
The miniskirt was introduced in 1965 at the fashion show of French designer André Courreges. He felt that the design of women’s clothes was not keeping up with the modern trends of the 1950s and 1960s and wanted to introduce a look that was modern, streamlined, and easy. His miniskirts were A-line skirts, narrow at the waist and wider at the hem, that ended four inches above the knee. Continue reading »
“75 Parisiennes”: French Photographer Spends 6 Years Capturing Women In Paris
Mélanie, métro Anvers
This book in which a selection of 75 photographs are presented, is the outcome of six years of work by the portraitist Baudouin on the women of Paris. The photographs are a tribute to these Parisiennes, whose diversity and complexity have caused rivers of ink to flow. Continue reading »
Rebuilding Notre Dame In Photographs
Stephane de Sakutin/AP
Three months after a fire ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, a rare glimpse inside the burned masterpiece on Wednesday revealed it to be eerily empty and with rubble still littering the nave. Continue reading »
Beautiful Paris Cityscapes Through The Lens Of The Photographer Tatiana Liccia
Tatiana Liccia is an artist who started her Instagram account, although it has 19K+ followers, only 2 years ago! Although she has always been passionate about photography, it was only a year and a half ago that she bought her first camera. Continue reading »
Paris Just Before WWII: Stunning Photos Capture Daily Life Of The French Capital In The 1930s
Café, Paris, 1930. (Photo by Alexander Artway)
After the First World War ended. The French economy boomed from 1921 until the Great Depression reached Paris in 1931. This period, called Les années folles or the “Crazy Years”, saw Paris reestablished as a capital of art, music, literature and cinema. Continue reading »
Amazing Black & White Photographs That Capture Everyday Life Of Paris From The 1930s And Early 1940s
Roger Schall (1904-1995) was a renowned French photographer of the 1930s & 1940s. He worked in all photographic disciplines from fashion, portraits, nudes, still life and reportage. From June of 1940 to August 1944, Schall photographed German occupied Paris, hiding his negatives so they wouldn’t be found. Schall also documented post-war Paris and continued working as a photographer into the 1970s. Roger abandoned photography in 1967 and devoted himself to painting and managing his archives, which included nearly 100,000 images. Continue reading »
13 Concepts Showing How The Notre Dame Spire Could Look After Renovations
On April 15, 2019, one of the most horrific fires of the year broke out when the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris went up in flames. The inferno lasted for around 15 hours as the world watched in terror. The fire completely destroyed the structure’s iconic spire that collapsed hours after the fire was initially noticed. Most of the wood/metal roof of the cathedral was also destroyed, with only about one-third of the roof remaining. The interior of the cathedral didn’t suffer extensive damage thanks to the stone-vaulted ceiling that largely contained the burning roof as it collapsed. Continue reading »
Russian Architect Suggests Modern Notre-Dame De Paris Restoration Design
People in Russia have been deeply affected by the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral blaze. The Russian authorities immediately offered the French help in restoring the architectural masterpiece, and soon Moscow will make a call for designers. Continue reading »
30 Artists’ Tributes To The Iconic Notre-Dame Cathedral
On 15 April 2019 around 6:50 p.m., a fire broke out in the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. One of the most famous historical buildings, it has a strong value to Parisian and French culture and is one of the most famous buildings in the world with around 13 million tourists every year. After the tragic news about the iconic cathedral burning went viral, many artists showed their respect to the monument by drawing it. Continue reading »
“A Cathedral That Defined A City”: 20 Rare Photographs Of Notre Dame From The 19th Century
When the architects of Cathedral of Notre-Dame set to work some 850 years ago, their goals were nothing if not ambitious. The church’s sanctuary, they decreed, must be taller than any built before. The nave would rise 108 feet, and the two 223-feet-tall towers would cast a far-reaching shadow over the roofs of Paris. Continue reading »
This Artist Created An Incredible Optical Illusion At The Louvre Just So It Could Be Destroyed In A Few Days
Even if you have never been to Paris, you probably know that it’s a city rich in both culture and stunning architecture. There are so many things to see – from the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower to the busy narrow streets and beautiful open boulevards – all of this will make you feel like you’re a part of a romantic movie. And if you ever get to visit Paris, don’t forget to visit the Louvre – not only is it the largest art museum in the world, the building itself is a sight worth seeing as well. Continue reading »
“Les Amies de Place Blanche”: Captivating Portraits Of Paris Transsexuals In The 1950s
Originally published in 1983, Les Amies de Place Blanche (Ladies of the Place Blanche) focuses on the transsexual community living around the Place Blanche district of Paris in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The book established Christer Strömholm’s reputation as one of the leading photographers of the twentieth century. Continue reading »
A Look Back On the French Capital Nearly 100 Years Ago Through The Lens Of Photographer Jean Pierre Yves-Petit
Photographs of the City of Light taken by a master photographer in the early part of the twentieth century. The photographer Pierre Yves-Petit, who called himself “Yvon,” wandered the streets of Paris between the world wars looking for the moment when the shifting light and clouds would perfectly reveal the city’s ephemeral, iconic beauty. The dramatic images of the city and its people that he made during those years would become the most popular postcards in France. They can still be bought today on Parisian quais and are eagerly sought by collectors. Continue reading »
Stunning Black & White Pictures Of Yhe Louvre And Its Visitors From Between The 1960s And 1990s
Very patiently with a camera in his hand the Brazilian photographer Alecio de Andrade manages to capture incredible pictures of the visitors of the Louvre. He has been making these pictures for almost four decades.
What is the relation between these three scenes? All three of them are moments captured in the halls of the most famous museum in the world – the Louvre. Moments, which the photographer Alecio de Andrade has been patiently waiting for 39 whole years. Continue reading »
Paris’ Utopian Village Of Concrete Cabbage
This hypnotic, vegetable utopia might look like it rolled out of a Stanley Kubrick film set, but it was in fact the dream project of French architect Gérard Grandval. Continue reading »
“To See Paris And Die”: These Photos Compare Paris And Its Detailed Chinese Replica
With his project Paris Syndrome, the French photographer François Prost had fun comparing the city of Paris and its Chinese counterpart, located in the suburbs of Hanghzou. This amazing architectural project, a gigantic and detailed replica of Paris with its fake Eiffel Tower, its fake Haussmannian buildings and its fake French gardens, is a district of 31km² called Tianducheng, and built 10 years ago. Continue reading »
French Artists And Nike Have Redesigned The Paris Duperré Basketball Court
French design and photography agency Ill-Studio (previously featured) and fashion brand Pigalle have redesigned and repainted the Paris Duperré basketball court, with support from Nike. The court is squeezed between buildings in a Parisian suburb on Rue Duperré, and became internationally renowned in its previous guise, painted in graphical blocks of primary colours. Continue reading »
From Tokyo To Paris: 4 Continents, 4 Cities, 300 Objects
A city is made of many things.
When you dream of Paris you think croissants, good wine and the Moulin Rouge. When you fantasise Tokyo you visualise sushi, technology and paper lanterns. Photographic Poster Artist, Jordan Bolton based in Manchester, England, has done just that and designed for Expedia Canada, four unique posters depicting four iconic cities: San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro, Paris and Tokyo. Continue reading »
A Hidden Jungle Book Facade Of Paris
Messy Nessy
This pastel mosaic menagerie has just been hanging out on a backstreet in Paris’ 11th arrondissement, waiting for someone to notice… Continue reading »
Projection-Mapped PDA Puts Kissing Couples On Display In Paris
A lot of people get a little touchy about engaging in public displays of affection, but French visual artist Julien NONNON put the intimate interactions of Parisians on display for his projection-mapped project #le_baiser. Using proprietary technology that allows him to project on any facade that strikes his fancy, NONNON broadcast the embraces of couples on buildings throughout the city. Continue reading »
