The Louvre has turned its artistic spotlight to comic books, opening a new exhibit Thursday that examines the fruits of a collaboration between the famed Paris art museum and comics publisher Futuropolis.

The exhibit, titled Small Design: The Louvre invites comic-strip art, showcases the work of five comic creators enlisted for the project. The authors were given free reign for their stories, although each had to include the Louvre as a primary location.

"We wanted to present this art with the goal of showing its … esthetic quality, but also its quality in the sense of the confrontation between the world of the Louvre and this alternate universe, which is that of comics," said curator Fabrice Douar.

"Comics are not just something lighthearted … there are also contemporary comics, which is more about the creation — there are graphic novels, detective stories and manga," he added.

"Just like comics are not only fun or for entertainment, the Louvre equally is not dusty and boring."

Belgian cartoonist Bernar Yslaire, who creates his comics digitally, gave a demonstration of his working process at the museum on Wednesday — with a large screen showing how Yslaire uses his computer to draw the young, late-18th century protagonist of his comic The Sky above the Louvre.

Three of the participating artists have completed the gig:

  • Nicolas de Crécy, whose comic is called Glacial Period;
  • Marc-Antoine Mathieu, whose comic is called The Basement of the Louvre;
  • Éric Liberge, whose comic is called Odd Hours.

Yslaire's Sky above the Louvre is slated for release in May, while Hirohiko Araki's manga Rohan at the Louvre is set to debut in 2010.

The Louvre's displays include original comic strip plates, sketches and prints created by the participating artists, as well as video projections of Yslaire and collaborator Jean-Claude Carrière's work.

The Louvre invites comic-strip art runs until April 13.

With files from the Associated Press