Venice

When Louis Vuitton decided to produce a series of deluxe travel books for the new century they invited only hand picked comic artists from around the world and placed them in settings unfamiliar to the artists to bring this vision to life. After his mother's death, Jiro Taniguchi discovers a beautifully lacquered box which contains what appear to be old photos and hand-drawn postcards of Venice. One photo of Piazza San Marco catches his eye. It is of a Japanese couple feeding a multitude of pigeons in the square dressed in what looked like 1930's styled clothes. Who were they? What relevance did they have for his mother? Armed with the contents of the lacquered box he travels to Venice to track down the places and events displayed in the images and to discover the identity of the young couple in the old photograph. With very few but well chosen words and his artist's eye for detail, Taniguchi portrays the Venice of today in a most deserving light.

Cover Illustrator