Photo Diary: The French Dispatch Exhibition at 180 Studios, London

Last fall, Londoners were treated with an exclusive exhibition of original props, costumes, sets, and artwork illuminating the inimitable aesthetic of Wes Anderson’s new film The French Dispatch launched in cinemas on October 22.

Based in the fictional city of Ennui-sur-Blasé in France, The French Dispatch is a satellite publication of the Liberty Kansas Evening Sun.

If you missed it or if you visited and you’d like to relive the dreamlike experience of the great director’s instantly recognisable aesthetic, I'm inviting you to sit back and enjoy this brief visual documentation of it.

Visitors had the opportunity to snap a selfie on the couch below the "La Brique Rouge" night club neon sign

Celebrating Wes Anderson’s charmingly award-winning idiosyncratic style, the exhibition is entirely dedicated to his new long-awaited movie The French Dispatch by whose all-star cast includes Timothée Chalamet, Tilda Swinton, Benicio del Toro, and Bill Murray.

The desk in Arthur Howitzer Jr.’s (played by Bill Murray) office was sourced from a local estate liquidator in Angoulême. “Mr. Denis Gargaulie had an enormous warehouse of wonderful French antique art, furniture, rugs, and accessories and much of the furniture in the movie came from here.” (info source: www.architecturaldigest.com

Upon entry, visitors were handed a souvenir copy of the limited edition “The French Dispatch magazine.” The exit was right through a vivid life-size recreation of the movie’s “Le Sans Blague” café serving hot coffee, classic French refreshments, and tasty pastries. All throughout October and November, the cafe hosted chess nights, live gigs, and even a jazz and wine tasting evening.

According to The French Dispatch‘s art director Kevin Timon Hill, “We had a fantastic piece of real estate right on that corner of 180 The Strand. We wanted to wrap it and give it that unique French café feel that you get when watching the film.” (info source: www. thespaces.com.)

A piece by the French Dispatch magazine’s art critic (Tilda Swinton) explores the life and late success of the unstable abstract artist Moses Rosenthaler (played by Benicio Del Toro) who is murderous as he is gifted.

The quirky Ennui-sur-Blasé metro map imagined by the French Dispatch’s design team led by Erica Dorn.

One of the early movie teasers included Owen Wilson who is on his seventh collaboration with director Wes Anderson. Herbsaint Sazera, his character, is an amusingly American-accented cycling reporter for the French Dispatch newspaper.

Frances McDormand’s suit. She plays Lucinda Krementz (partly inspired by Mavis Gallant) a journalist who romances a revolutionary played by Timothée Chalamet.

Artists Sian Smith, Sandro Kopp, and Edith Baudraud spent over a month painting the12-foot frescoes that represent the artist’s late masterpiece and managing to meet Anderson’s exact specifications.

*All photos were taken by Ina/WithinLondon, unless stated otherwise.