Tear Away Bastille Paper Party Placemat

Tear Away Bastille Paper Party Placemat

$34.00
$34.00
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Tear Away Bastille Paper Party Placemat
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  • Tear Away Bastille Paper Party Placemat
  • Tear Away Bastille Paper Party Placemat
  • Tear Away Bastille Paper Party Placemat
  • Tear Away Bastille Paper Party Placemat
  • Tear Away Bastille Paper Party Placemat
  • Tear Away Bastille Paper Party Placemat
Tear Away Bastille Paper Party Placemat

Tear Away Bastille Paper Party Placemat

$34.00
$34.00
Description

Revolutionary Spirit · Vivid Full-Color Artwork · 25 Tear-Away Sheets

On the fourteenth of July, 1789, a crowd gathered at the gates of the Bastille fortress in Paris and changed the course of history. The fall of that medieval prison was not merely a military act; it was a declaration, a rupture, a moment when the weight of centuries shifted. This paper pad carries that imagery into your hands: a large-format surface for drawing, noting, sketching, and thinking, printed with artwork that commemorates France’s most celebrated day of transformation.

The design draws on the visual tradition of Revolutionary France: the bold allegory, the dramatic sky, the sense that something momentous is underway. Whether spread across a desk in a classroom, propped on an easel in a studio, or set out at a Bastille Day gathering, it announces its occasion clearly and carries it with genuine artistic conviction.

The Context

The Fourteenth of July

La Fête Nationale, observed each year on the fourteenth of July, is more than a public holiday. It marks the moment in 1789 when the Bastille fortress, long a symbol of monarchical authority and arbitrary imprisonment, was stormed by Parisian citizens and its prisoners freed. The event crystallized a revolution that had been gathering force for years beneath the surface of French society, finally breaking through in a single afternoon of irreversible action.

The anniversary is now celebrated across France and among French communities worldwide with parades, fireworks, and gatherings that honor the values the Revolution articulated: liberty, equality, fraternity. The imagery associated with the day has become among the most recognizable in Western art and political culture, carrying the weight of those ideals through every generation that has chosen to remember them.

The Artwork

A Scene Worth Returning To

The artwork on this pad is designed to do what the best commemorative imagery always does: hold a moment in place so that it can be revisited with fresh eyes. The composition draws from the visual language of Revolutionary France, where drama, symbol, and moral clarity were understood to be legitimate tools of art. Printed in full color across the large-format surface, it reads clearly at a distance and rewards a closer look.

Each of the 25 tear-away sheets carries the full image, so the pad functions equally as a working surface and as a repeatable visual statement. A sheet removed and posted, framed, or sent becomes a self-contained piece; the pad itself remains a coherent object until the last page is turned.

The Object

Built for Use

At 12” × 18”, this is a generous working surface. Large enough for confident mark-making, bold enough to anchor a table display, and light enough to carry easily. The paper is lightweight and suited to a wide range of uses: freehand drawing, note-taking, classroom exercises, event decoration, and anything in between. The tear-away design means each sheet releases cleanly without disrupting the pages that follow.

Vibrant, high-fidelity color printing keeps the artwork true to its original tones across every sheet in the pad. This is a product built for use rather than display, but there is nothing careless about it: the printing is precise, the construction is solid, and the image is worthy of the occasion it commemorates.

Things Worth Knowing

The Object & Specifications

Specifications

  • Dimensions 12” × 18” × 0.25”
  • Sheets 25 Easy Tear-Away Sheets
  • Paper Lightweight, Vibrant Full-Color Printing
  • Print Full Color, True-to-Design on Every Sheet
  • Best For Drawing, Sketching, Note-Taking, Classroom, Entertaining
  • Note Not Recommended for Food Contact

A Few Notes on Use

Each sheet tears away cleanly along the top binding. For best results, hold the pad firmly with one hand and pull the sheet straight up and slightly back with the other. The pad lays flat during use and can be propped upright on an easel or leaned against a surface for display. The lightweight paper takes pencil, marker, and most drawing media without bleed-through, though heavily saturated wet media may strike through to the sheet below.

A Note from Jeff

I was in Paris on the fourteenth of July some years ago, entirely by accident. I had not planned around the holiday, and I was not prepared for what it looked like to have an entire city come out at once. The Champs-Élysées at dawn, the military parade moving with extraordinary precision, the fighter jets overhead trailing red, white, and blue smoke, and then, later, the neighborhoods filling with music and people who seemed genuinely moved by the occasion rather than merely going through the motions. It was one of the most unexpectedly affecting days I have spent in France.

I wanted to create something that brought that energy into an everyday object: something large enough to feel substantial, illustrated with artwork that honors the occasion, and practical enough to actually be used rather than simply admired. This pad is exactly that, and I think it makes a particularly fine thing to have on the table at a Bastille Day gathering.
A Note from Jeff