Paris Underground
Caroline Archer & Alexandre Parré, Photography by Gilles Tondini
- Page Count: 192
- Size: 8 x 9 1/2
- Format: Case bound with dust jacket
- Publication Date: July 2005
- Price: 34.95
- ISBN: 0-9724240-7-5
- Buy
“Fancying myself something of a connoisseur of the historical, I scoffed at the lineups of tourists assembled for the daily tours of the catacombs, finding that kitschy and lame. Ah, the arrogance of youth. After reading Paris Underground, I now very much regret not paying more attention to what is clearly a huge and fascinating universe charting a lengthy timeline of human activity from many perspectives.”
Read the whole review from Graphics.com.
“There are more than 177 miles of man-made tunnels and disused quarries under the streets of Paris. These subterranean spaces have become a focus for urban culture and creativity, resulting in a private treasure-house of art, music and writing.”
Read more of this review by GoNomad.
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THE GRAFFITI ART of the tunnels and quarries beneath Paris is a mirror and memorial of the past 500 years. It is easier to track the history of Paris through these images than to look for it above ground in the streets.
For generations, a broad range of French citizenry has created artwork that responds to historical events like the French Revolution, the storming of the Bastille, Prussian and German soldiers, the Nazi occupation, Resistance workers, civilian and secret societies, the Cataphiles and the student and workers’ strikes of the late 1960s.
This book illustrates graffiti, painting, sculpture, mosaics and cartoons. Today, the underground labyrinths are plagued by illicit explorers who leave elaborate art behind. This book brings to light these striking images and the insightful text tells the tale that to date has remained underground.
Hundreds of full-color photographs
Authors: Caroline Archer is a London-based writer and graphic designer with a particular fascination for the urban artifact. She is the author of the recent Mark Batty Publisher book Tart Cards, a tongue-in-cheek review of prostitute¹s cards found in London phone boxes.
Alexandre Parré is an architect and Cataphile (the name of the contemporary fanciers of the passages under Paris). He resides outside London.
Photographer: Loaded down with his equipment, Paris-based photographer Gilles Tondini, waded, crawled, shimmied and squeezed through this underground network in order to capture these images, under the guidance of Gilles Thomas, a specialist on the passages and caves beneath Paris.
