You may remember my post about the cloud-lined steps recently. Today we went to see the artist’s exhibition “More than 100 skies” at La Fondation du Doute. The outside was interesting though I found it a little infantile. Inside the exhibition, which started with a passageway through some overhanging dead leaves and strangely distorting mirrors, …
Category Archives: Art
Up in the clouds – Dans les nuages
We’ve been seeing the Denis Papin stairs in Blois from afar but thought they had been decorated to represent a waterfall. A closer look today shows it to be a cloudy sky! The collage, by Imprinova, is a hommage to Geoffrey Hendrinks, aged 86, nicknamed the Cloudsmith due to his watercolours designed to turn objects …
Postcard from Vensac : Painted Pillars – Piliers peints
We are having a little weekend away in the Médoc area near Bordeaux. These painted pillars are in the Romanesque church of Saint Peter in Vensac below. The apse was built in the 12th century while the nave and polychrome decorations were added in the 17th century along with the spire. Nous passons un petit week-end dans …
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Postcard from Cyprus – Byzantine Art
Cyprus is known for its Byzantine art. The finest example is the Kykkos Monastery founded in the 11th century and an immportant reference in the Orthodox world. The loggias, balconies and corridors are covered in gold-leaf mosaics and frescoes. Chypre est connu pour son art byzantin. Aujourd’hui nous avons visité le monastère de Kykkos fondé au 11ème …
The Zouave – Le zouave
Around 1870, Baron de Graëb had a wooden Bedouin made to commemorate the visit of Abd-el-Kader, a prison-of-war on his way to Amboise. The Baron had the sculpture put up on the roof of an old windmill he owned just outside the village of La Chaussée-Saint-Victor, on the road to Paris, so that visitors from the capital would recognise the turn-off …
Postcard from Angoulême – President Sadi Carnot
Marie François Sadi Carnot was born on 11th August 1837 in Limoges and died on 25th June 1894. He was president of France from 3rd December 1887 until he was assassinated on 25th June 1894. This impressive statue overlooks the lower part of Angoulême. You can see the bell-tower and dome of the cathedral on …
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Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe
On the way back from our city break in Angoulême today we visited the Abbey Church of Saint Savin with its stunning frescoes and painted pillars. It was rebuilt in the 11th century and restored numerous times. It has been on the Unesco World Heritage list since 1983. Below are somoe of the frescoes in …
Second Chance – Deuxième Chance
Since no one guessed who yesterday’s hero is, I’m giving you a second chance! I see I might have to pay a visit to the inside of Comic House to see who they are :). Puisque personne n’a deviné le héro d’hier je vous donne une deuxième chance ! Je pense que je serai peut-être …
Who's the Comic Hero? Qui est le héro de BD ?
I don’t have much of a comic culture so I can’t identify the hero in the painting on the outside of the Maison de la BD (Comic House) in Blois. Can you? Comme je n’ai pas une très bonne culture de BD je ne sais pas qui est le héro dans ce tableau à l’extérieur …
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The Two Joans – Les deux Jeanne
I have to confess that I had not seen the second Joan of Arc when I took this photo in Orleans today of the Christmas market on Place du Martroi. It was Jean Michel that pointed it out. The 4.40 metre-high bronze statue designed by Denis Foyatier was inaugurated in 1855. P.S. The City Daily …