Looks like JR just made it into the dictionary
French artist joins Donald Trump and Youtube as new additions to the 2018 Le Robert Illustrated Dictionary
Alongside fashion and food, the French take their language very seriously. Unlike English, which is allowed to develop more or less according to the whims of its users, the state-run Académie française oversees what is and what isn’t proper French.
While the dictionary publisher Le Robert isn’t quite so prestigious, it’s single volume dictionary, Le Petit Robert is widely regarded as a reliable source of francophone fact. So, we were pleased to discover that the illustrated Le Robert dictionary for 2018 has included, alongside such newly familiar phrases and figures as Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron and Youtube, the French artist and activist, JR.
Alongside a picture of JR in his signature sunglasses and hat, they’ve listed his year of birth - 1983 - and his likely first name - Jean René - as well as this description: “By displaying very large-format photographs of the portraits of suburban youth, female victims of conflicts, favelas dwellers, Israelis and Palestinians, on monumental façades of several large cities of the world, [JR] has to bring art to those who never go to the museum and to change people's perceptions of their city.”
Not bad work, Le Robert, and excellent job JR. To learn just how he has gone from the suburbs of Paris to the heart of the French establishment order a copy of our book JR: Can Art Change the World? in English here; and in French here.