What could be more redolent of France’s past than the advertisements that you see stencilled onto house or barn walls? Painted by hand in once-bright colours, often with shadowing around the letters, the murals publicised drinks such as Suze, Byrrh or Ricard, the famous Chocolat Poulain and brands of tobacco, among other products.
Early advertising hoardings
I remember seeing these early forms of advertising hoarding years ago while driving through France with my family, but I didn’t think much about them at the time. So what brought these peintures publicitaires murales to mind now?
Eating lunch on a restaurant terrace in our village the other day (yes, it was that warm), the buildings opposite drew my attention. In particular, I had never really noticed the letters stencilled onto the enormous former wine warehouse.
The place has been empty for years, but the advertisement remains, with the proprietors’ names proudly applied underneath. Monsieur Martin’s name is rather more embellished than Monsieur Bonnaïs’. ‘Martin’ is also off-centre and followed by ‘succ.’ I imagine that Martin took over the business and added his name with a flourish.
I also notice that the building is sold. I do hope they keep the lettering and don’t plaster it over.
Practical works of art
These ads, also known as murs réclames, and shop signs are works of art in their own right, long before Banksy and his colleagues used walls as canvases. Most of the signs are fading, which adds to their charm. Apparently, black and yellow withstood sunlight and the elements better than red. Sadly, many of them have disappeared along with the buildings.
I would love to photograph the beautiful one for Suze on the wall of a stone cabin between here and Cantal. Unfortunately, it’s too difficult to stop on that stretch of road. Here’s one I found on Wikimedia.
michael clarke stuff, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Shopkeepers also used their shop’s external walls to advertise their wares, like this one in Villefranche-de-Rouergue. The signs were more durable than a traditional shop sign, and you could include as many words as you had space for. These businesses were there to stay, owned by the same family for generations, and their proprietors announced themselves loud and clear. Today, the shops are more ephemeral, the signs more functional.
Growing popularity
The practice of using walls as an advertising medium began in the mid-19th century and became very popular during the first half of the 20th century. It was a response partly to the growth of consumerism and partly to the development of public transport, such as trains and tramways. Seen from a train, for example, an ad needed to be large, eye-catching and simple. Too many words, and the message would be lost.
Painting murs réclames was the preserve of specialist painters, or pignonistes. This slang term originated because they often painted on the gable end (pignon) of a building.
After World War II, regulation in France spelled the decline of this form of advertising. It also lost out to the development of other platforms, notably television.
All change
Like so many aspects of France, things have changed. If you’ve driven through the outskirts of a French town or large village in the past 30 years or so, you will have noticed the advertising hoardings. Sometimes dozens of them. And garish shop signs advertising the presence of nearby cathedrals of commerce.
Only the smallest places are spared the onslaught of this blight. The Northern approach to Montauban, our préfecture, bristles with these gaudy billboards. Fields bordered the road into Villefranche-de-Rouergue when we moved here. Now ribbon development has taken place all the way along, with the accompanying hoardings.
In fact, the government, via a law of 2010, regulates the placement, size, shape and maintenance of advertising hoardings and shop signs. For example, hoardings can’t appear near a monument historique or outside l’agglomeration (defined urban area). They must also conform to the commune’s local planning and development rules. However, this doesn’t seem to make a lot of difference to their sheer ugliness.
Romanticising the past?
One is, of course, in danger of romanticising the past. You wonder if contemporaries felt at times that murs réclames were an abomination. Sometimes people painted over them, not very successfully, to add a new one. The result was often a mishmash.
Even so, a certain skill went into painting these ads. For me, they represent a part of France’s past that is disappearing. Next time you drive in France (or if you already live here), look out for them. If you’d like to see more photos, I found a website whose owner has spent 30 years photographing them.
Here are some more I found in my own collection and elsewhere.
Benoît Prieur, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
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I love these too! Sadly the weather has turned most of them into faded images. I have a good collection of the ones I like. It is a shame that this isn’t cared for by various communes … it really is a heritage of the wonderful graphics of old France and should be supported.
I am sad to say that the one in Villefranche de Rouergue has been cleaned off as it was painted for the film, but it was so beautifully done, I would have certainly kept it, if it was my house!
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Oh, was the Villefranche one that I showed only for the film? I thought it was a permanent one, but I should have realised since it was too pristine. It’s an example of how it would have looked, anyway.
Someone else mentioned that these images are protected, but I haven’t yet been able to find out if that is the case. As you say, they are part of France’s heritage.
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here in America there use to be a lot of advertisements on buildings. But a lot of the buildings have fallen in disrepair. Also if it was metal signs they were stolen or owner sold signs. I have noticed there is starting to be a come back of painting on buildings.
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I had read about that. It seems the idea may even have started in the States (as things often do!). Painting on walls does seem to be coming back – particularly as an art form in Europe, anyway. It’s a way of brightening up some rather drab neighbourhoods, too.
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Hi Vanessa . What an interesting subject. I shall definitely look out more for them now.
MJ
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I love these old ads. So much more attractive and evocative than their modern counterparts. Do look out for them.
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A subject dear to my heart! The magic of Google earth means I can often find one seen fleetingly from the car. I was under the impression that they are protected by law from being painted over but maybe that’s a French urban myth? In nearby Bretenoux there is a Dubonnet advertisement on one of the walls in the place, visible from the main road. Last year I managed to work out the name on one on a huge barn wall between Quatre Routes and Turenne and when I googled it a postcard for sale popped up on eBay, I bought it, of course! 😊
Last spring I went out with our local history club and we drove home on the old route national into Brive and there were several scattered about on village walls as it was a major route to the south before the autoroute opened. Btw I too have a file on Google photos of ones I’ve ‘collected’
i could go on…but I won’t 😂
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They do seem to grab people’s attention, don’t they? There are people who go around taking photos for years, like the person whose website I referenced. I never seem to be in a position to take a photo when I see one. I will just have to stop and do it next time.
I’m not aware that these ads are protected by law. I didn’t actually find anything about that in my researches, but you might well be right. I will do some digging and report back.
I’m sure the old routes nationales had lots of them at one time to catch motorists’ attention. I can see that collecting pictures of them could easily become an obsession!
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I love those signs – some of them are a little like ghosts, barely visible, but they all tell stories of one kind or another. I’ve got a folder of them somewhere on my computer. It’s fun trying to decipher the badly faded ones!! 😀
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I love them, too. I never seem to be in a position to take a photo when I see one – busy road, I’m at the wheel, etc. Funnily enough, they are known as ghost signs in English! I discovered that when researching the post. Sometimes, there are several superimposed on one another, which heightens the ghostly effect. Pity that they are gradually disappearing.
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Oh, I know the ones in France….particularly in the provincial towns and village.
Here in the American south (Tennesse and North Carolina, particularly) roadside barns were (for decades, from the 1920’s until the advent of interstates in the sixties) famously painted over with “SEE ROCK CITY!”, “VISIT BRISTOL CAVERNS!”, “Lookout Moutain 3.5 miles Ahead! See SEVEN STATES!!!” etcetera……all local attractions for the road-weary, pre-interstate driver. Motels (with in-house, tiny restaurants) started up at about the same time (at least for white people). Farmers got their barns painted for free…..in exchange for allowing the roadside advertising.
Signs of the times, indeed….
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When I was researching this post, I saw that this kind of roadside advertising was popular there. I wondered if French farmers and property owners were paid for allowing ads on their walls, but I couldn’t find any info on it. Since the rest of the building didn’t seem to have a makeover at the same time, I imagine they got some recompense. Fascinating subject when you look into it.
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