The giant heads of the North photographed by Robert Doisneau, around 1908 Image Credit: Supplied
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This huge collection is the first inventory of spontaneous art in France. An offbeat gathering of roadside geniuses.
Photos: Gamma-Rapho / Robert Doisneau / DR / Courtesy Editions Du Sandre / Marie Cailler
Have you ever had visions while driving, of coming upon, at a bend in the road, the Loch Ness monster, a barbecue shaped like an elephant, or a painted statue of Aldo Maccione? This is no dream. And yet it’s a miracle that these solid creations have not caused more road accidents. With his book Le Gazouillis des éléphants, ( Elephant Babble ) Bruno Montpied has compiled the first inventory of such places in France. Spontaneous and fanciful environments created in the noble wake of the Postman Cheval and his Ideal Palace. But experts in French outsider art are careful not to conflate “marginal art” with “modest art”. “Since t
Remembering Claude Parent’s unique take on modernist architecture
Remembering Claude Parent’s unique take on modernist architecture
We look back on Claude Parent’s slant on modernist architecture, five years after the iconic architect’s passing, by revisiting Wallpaper contributing editor Emma O’Kelly’s meeting with him in 2007
The late Claude Parent initially set up with architect Ionel Schein, but it was a decade later, when collaborating with his friend, the urban planner Paul Virilio, that his career took off. Pictured: the church of Sainte-Bernadette du Banlay, by Claude Parent and Paul Virilio, an archetypal example of the duo’s