Grasse's artists on the street

If you've travelled around the Cote d'Azur, you'll certainly have seen the many 'lutrins' (literally 'lecterns') showing reproductions of art by well-known artists from the viewpoints where they were (in some cases supposedly) painted. They were all initiated by the departement of Alpes-Maritime under the banner of 'La Côte d’Azur des Peintres.'

Nice, Antibes and Cannes have many more, but Grasse has four of its own. The most eminent artist here is Raoul Dufy (1877-1953), who spent a lot of time in the Riviera but had no particular connection with Grasse. The other three, who, incidentally, do not include Fragonard (he's not known ever to have created any views of Grasse) were closely associated with our town.

Dufy's 'Vue de Grasse'

This lutrin stands on the place Honoré Cresp, placed approximately from Dufy's viewpoint in the painting:

Raoul Dufy: View of Grasse, about 1930. The original is in the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

He rather adjusted the location of the bandstand and the fountain to suit his composition, but you get the point. Dufy was a regular visitor to Provence in general and Hyères in particular. In the twenties, he created patterns for fabrics, and curtains to his design appear in the Villa Noailles there.

Place d'Hyeres, one of several paintings of the subject by Dufy

'View of Grasse' was originally thought to be one of Hyères, and there is an obvious likeness to his famous image named 'Place d'Hyères'. Perhaps he liked bandstands!

Charles Nègre's 'Quartier des Moulins'

Nègre (1880-1820) was a native of Grasse, a pioneer of photography as an art-form and has most recently been commemorated in the new town Médiatheque. His lutrin stands on the boulevard Gambetta, part of the one-way road which runs along what were once the southern walls of the town.

Charles Nègre: The Moulins quarter, 1860

The original can be seen in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Provence (MAHP), 300m or so away in rue Mirabeau, but since it's only 20cm x 15cm (although in a much larger frame), and not in a room with the several other Nègres they possess, it's easy to miss.

Unusually, the lutrin is not placed so that you can match it with the same view today - the painting is a view from below the position of the lutrin, looking up the Avenue Font Laugière in around 1860. You can read more about Nègre in my blog here.

The other two artists are much less well-known, and spent much more of their careers in Grasse than either Dufy or Nègre.

Erwin Sutter's 'Rue de la Fontette'

Erwin Sutter was from Alsace, hence his rather non-French sounding name. He was born in 1897 when the region was part of Germany but he was brought up in Dijon. As a young painter, he moved to Marseille in pursuit of the light of the south. He came to Grasse in 1932 to work for the Lautier perfumery and spent his non-working hours creating art.

An evangelist for the art of his time, he organised conferences and film shows, often in the space below the Cours Honoré Cresp which is now a car park. He wanted to help explain the art of the likes of Picasso, Matisse, Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland to the Grasse public.

Lutrin of 'Rue de la Fontette', Erwin Sutter, 1935, in the street of its subject

He painted his ‘Rue de la Fontette’ in 1935; it is in the town libraries’ collection, but is not, so far as I can tell, exhibited currently. His lutrin is exactly located to show its subject, close to the Charles Nègre médiatheque. Sutter lived in the St Hilaire quarter for over thirty years from 1937 and died in Grasse in 1974.

Yvon Péron's 'Vue de Grasse'

Yvon Péron was born in Paris in 1910. He studied at the École des Beaux Arts and first worked as a designer and illustrator for cinemas. Like so many painters he was fascinated by the light of Provence. He moved first to Hyères and then to Grasse in 1950, where he taught at the Collège Fénelon. His wife taught at the Lycée de jeunes filles (now Collège Saint-Hilaire).

During his lifetime, Péron's work was regularly exhibited in several French cities and in Germany, Switzerland and the USA.

Lutron of Yvon Péron: View of Grasse, 1996

His lutrin is on the Cours Honoré Cresp, at the opposite end to that of Dufy. The painting was made when he was in his eighties.

Like Dufy, he seems to have taken liberties with the view; assuming the lutrin is located correctly (and its rather obscure placement by the car park entrance suggests so), this the closest I can get to his vista. You certainly can't really see the cathedral from where the lutrin is! The original is said to be, like the Nègre painting, in the MAHP, but I can't find it, and the lady on duty recently did not know of Yvon Péron, so it doesn't seem to be exhibited.

Yvon Péron in 1996 (image from the MAHP collection). He was obviously painting the Musée International de Parfum (right) when the photo was taken.

Péron lived in Grasse until his death in 1998. An retrospective 100th anniversary exhibition of his works was shown at the MAHP in 2010.