French Country Living Cartoons by Perry

Click on the link above to check out some more!

Celebrate Human Dignity

Hunger Banquet Creative Competition Entry deadline: Thursday, 18 February ENTRIES: Should demonstrate the 2010 Hunger Banquet theme: Celebrate Human Dignity. CREATE: Sculpture, Photography, Creative Writing, Short Film, Illustration, Graphics, etc. WIN: $200. Keep it or donate it to a development effort of your choice. This event is sponsored by the BYU Kennedy Center. See flyer or web site.

Simon Starling

Simon Starling is an English conceptual artist interested in modern environmental problems and globalization. Through his installations, which often are comprised of 'found objects,' he brings up interesting debate on issues from industrial production to fuel efficiency. In 2005, Starling was awarded the Turner Prize.

Starling is showing in Paris until the end of the month.

Simon Starling, MAC/VAL, place de la Libération, 94400 Vitry-sur-Seine. Tél. : 01 43 91 64 20. Horaires : du mar au dim de 12 h à 19 h. Jusqu'au 27 décembre.

-david

Honoré Daumier in the MOA!

Photo of Daumier by Nadar.

Honoré Daumier was a French printmaker, caricaturist, painter, and sculptor, whose many works offer commentary on social and political life in France in the 19th century.





Daumier was a prolific draftsman who produced over 4000 lithographs, he was perhaps best known for his caricatures of political figures and satires on the behavior of his countrymen, although posthumously the value of his painting has also been recognized.
BYU is displaying some rare caricatures and political cartoons in the basement of the MOA. This is a very rare opportunity to view and enjoy Daumier at his finest. So, run on over and check it out while you still can!

-david

The Symbolism of the 2009-10 “Le Club” (BYU French Club) T-shirt

from Club advisor, professor Hudson...

In attempts to create both a trendy and symbolic design for this year’s “Le Club” t-shirt, the French Club commissioned Orem artist Jay Dee to come up with something decidedly French and decidedly hip.

Given his background in fantasy and tattoo artwork, we decided to ask Jay Dee (himself the son of the Church sculptor who replicated the Christus in Salt Lake City and cast the bronze Brigham Young statue at the Provo City Library at Academy Square) to produce a graphic similar to those present on the fashionable “Ed Hardy” line by French designer Christian Audigier.

The symbolism of his artwork draws from a variety of French sources across the ages. The woman to the lower left is a composite of a Belle Époque fée verte, who, instead of holding a glass of absinthe, is holding a skull reminiscent of 17^th-century French painter Georges de La Tour’s famous Madeleine. Once again, the medieval theme of memento mori is repeated to the lower right side. Between the woman and tête de mort, a rose recalls both the Roman de la rose (the allegorical masterpiece of Christ’s love for the Church) as well as Renaissance poet Ronsard’s appeal to the rose in his plea to enjoy the transitory nature of youthful beauty. To the right of the skull are some Baudelairean fleurs du mal and at the center of it all is the fleur de lys, traditional symbol of French Old Regime royalty. Keeping watch above it all is the symbol of Gallic France, from Vercingétorix to the present day, le coq gaulois, and behind everything, working with the unfurled “Le Club” banner to create a sense of the time-honored blason, is some medieval castling. Symbolism meets style in this year’s significant, first-of-its-kind “Le Club” t-shirt—which is free with club membership (sign-ups in 3134 JFSB).

Monet and Van Gogh paintings recovered among several recently stolen from a Zurich museum

Recently a group of four armed men succeeded in making off with four highly valued paintings including Monet's Les Coquelicots près de Vétheuil and Van Gogh's Branche de marronnier en fleurs, both of which were recovered after police received a call from a psychiatric hospital worker who found the paintings in the back seat of a car parked in the parking lot.

Degas' Comte Lepic et ses filles, and Cézanne's Le Garçon au gilet rouge are both still missing. The four paintings together value about 112 millions euros.


Read more about the theft and recovery of these paintings:
Le Monde: Deux des quatre tableaux de maître volés à Zurich ont été retrouvés

Photos of Symposium: Iconography of the Dance

Last week for the French & Italian Symposium, Dr. Debra Lowell gave a lively tour of some of the Museum of Art's French and Italian prints.