Cruising Through the Louvre

February 1, 2016
Rather than focusing on one specific artist or masterpiece, as in previous
volumes of NBM’s Louvre Collection graphic novel series, this book celebrates the experience of the Louvre itself, in subtle, soft pencils and pastels. Seen through the thoughtful eye of protagonist Prudhomme, the Louvre is a city of its own, filled with celebrities, quirks, familiar and oddball traditions; a microcosm of civilization exists among its myriad visitors. The gentle lines of Prudhomme’s art reproduce the masterworks in delicate detail, but his people are the stars: a man napping on a bench, a class gathered around their teacher, a woman intently sketching a statue. Modern technology is also part of the experience: Prudhomme talks loudly on his cell phone while strolling the galleries, and the Mona Lisa is barely glimpsed from behind cell phone screens taking her photo. With its intimate eye on the human act of appreciating art, this book revels in the Louvre as a shared adventure that complements and illuminates its famous art.

March 15, 2016

"It's like walking inside a giant comic book," exults Prudhomme (Rebetiko) as he roams the Louvre. Soon he focuses on other viewers, and how viewers and art interact. Many museumgoers take photos, borrowing the images for themselves. Numerous individuals and groups echo poses from the art, by design or not. Others seem to merge with the art, as Prudhomme views the collaborative visual effect. Couples in art contrast with couples in life. Some visitors substitute their own heads over the necks of headless statues, or poke their faces into the open mouths of animal figures. The effect is a droll, multilayered commentary on the human imagination featuring the art, the viewers themselves, the viewer/art interactions, and Prudhomme's own agenda--which includes attempts to find his lost companion, visualized as one of the missing heads. The charming colored pencil art varies in levels of detail; sometimes the art is more realistic than the humans, at other times the reverse is true. VERDICT Anyone teaching art appreciation or beginning-level art history will learn from this quirky catalog of how people behave around art. Its "life imitates art" sous-texte promises to amuse others attracted to visual humor.--M.C.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2016
In this entry in NBM's Louvre collection, the author himself wanders the endless museum, separated from his companion, Jeanne. The story is minimal: How will David and Jeanne find each other when it appears they are up against the castle-museum's fortress against cell phone reception, and especially once David's phone dies? Prudhomme's illustrations, however, are ecstatic. Crisp black-and-white text bubbles of David's phone conversations bleat out over the author's soft, precise colored-pencil reproductions of the grand galleries of the museum and its large, recognizable tableaux. Alternately photographic and cartoony, panels show paintings, sculpture, and the spoils of antiquity alongside seas of visitorsmany of them lovers embracing or pals clowning. Absurdity reigns when David is miniaturized or Jeanne is reduced to a floating head, bobbing through the Louvre, still just out of each other's range. An irreverent, giddy contemplation of the ways we seek inspiration, the places we go to find it, and what it means to interact with art in the twenty-first century. Two final spreads share Louvre facts and trivia.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)