Postcard from Marseille, France: Cantini’s insider to outsider art

Above: “Les Fleurs et le Matin,” Alfred Lombard (1884-1973), 1913

I kill time with the strokes of the pen…. It will take a long time.”

Louis Pons (1927-2021)

A palace built at the tail end of the 17th century by wealthy trade merchants was acquired a century later by the artistic son of a stonemason. With a ready supply of fine marble at hand, Jules Cantini’s (1826-1916) attraction to sculpture was only natural. He designed altars for some of Marseille’s most important churches.

Retaining the profitable marble business of his father, Jules began to assemble a major art collection. For his native city, Cantini underwrote the construction of a landmark fountain and memorial designed by architect Gaudensi Allar (1841-1904) and dedicated to the citizens who perished during the 1870 Franco-Prussian War.

Cantini bequeathed his home to the Marseilles for use as a museum dedicated to decorative arts. The city opened the museum in 1936, eventually spotlighting emerging trends in French art from 1900-1980. A random sampling of works are found below.

I think I was shy as a young woman and realized that photography was an ideal way of expressing myself, of telling people what was going on without having to talk.”

Photographer Martine Franck (1938-2012)

Above left: “La Petite Lina,” Charles Camoin (1879-1965), 1907. Top right: “Le Brusc,” Martine Franck, 1976. Right: “La Femme a la Cigarette,” Auguste Chabord, (1882-1955), 1912.

Above left: “Le Grand Transparent,” Jacques Herold (1910-1987), 1947. Middle: “La Plage,” Raoul Hausmann (1886-1971), 1947. Right: “Usine a l’Estaque,” Raoul Dufy (1877-1953), 1908.

In every human being there is a child who only wants to play, and the most attractive game is mystery. The mysterious content of the human soul wanders through the meandering corridors of a mythical labyrinth….”

The Mirror of Magic: A History of Magic in the Western World, Kurt Seligmann, 1948

Above left: “Nature Morte au Cocteau,” Fernand Leger (1881-1955), 1949. Middle: “Monument aux Oiseaux,” Max Ernst (1891-1976), 1927. Right: “Le Clown,” Kurt Seligmann (1900-1962), 1931.

Painting is life, the real life, my life.”

Epitaph on the grave Victor Brauner (1903-1966) in Paris

Above left: “Nombre,” 1966. Middle: ” Tableau Optimiste,” 1943. Right: “Autoportrait Imperial,” 1947. All three by Victor Brauner.

Art Must Nail the Beak

The last scion of a family of vanity painters
I lived twenty years in the shoes of a cartoonist
whom I loved like a brother
When he left me, the laughter froze.
Surrounded by packs of cats.
In lost scrubland.
I fled inside
of myself....

I made a beautiful bouquet of fears
Better a nightmare of one's own than someone else's dream....

The studio is the labyrinth of my contradictions
where I trade in sadness while keeping a smile
I spat out a painting like a kernel again
How do you draw an egg? First, draw a rooster.
Second, draw a chicken. Be patient and wait
Don't hit me in the face, memories take care of it....

Excerpt from autobiographical poem, Louis Pons

Above: All by Louis Pons.

Wait. Why in the world would anyone regard art by someone incorporating postmarked cards and letters outsider art? Clearly, it’s an indication of genius at work.