Paris, ville mouvementée

A little tip of the hat to yesterday's transport strike in Paris. Good thing I like to walk so much!

It is from the cover of VOGUE magazine (the September 1949 issue), illustration by a G. Coltellacci.

Found at Lori Langille's wonderful blog

Per Ahlin

I've been revelling in the book cover illustrations of Per Ahlin from the 60's and 70's.

More at the Klockarp Collection on flickr

And, especially, on P.E. Fronning's photostream.

Lucien Boucher

Excellent illustrated map of Paris, by Lucien Boucher circa the 1940's. Found on the flickr photostream of Crossett Library (at Bennington College, Vermont), whose collection of images is well worth a visit.

As for Lucien Boucher (1889-1971) he was a poster artist and illustrator very active in the 20's, 30's and 40's. He made lithographs, engravings and painting in gouache and watercolour. Even though he is better known for his posters and maps, he's very much the poet laureate par excellence of everyday Paris in the mid-century period, with charming, evocative and droll vignettes of otherwise overlooked subjects.

For more, see:

Ma Brocante à Paris, which featured a smashing series pharmaceutical advertising in the guise of travel posters, including this one—

And A Journey Round My Skull, which includes Lucien Boucher's illustrations for children's books, in a round-up on that topic.

And, finally, Ma Galerie à Paris has a more comprehensive look at his life and work (in French). Here's an example—

Bonne journée, y'all!