Bert is notably less concerned than Bozo about making a living—though the same cannot be said about his hat. “No remuneration do I ask of you,” he sings, “But me cap would be glad of a copper or two.”

As VanLear explains, many European street artists fought in World Wars I and II, which meant that the practice of professional sidewalk chalk drawing faded for a good part of the 20th century. Then, in 1972, the Italian village of Grazie di Curtatone decided to host an international street-painting competition to honor the history of madonnari. The competition, known as Incontro Nazionale dei Madonnari, was a great success, attracting hundreds of European artists and helping to revive interest in sidewalk painting.

Roughly a decade later, its profile got a further boost from Wenner, who would become the founder of 3D street art—a technique that uses tricks of perspective to make pavement drawings appear to soar from the sidewalk or sink into it. Wenner was studying classical art in Italy in the 1980s and started drawing on pavement as a way to make money. He eventually made his way to Grazie’s festival, where he took first place three years in a row, then brought his enthusiasm for street painting back to the US, launching an annual festival—the first in the country—in his hometown of Santa Barbara, California, in 1986.

Kurt Wenner’s ‘3D farm’ artwork in Brussels.
Kurt Wenner’s ‘3D farm’ artwork in Brussels.
Image: AP Photo/Yves Logghe
Kurt Wenner’s 3D installation of the Grand Canyon.
Kurt Wenner’s 3D installation of the Grand Canyon.
Image: AP Photo/Reed Saxon

By the time Asphalt Renaissance was published in 2011, the US was home to between 50 and 100 street-painting festivals each year. Europe has also experienced a street-painting festival boom, with events in such varied locales as the Netherlands, Germany, France, England, and Serbia; there are options in Australia, Canada, and Mexico, too. So should you encounter some kids smeared with chalk dust this summer, tell them to keep at it. There’s a future in sidewalk chalk yet.

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