Boldly drawn Paris

The inimitable figure of Fred Fallo by the Dutch artist Willem is portrayed here by his fellow artist Swarte as a tragicomic Parisian criminal. The capital forms a backdrop drawn in clear lines for a hilarious story that begins in and amidst the Haussmannian residential buildings, avenues and streets. It's the early 1950s; Ella Fitzgerald sounds from the radio: “Into each life some rain must fall …”.

In this adventure, Fallo is surprised by a pupil-crook who has hidden himself under the bed, just when Fallo is making love to his girlfriend. He tries to raise the boy in the criminal profession, but eventually ends up in the New York mafia. Finally, disillusioned, he returns to Paris. When he wants to give a (stolen) ring with ruby to his girlfriend, she turns out to be already in bed with his pupil.

Paris plays a leading role as the location for the start of the story, especially when Fallo is confronted in the bar 'Chez Le Putois' (something like the Polecat Café) by the drug criminal Sam Skunk who will take him to New York to make as many people as possible addicted to the needle. However, for now we are staying in this scene within a kind of Art Deco interior.

The boldly drawn Paris figures once more as the backdrop, when our anti-hero Fred Fallo has taken a seat on the balcony and is staring at the ring with the ruby. His girlfriend cheats on him in the balcony room. “Into each life some rain must fall, but too much has fallen in mine”, Fitzgerald sings, while the inevitable Eiffel Tower shines in the background.

Source:
Joost Swarte & Willem, Enslaved by the needle. Real Free Press Foundation, 1980 (original version 1973).

Type:
Realistic architecture.

Copyright:
Joost Swarte (1973 … 1980).

The image quotes are taken with thanks from Joost Swarte's album 'Modern Art' (Real Free Press Foundation, 1980). We used our own version signed by Swarte. 2000 copies of this de-lux edition were issued at the time. The copy purchased by us and used here has the number 1316.