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拍品专文
Jean Planque was born into a modest family in the year 1910 in a small village outside Lausanne. From his earliest years he was attracted to the graphic arts, both as an observer and (in an amateur way) as an enthusiast, and it was not long before he made his way to Paris, where he was to play an important, if unsung, part in the lives of some of the great names in modern art.
Planque's name is forever linked with that of Picasso, and yet it was the work of another artist, Paul Cezanne, that was to bring them together. In 1960 Picasso spotted Cézanne's Portrait of Madame Cézanne in a Gallery Beyeler catalogue. He had long admired, and desired, the painting, having first seen it in Vollard's gallery nearly fifty years before when he was in no position to afford such masterpieces. By the 1960's, however, it was well within his means, and he asked for the painting to be brought to him for approval.
By this time, Jean Planque had been Ernst Beyeler's advisor and intermediary in France for some years, and he was the obvious choice to take the canvas to Picasso. He received the instruction: "Planque, the big day has arrived, finally you will meet the artist whom you admire so much. Go and show him the Cézanne we recently bought. He wants to buy it. I'm sending the canvas to you, take the plane to Nice and make the deal".
Lionel Prejger, a friend and assistant of Picasso, met him at the airport. During the taxi ride up to La Californie Planque informed Prejger that the trip was unlikely to have a successful outcome. When asked why he simply replied, "If Picasso is the Picasso I imagine him to be, he won't buy this painting".
They found Picasso waiting impatiently at the top of the long flight of stairs leading to the entrance - dispensing with any social niceties, or even an introduction, Picasso tore the painting from its packaging. The reception was the one that Planque had predicted, as Picasso exclaimed "For Christ's sake, what is going on? What have you done to this painting?"
Planque explained that Beyeler and himself were also great admirers of that particular work, and on seeing it in an auction catalogue had bought it without a moment's hesitation - sight unseen. Unfortunately what the catalogue did not show was that it had been brutally 'restored' at some point in its past, and was now completely flat, all the impasto and surface relief scrubbed clean. Despite the inauspicious beginning, the two men spent the afternoon together, and Picasso was completely charmed by the way in which his shy visitor displayed such a passion for painting, particularly since there was no longer any financial motive for flattery. He was even more touched when Prejger told him of the conversation in the taxi.
The meeting was to be the first of many, and soon Jean Planque became a source of advice and assistance. It was through him that Beyeler was able to acquire 25 canvases to complete a show being prepared to celebrate the artist's 85th birthday. On another occasion, Picasso asked for his help with a group of paintings he disliked, but without knowing why. After a long period of reflection Planque's diagnosis was simple, 'They lack light.' Despite the trust and mutual respect that had grown between them Planque was rather nervous at what the response might be. After quietly considering this opinion, Picasso hugged his Swiss friend in gratitude. Planque, with his quiet intuition and gift for empathy, had seen that behind the worldwide fame and success Picasso was an artist driven as strongly as ever by his need for self-expression, and was his own harshest critic when it came to judging the results.
During his increasingly frequent visits to Notre-Dame-de-Vie in Mougins Planque witnessed the birth of the series of prints that became known as the 347 series. His reaction to them, as to all works of art, was instinctive, and initially unenthusiastic. However much he admired Picasso's technical mastery he found it difficult to accept the multitude of saltimbanques, soldiers, dwarves, popes, prostitutes and magnificent models, grouped into what he thought of as a sort of buffoonery of dubious taste and obsessional eroticism. He even wondered if Picasso was using such blatantly sexual subject matter as a disguise for his own impotence.
Nevertheless, Planque was gradually won over by the fertile imagination, and he began to explore the world of the 347. It has often been said that art is partly allied to Eros. No one was more aware of this sensual aspect than Planque, who often compared his attraction to a painting to that of being in love: "When I am asked [about my passion for painting..] I say this. Why have you chosen your wife, why her rather than any of the other women you have met? To retain a woman one's whole being has to be orientated towards her..she must feel your whole being is drawn on every level, physical and emotional. For a work of art, the same idea applies. It is towards the work that the whole being is drawn, our arms reach out, we want it, with us, and with her [...…] any other approach is impossible or false. There is no other explanation. It's love".
Planque came to believe that the 347 series, etched during the 'Summer of Love' in 1968, brought this eroticism of image to its climax in the most explicit manner possible. After viewing an exhibiton of the prints, he recorded the following exchange in his notebook: 'I expressed my surprise at seeing those called 'risky' being shown separately, those where the painter's extended sex is shown, where he is making love whilst painting. [It struck me that] everything in art was done with the body, with the sex extended, [that] there was therefore, in these works, not pornography, but a symbolic example of artistic creation; "Yes" Picasso answered, "that's exactly what I mean to say".
Jean Planque reacted to art by systematically questioning what he saw, for he wanted above all to understand the unknown language of others. This inquisitive attitude is embodied in the collection he built, little by little, without any deliberate strategy during his working life. He was an artist himself, but only on the level of a hobby, for he lacked that blind audacity that allows one to see the world as if for the first time. However, if he failed himself in this regard, he knew how to recognise this freedom in others, to make it his own and to love it to the extent that one could say that he collected the paintings that he would have liked to have painted.
Working for Gallery Beyeler was in many ways the perfect occupation for Jean Planque, since he could devote all his energy to researching masterpieces. During his 18 years with them he visited countless galleries, museums, private collections and artist's studios, talking with passion about what he saw, giving succinct, precise and respected judgment. This passion and frankness won him the confidence of numerous artists who appreciated his inquisitive, incisive and non-compromising criticism. During these visits to the major figures of post-war art in order to prepare the Gallery exhibitions he made close friendships with Sonia Delaunay, Roger Bissière, Alfred Manessier, Hans Hartung, Alberto Giacometti, Sam Francis, Mark Tobey, Antoni Tàpies, Antoni Clavé, Alex Kosta and many other actors on the Parisian scene.
With no one, however, was the relationship as intimate and passionate as with Jean Dubuffet, whose work and market Planque supported at a time when questions being asked about the artist had begun to discourage buyers. Dubuffet recognised in Planque an infallible and unsparing eye. He frequently welcomed him into his studio in Rue Vaugirard, where he loved to watch the collector scrutinising his recent work - Planque's opinion was worth more to him than any other. The relationship was not without its tensions, but following a memorable falling out which lasted several years Dubuffet paid a fitting homage to Planque's passion for his work in a letter which sealed their reconciliation: "Amongst all those acting (or acting for themselves) out of affection for artistic creation, it is certain that very few feel as strongly as you do, and for whom it is such essential nourishment and who hold it in such high regard. Those of your type are rare. For me they are the highest value that exists".
Jean Planque stopped working for Gallery Beyeler in 1972. By this time he had already decided with his wife Suzanne to donate his paintings to a foundation in order that the public could enjoy them after their deaths. The Foundation was established during the 1990's, and its aim is to conserve and display the treasures of the collection he lovingly assembled. He hoped it would illustrate not so much his own attitude to 20th Century painting, but to show the fruits of a passionate life. Born to a modest family, deprived of further education, he was proud to have known, thanks to his own enthusiasm, the greatest artists of his time and to have been able to talk to them as a friend. This collection, comprising some 150 paintings, drawings and sculptures, has been the subject of numerous exhibitions in Europe. A catalogue of the collection was published in 2001, and the Foundation will shortly become a public institution, as Planque wished.
With forethought as to any eventual financial needs, Planque had acquired a complete Séries 347 by subscription from the Louise Leiris Gallery, Paris. Today, in order to help fulfil the goal set by its founders, the Fondation Jean and Suzanne Planque is offering a number of plates for sale. Like a true collector, he had always carefully stored them beneath his bed, unopened, in the original packaging. If ever asked why he never looked at them, Planque would answer mischievously that whenever he felt the need to see them again, he could do so at his leisure at the Louise Leiris Gallery.
Florian Rodari
Curator, Fondation Jean et Suzanne Planque, Lausanne.
Planque's name is forever linked with that of Picasso, and yet it was the work of another artist, Paul Cezanne, that was to bring them together. In 1960 Picasso spotted Cézanne's Portrait of Madame Cézanne in a Gallery Beyeler catalogue. He had long admired, and desired, the painting, having first seen it in Vollard's gallery nearly fifty years before when he was in no position to afford such masterpieces. By the 1960's, however, it was well within his means, and he asked for the painting to be brought to him for approval.
By this time, Jean Planque had been Ernst Beyeler's advisor and intermediary in France for some years, and he was the obvious choice to take the canvas to Picasso. He received the instruction: "Planque, the big day has arrived, finally you will meet the artist whom you admire so much. Go and show him the Cézanne we recently bought. He wants to buy it. I'm sending the canvas to you, take the plane to Nice and make the deal".
Lionel Prejger, a friend and assistant of Picasso, met him at the airport. During the taxi ride up to La Californie Planque informed Prejger that the trip was unlikely to have a successful outcome. When asked why he simply replied, "If Picasso is the Picasso I imagine him to be, he won't buy this painting".
They found Picasso waiting impatiently at the top of the long flight of stairs leading to the entrance - dispensing with any social niceties, or even an introduction, Picasso tore the painting from its packaging. The reception was the one that Planque had predicted, as Picasso exclaimed "For Christ's sake, what is going on? What have you done to this painting?"
Planque explained that Beyeler and himself were also great admirers of that particular work, and on seeing it in an auction catalogue had bought it without a moment's hesitation - sight unseen. Unfortunately what the catalogue did not show was that it had been brutally 'restored' at some point in its past, and was now completely flat, all the impasto and surface relief scrubbed clean. Despite the inauspicious beginning, the two men spent the afternoon together, and Picasso was completely charmed by the way in which his shy visitor displayed such a passion for painting, particularly since there was no longer any financial motive for flattery. He was even more touched when Prejger told him of the conversation in the taxi.
The meeting was to be the first of many, and soon Jean Planque became a source of advice and assistance. It was through him that Beyeler was able to acquire 25 canvases to complete a show being prepared to celebrate the artist's 85th birthday. On another occasion, Picasso asked for his help with a group of paintings he disliked, but without knowing why. After a long period of reflection Planque's diagnosis was simple, 'They lack light.' Despite the trust and mutual respect that had grown between them Planque was rather nervous at what the response might be. After quietly considering this opinion, Picasso hugged his Swiss friend in gratitude. Planque, with his quiet intuition and gift for empathy, had seen that behind the worldwide fame and success Picasso was an artist driven as strongly as ever by his need for self-expression, and was his own harshest critic when it came to judging the results.
During his increasingly frequent visits to Notre-Dame-de-Vie in Mougins Planque witnessed the birth of the series of prints that became known as the 347 series. His reaction to them, as to all works of art, was instinctive, and initially unenthusiastic. However much he admired Picasso's technical mastery he found it difficult to accept the multitude of saltimbanques, soldiers, dwarves, popes, prostitutes and magnificent models, grouped into what he thought of as a sort of buffoonery of dubious taste and obsessional eroticism. He even wondered if Picasso was using such blatantly sexual subject matter as a disguise for his own impotence.
Nevertheless, Planque was gradually won over by the fertile imagination, and he began to explore the world of the 347. It has often been said that art is partly allied to Eros. No one was more aware of this sensual aspect than Planque, who often compared his attraction to a painting to that of being in love: "When I am asked [about my passion for painting..] I say this. Why have you chosen your wife, why her rather than any of the other women you have met? To retain a woman one's whole being has to be orientated towards her..she must feel your whole being is drawn on every level, physical and emotional. For a work of art, the same idea applies. It is towards the work that the whole being is drawn, our arms reach out, we want it, with us, and with her [...…] any other approach is impossible or false. There is no other explanation. It's love".
Planque came to believe that the 347 series, etched during the 'Summer of Love' in 1968, brought this eroticism of image to its climax in the most explicit manner possible. After viewing an exhibiton of the prints, he recorded the following exchange in his notebook: 'I expressed my surprise at seeing those called 'risky' being shown separately, those where the painter's extended sex is shown, where he is making love whilst painting. [It struck me that] everything in art was done with the body, with the sex extended, [that] there was therefore, in these works, not pornography, but a symbolic example of artistic creation; "Yes" Picasso answered, "that's exactly what I mean to say".
Jean Planque reacted to art by systematically questioning what he saw, for he wanted above all to understand the unknown language of others. This inquisitive attitude is embodied in the collection he built, little by little, without any deliberate strategy during his working life. He was an artist himself, but only on the level of a hobby, for he lacked that blind audacity that allows one to see the world as if for the first time. However, if he failed himself in this regard, he knew how to recognise this freedom in others, to make it his own and to love it to the extent that one could say that he collected the paintings that he would have liked to have painted.
Working for Gallery Beyeler was in many ways the perfect occupation for Jean Planque, since he could devote all his energy to researching masterpieces. During his 18 years with them he visited countless galleries, museums, private collections and artist's studios, talking with passion about what he saw, giving succinct, precise and respected judgment. This passion and frankness won him the confidence of numerous artists who appreciated his inquisitive, incisive and non-compromising criticism. During these visits to the major figures of post-war art in order to prepare the Gallery exhibitions he made close friendships with Sonia Delaunay, Roger Bissière, Alfred Manessier, Hans Hartung, Alberto Giacometti, Sam Francis, Mark Tobey, Antoni Tàpies, Antoni Clavé, Alex Kosta and many other actors on the Parisian scene.
With no one, however, was the relationship as intimate and passionate as with Jean Dubuffet, whose work and market Planque supported at a time when questions being asked about the artist had begun to discourage buyers. Dubuffet recognised in Planque an infallible and unsparing eye. He frequently welcomed him into his studio in Rue Vaugirard, where he loved to watch the collector scrutinising his recent work - Planque's opinion was worth more to him than any other. The relationship was not without its tensions, but following a memorable falling out which lasted several years Dubuffet paid a fitting homage to Planque's passion for his work in a letter which sealed their reconciliation: "Amongst all those acting (or acting for themselves) out of affection for artistic creation, it is certain that very few feel as strongly as you do, and for whom it is such essential nourishment and who hold it in such high regard. Those of your type are rare. For me they are the highest value that exists".
Jean Planque stopped working for Gallery Beyeler in 1972. By this time he had already decided with his wife Suzanne to donate his paintings to a foundation in order that the public could enjoy them after their deaths. The Foundation was established during the 1990's, and its aim is to conserve and display the treasures of the collection he lovingly assembled. He hoped it would illustrate not so much his own attitude to 20th Century painting, but to show the fruits of a passionate life. Born to a modest family, deprived of further education, he was proud to have known, thanks to his own enthusiasm, the greatest artists of his time and to have been able to talk to them as a friend. This collection, comprising some 150 paintings, drawings and sculptures, has been the subject of numerous exhibitions in Europe. A catalogue of the collection was published in 2001, and the Foundation will shortly become a public institution, as Planque wished.
With forethought as to any eventual financial needs, Planque had acquired a complete Séries 347 by subscription from the Louise Leiris Gallery, Paris. Today, in order to help fulfil the goal set by its founders, the Fondation Jean and Suzanne Planque is offering a number of plates for sale. Like a true collector, he had always carefully stored them beneath his bed, unopened, in the original packaging. If ever asked why he never looked at them, Planque would answer mischievously that whenever he felt the need to see them again, he could do so at his leisure at the Louise Leiris Gallery.
Florian Rodari
Curator, Fondation Jean et Suzanne Planque, Lausanne.