The Textbook World Of René Bresson

Le Français par l’image [The French In Images] (c. 1964)

Le Français par l’image is an elementary schoolbook published in France c. 1964. The illustrations are the work of French artist René Bresson. Bresson’s recognizable creations were found in numerous French textbooks in the 1950s and ’60s. The ageless charm of his works are found in their innocence and simplicity. Below are some examples of Bresson’s textbook world as seen in Le Français par l’image. If you would like to view some more visit patrcia m’s flickr page by clicking here.

The Return – the pictorial begins in the schoolyard where the parents gather their children for the first day of a new school year.

Bresson’s illustrations of the four seasons:

The wind and rain of Autumn.

The winter snow.

The Spring Garden

The Summer Beach

Bresson’s illustrations of social gathering places:

The Hairdresser and Barber Shop

The Post Office

The Department Store

The Village

Bresson’s transportation illustrations:

The Train Station

The Airport – notice the classic Lockheed Constellation aircraft on the runway right-center.

The Shipping Port

On The Open Road and In The Friendly Skies

And the last few for this post, Bresson’s family gathering illustrations. The most idyll of them all:

The Dinner Table – notice that sis and dad are the only ones waiting for mom to sit down to eat.

The Evening Ritual – when the only electrics were lighting and the radio.

Yule – the toy aircraft and Citroën-like toy car are pretty cool.

And to wind it all up, a lazy day at the river.

When Music Is So Bad It’s Thought To Be Good: The Case Of The Shaggs

The Shaggs – Philosophy Of The World LP Cover (Reissue 1980) (via Bradley Loos)

The Shaggs / Philosophy Of The World
LABEL: Rounder / Red Rooster
COUNTRY: USA
DATE: originally released 1969, this is a 1980 reissue

Not sure if this was tongue-in-cheek, but Zappa rated The Shaggs the #3 best band in history in a Norwegian newspaper (April 1988). It’s said that Kurt Cobain liked them as well. While the girls never had the interest in making a band, they did so at the insistence of their demanding father – their father had been told in a palm reading by his mother that his daughters would form a popular musical group. When dads felt the time was right, he took the girls out of school, gave them instruments, and this happened.

Music critic and musician, Cub Coda, wrote this about The Shaggs first album release, Philosophy Of The World:

The guilelessness that permeates these performances is simply amazing, making a virtue out of artlessness. There’s an innocence to these songs and their performances that’s both charming and unsettling. Hacked-at drumbeats, whacked-around chords, songs that seem to have little or no meter to them (“My Pal Foot Foot,” “Who Are Parents,” “That Little Sports Car,” “I’m So Happy When You’re Near” are must-hears) being played on out-of-tune, pawn-shop-quality guitars all converge, creating dissonance and beauty, chaos and tranquility, causing any listener coming to this music to rearrange any pre-existing notions about the relationships between talent, originality, and ability. There is no album you might own that sounds remotely like this one. – ALLMUSIC

Reportedly, during the recording sessions the band would occasionally stop playing, claiming one of them had made a mistake and that they needed to start over, leaving the sound engineers to wonder how the girls could tell when a mistake had been made. – wikipedia

Since 1980 there has been spurts of rediscovery for The Shaggs – a reissue of their first album on vinyl, a reissue on CD, reviews from The Wall Street Journal, The Rolling Stone, and The New Yorker, a Shaggs tribute album, a stage musical, and a BBC4 Radio documentary.

Like ‘em or hate ‘em, they sure make for some lively conversation around the interwebs. So, prepare yourself, this is The Shaggs performing their positive parent message Who Are Parents?:

Maybe It’s A Good Thing We Can’t See Noise

The June 1961 issue of Parents’ Magazine featured a story entitled, You Can Make Your Home Less Noisy, in the Better Homemaking section. Writer H. Robert Childs made some common sense suggestions, i.e. acoustical fiberboard ceiling tiles, wall-to-wall carpeting, heavy drapes, felt cushions to ‘dissipate the vibration of such devices as typewriters,’ etc.

What stood out most about the article, though, were the illustrations. Imagine if you could see the noise that is all around you. Illustrator Robert J. Lee presents that scenario in a just-short-of-jarring almost whimsical way. Below are select scans from the article provided by flickr member Leif Peng.

You Can Make Your Home Less Noisy top illustration, Parents’ Magazine, June 1961

You Can Make Your Home Less Noisy full illustration, Parents’ Magazine, 1961

You Can Make Your Home Less Noisy teenage girl’s room detail, Parents’ Magazine, 1961

You Can Make Your Home Less Noisy dad’s workshop detail, Parents’ Magazine, 1961

You Can Make Your Home Less Noisy dad’s little helper detail, Parents’ Magazine, 1961

You Can Make Your Home Less Noisy little cowboy detail, Parents’ Magazine, 1961

Maybe it’s a good thing that we can’t see noise. Sometimes hearing it and feeling it can be just about enough. *heh*