Monday, 7 April 2014

AMERICAPHILIA, THE PIERROTESQUE, AND THE EROTIQUE IN TOURIST ART - PART 1


Ah, Honfleur - centre artistique, "popular..." (as the tourist blurb says) "...with Impressionist painters like Monet and Boudin [who] found its changing light and picturesque quays inspiring..."

Well as you might know, I'm a bit of a painter, and seeing that I'm quite partial to 'changing light' (whatever that means), I find myself a regular visitor to Honfleur.  Last week, I decided to look at the contemporary art scene in the town, and have started to catalogue some images that help to define l'art Honfleurais, and by extension - tourist art.

The photos below, taken in the challenges of that ever-changing light, are all grabbed through gallery windows.  This is how the public sees the art.  They form the start of a serious taxonomy.  Any serious student wanting supervision on a PhD in this area is welcome to make contact ...






Americaphilia, for some reason I can't yet explain, but perhaps to do with the punters who come off the cruise ships, is well represented.  Above is a homage to the late American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, and some busy street scenes from maybe Nyork.  Note the fortunate reflection in the lower scene of some of Honfleur's half-timbered architecture.  Now that's art!





I detected a strong empathy with the pierrotesque and le cirque - musical monkeys etc. etc.  This dog takes my biscuit.




The erotique is never far away - sometimes cutesy, and often kinky.  The town is quite full of these posed bronzes.  Put one of these on your mantlepiece, and what does that say to your friends, hmmm?

....but the one below is my favourite: 


... an innocent enough image on a gallery wall of a young striding woman has, thanks to that ever-changing light, been transferred onto the cobbles of the Place Ste Catherine.

In Part 2 of the study I will be transferring my attention to the galleries of the tourist mecca of Bath, and in particular that gallery on Pulteney Bridge which strictly forbids photography of the gear in the window.  How could I resist?

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