This past week, I went to the exhibit, Archi & BD, la ville dessinée at the Museum of Architecture at the Palais de Chaillot. What became interesting to me over the course of the exhibit is that, as a visitor, or at most a temporary resident, a good part of my introduction to French culture is through the city itself, and that to write about this introduction to the culture is to write about the experience of living in a city. This exhibit served as an excellent reminder of artists who I already enjoy, as well as introduction to some interesting artists I had never known; and it also served as inspiration for ways in which I might attempt to depict a memorable episode or two from our life here in Paris.

The exhibit begins, appropriately, with Winsor McCay and his fantastical comic Little Nemo in Slumberland, which I’ve read about recently in this and this excellent overview at the Schulz Library blog. Little Nemo in Slumberland is an excellent choice for the role the city/world of Slumberland plays in its story, but also for it’s artistic merit and its early influence on the comic as an art form…

… however, if I were the curator, I might have started the exhibit from a different perspective and used a different artist’s work. This eureka moment came for me when looking at panels from Jiro Taniguchi’s “The Walking Man” (similar to this one from “Barrio Lejano”):

It was like I was being given a tour of a particular place, in the style of Monty Python’s “French Waiter”:

The Taniguchi panels seemed very ordinary, very true to life and to true to how inspiration may come from a very common, unspectacular source. And I thought that this itself is something that deserves elevating, something that I could very easily see myself doing.

Another portion of the exhibit that I absolutely loved was Ira Glass and Chris Ware’s “Lost Buildings”. It was an interesting and apt addition to the exhibit, both for its presentation and its subject: the love and preservation of works of architecture.

Lost Buildings from bennett grizzard on Vimeo.

(Which you can also buy on DVD).

What a gem it was for me to have discovered “Lost Buildings” at this exhibit. It is a confluence of practically all of my favorite art forms that I love and aspire to create: comics and radio storytelling. In my best most moment as a storyteller and aspiring designer I could see myself collaborating on a project like this.

In style that seemed remarkably similar to Chris Ware, I discovered the work of Jacques de Loustal and his contributions to “La Maison de Verre“.

From what I understand, “The Glass House” was an influential work of 20th-century architecture, tucked away in some courtyard in Paris’s 7th arrondissement. When the grandchildren of the home’s original owner decided they would no longer live in the house, they commissioned several artists to capture the interiors and the spirit of the building. I found the illustrations charming and inspiring both for their quality of design as well as for the appreciation for a cultured life that they seemed to represent.

But there were also examples that were divergent from much of what I thought of as fair game for the production and style of comics as I, a novice, have come to know the the form.

I could not find an example of his work on the web, but the journal-like style of decoupage by Dominique Goldet’s “cardnet dumexique” was inspiring in that I was glad to have been reminded that this format could lend itself itself nicely towards documenting some of the notable excursions that a person might find themselves experiencing while living in Paris.

Coincidentally, a trip to the museum’s bookstore turned up an interesting find along similar lines in Lonely Planet’s Itineraries series, part travel guide, part bande dessinee.

There were other interesting and inspiring work presented at the exhibit, like Will Eisner’s “Scène de la vie Parisienne” which showed how the finished work progressed from sketch to an illustration in ink and then to a finished colored work. Also inspiring, and closer to home, was Andre Juillard’s 36 views of the Eiffel Tower which is worth seeking out (which also reminded me of “Hello Mr. Hulot” by David Merveille and Jaques Tati that I recently checked out at FNAC).

So, as I exited the museum and as the snow fell lightly across Paris as I made my way home, I left inspired to both pay closer attention to the city in which we live as well as to delve more fully into the art of creating comics.