DP MJCCSW 4.10_EN - copie - Maison de la France

Opens to the public on 6 November 2011 

Press relations: 

Claudine Colin Communication 

Dorélia Baird-‐Smith 

28, rue de Sévigné 

F-‐75004 Paris 

T: +33 (0)1 42 72 60 01 / +33 (0)6 70 55 01 54 

dorelia@claudinecolin.com 

www.claudinecolin.com 

ADVANCE PRESS KIT 

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CONTENTS 

I. Genesis of the project, a story of encounters p. 3 

§ Jean Cocteau and Menton 

§ Séverin Wunderman, collector and benefactor 

§ Brief biographies: Jean-‐Claude Guibal and Célia Bernasconi, assistance 

to the project 

§ Key dates and figures 

II. The museum’s collections p. 8 

§ A donation of 1800 works 

§ A museum itinerary tracing the life of Jean Cocteau 

§ The Lucien Clergue donation 

§ Overview of the collection 

§ Museum catalogue 

III. Temporary exhibitions p. 16 

§ Jean Sabrier Exhibition 

IV. A museum open to the town and its inhabitants p. 18 

V. The architectural project p. 19 

§ The project 

§ Key figures 

§ Architectural team 

§ Rudy Ricciotti: brief biography and major works 

§ Museographic design: Agence EDP & Associés 

VI. Visitor Information p. 25 

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I. GENESIS OF THE PROJECT: A SERIES OF ENCOUNTERS 

Thanks to an exceptional gift by Severin Wunderman of works by Jean Cocteau, followed three 

years later by the laying of the foundation stone for the building to house this collection, the 

musée Jean Cocteau collection Séverin Wunderman in Menton, a large-‐scale cultural project 

which has received the full support of officials in this Côte d’Azur town, will open its doors to 

the public on Sunday, 6 November 2011. 

The future museum will thus become the leading and largest publicly accessible resource 

devoted to Cocteau’s oeuvre anywhere in the world. 

Jean Cocteau and Menton 

In the summer of 1955, while a house 

guest of his friend Francine Weisweiller at 

Saint-‐Jean-‐Cap-‐Ferrat, Cocteau visited 

Menton for the first time, was struck by 

the town’s beauty and would often return 

there in later years. 

In 1956, at the request of Menton’s 

mayor, the artist accepted a commission 

to redecorate the town hall’s wedding 

room with frescoes and other furnishings, 

a project he completed in 1958. In 

recognition, the town adopted Cocteau as 

an honorary citizen. 

Musée du Bastion, Menton 

© Ville de Menton 

Jean Cocteau 

Painted decoration for the Menton town hall wedding room: 

Lovers of Menton 

1957–1958 

© ADAGP, Paris 2011. Courtesy of Mr Pierre Bergé, chairman of 

the Comité Jean Cocteau. 

© Serge Caussé, photographer 

One day while strolling in Menton, Cocteau came upon 

the Bastion, a small, abandoned fort dating from the 

seventeenth century, built over water as an advance 

defence for the port. He set his heart upon restoring 

this little jewel in order to exhibit his own artworks. 

The Musée Jean Cocteau opened its doors at the Bastion 

in 1966, three years after the death of the famed poet, 

choreographer, film-‐maker and artist. Decorated by 

Cocteau himself with mosaics and tapestries, this 

building is still home to a portion of the poet and 

artist’s paintings dating from his “Mediterranean” 

period (1950–1963). 

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Severin Wunderman, collector and benefactor 

Born in 1938 in Belgium and forced during the Second World 

War to seek exile in the United States, Severin Wunderman rose 

from his beginnings as an apprentice watchmaker to become a 

leading figure in the Swiss luxury watchmaking industry. 

An art lover from his youth, with a particular interest in the 

works of Cocteau, he was only 19 when on a whim he acquired 

the first piece in his collection – an original drawing of a scene 

from the writer’s novel Les Enfants Terribles (The Holy Terrors) 

– spending nearly all of his first salary payment as an apprentice 

watchmaker. 

He would continue to build up his collection over the years, 

founding a museum in Irvine, California to display these works in 

1985. But his fervent wish was that a large number of the pieces 

in his collection would return to France one day, where a 

museum might give them a permanent home. 

Smitten with Menton, a town of great symbolic importance for any admirer of Cocteau, Severin 

Wunderman arranged to meet deputy mayor Jean-‐Claude Guibal, who helped him to bring this 

project to fruition. 

On 27 June 2005, following Wunderman’s exceptional gift, the town of Menton, with the backing 

of France’s Ministry of Culture and Communication, entered into a commitment to build a public 

museum to house his collection. The foundation stone was laid on 29 December 2008, at a 

ceremony which Wunderman was regrettably not able to attend as he had passed away just a 

few months earlier. 

In September 2005, the Ministry of Culture and Communication had approved the registration 

of the Severin Wunderman collection as part of the holdings of the Musée Jean Cocteau in 

Menton, which has held the status of a “Musée de France”, alongside such institutions as the 

Louvre and the Palace of Versailles, since 2003. 

Brief biographies 

Séverin Wunderman 

© Ville de Menton 

Jean-‐Claude Guibal, Deputy Mayor, Menton 

The shimmering light of his native Corsica and the potent identity of the peoples of the 

Mediterranean have left their indelible mark on Jean-‐Claude Guibal, born in Ajaccio on 13 

January 1941. It was therefore quite natural that, after pursuing higher studies at a number of 

France’s most prestigious institutions – earning diplomas at HEC in 1963, the Institut d’Etudes 

Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) in 1965, the ENA in 1967 and named a reserve officer by the 

Ecole d’Application de l’Arme Blindée Cavalerie in Saumur (the training school for the armoured 

cavalry branch of the French Army) in 1966 – and following several positions in both the public 

and private sectors, Guibal then launched his political career in Menton, becoming the town’s 

mayor in 1989, before being elected as its representative to the French National Assembly in 

1997. 

In this body, where he serves as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, his passion for the 

Mare Nostrum has led, among other distinctions, to his appointment as France’s representative 

to the Parliamentary Assembly for the Mediterranean. 

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Committed to the preservation and promotion of Menton’s historical, architectural and 

botanical heritage, he has been instrumental in giving this Côte d’Azur town, a mere stone’s 

throw from the Italian border, the status of a cultural destination in its own right, where bold 

projects ennoble the spirit of the site and reinforce its authenticity. 

The conception of the musée Jean Cocteau collection Séverin Wunderman, entrusted to the 

architect Rudy Ricciotti, whose use of light and line rivals that of his most celebrated 

predecessors, is the logical outgrowth of Guibal’s encounter with Severin Wunderman and his 

desire to pay homage to the artist who had chosen to give free rein to his expression in a place 

he adored. 

Célia Bernasconi, Curator, musée Jean Cocteau collection Séverin Wunderman 

Born in 1977, Célia Bernasconi was appointed curator of the musée Jean Cocteau collection 

Séverin Wunderman in 2005. 

A graduate of the Université de Strasbourg and the Université de Paris I, Bernasconi holds a 

postgraduate degree (DEA) in modern and contemporary art history and is currently working 

towards her Ph.D at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales under the guidance of 

Daniel Arasse. Bernasconi successfully completed the entrance exams for France’s national 

institute for cultural heritage (Institut National du Patrimoine) in 2002. 

She developed an interest in Cocteau’s works on paper as a logical extension of her studies 

focusing on the influence of the Florentine Early Renaissance painter Paolo Uccello (born Paolo 

di Dono) on twentieth-‐century artists. Along with Carlo Carra, Apollinaire, André Breton, 

Antonin Artaud and Paul Eluard, Cocteau rediscovered this painter with his painstaking 

attachment to perspective who had been spurned by his contemporaries, adopting him as a cult 

figure. In the 1920s, Cocteau signed his works “Jean l’Oiseleur”, in honour of his distant 

predecessor’s moniker, earned due to his fondness for painting birds. 

Project feasibility analysis and preliminary design team 

SA17 (Maïa Rabinowitz, Numa Granda Bonilla), architects and planners 

Frédéric Ladonne, architect, planner and specialist in preventive conservation 

Parica (Denis Vevaud), engineering design and economic analysis 

Among related projects involving the participation of these same team members, SA17 and 

Frédéric Ladonne previously worked together on the study for the construction of the Picardie 

branch office of the FRAC (Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain) at Amiens (the design by the 

Japanese architect Toyo Ito was selected). Frédéric Ladonne subsequently worked on projects 

for the Atelier-‐Musée du Verre (a glass museum and workshop at Trélon, near Avesnes), the 

Musée Archéologique Henri Prades at Lattes near Montpellier, the Musée des Beaux-‐Arts at 

Dijon and the Musée des Monuments Français at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris (with Parica). 

SA17 worked with Parica on the project for the construction of storerooms and renovation 

work at the Musée Ingres in Montauban. This project was led by Isabelle Crosnier, agent, 

architect and planner, who shared her particular expertise with Rabinowitz and Granda Bonilla 

of SA17. The partnership with Isabelle Crosnier and Parica has continued, particularly in 

connection with projects for the refurbishment of the Musée Henri Martin at Cahors, the 

refurbishment of the Quadrilatère Richelieu (the former site of the Bibliothèque Nationale in 

Paris), the construction of storerooms for the Musée de Bayonne and the refurbishment of the 

Archives Nationales in Paris. 

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musée Jean Cocteau collection Séverin Wunderman: Key dates 

1 December 2003 

The project to build a new museum dedicated to Jean Cocteau and to Severin Wunderman’s 

collection of the artist’s works is approved by the Menton municipal council 

September 2004 

The first expert analysis of Severin Wunderman’s collection is carried out in Los Angeles 

17 June 2005 

Severin Wunderman is presented with France’s highest distinction, the Légion d’Honneur, by 

Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, Minister of Culture and Communication 

27 June 2005 

Signature of the donation agreement 

25 July 2005 

Menton adopts Severin Wunderman as an honorary citizen 

1 September 2005 

Initiation of the planning phase for the museum, recruitment of Célia Bernasconi as the curator 

with overall responsibility for the project and for the integration of the future museum’s 

programming with its artistic mission 

October 2006 

Commissioning of the feasibility analysis and preliminary design for the project, awarded to a 

team comprised of the architecture and planning firm SA17, the architect and museographic 

specialist Frédéric Ladonne, and the engineering, design and economic analysis firm Parica 

December 2006 

Official registration of the works included in the donation in the inventory of the musée Jean 

Cocteau 

15 May 2007 

Launch of the architectural design competition 

12 October 2007 

Press opening of the first preview exhibition of the musée Jean Cocteau collection Séverin 

Wunderman at the Bastion 

27 June 2008 

Rudy Ricciotti is announced as the winner of the architectural competition 

Under the direction of Rudy Ricciotti, the winning design team also includes Elizabeth de 

Portzamparc for the museographic design and Agence APS for the landscaping design 

December 2008 

Demolition work begins 

29 December 2008 

Museum’s foundation stone is laid 

September 2009 

Campenon-‐Bernard is selected as the general contractor for the project’s earthworks and 

structural works 

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October 2009 

Construction work begins 

15 January 2011 

Completion of earthworks and structural work 

February 2011 

Second expert analysis of Severin Wunderman’s collection 

October 2011 

Final inspection of the building and the museographic design 

6 November 2011 

The museum opens to the public 

Finance 

Total project cost €11,780,000 

Contribution from the town of Menton of €5,380,000, 46% of the total 

Contribution from the Conseil Général des Alpes-‐Maritimes of €4,000,000, 34% of the total 

Contribution from the Provence-‐Alpes Côte d’Azur Region of €1,200,000, 10% of the total 

Contribution from the State via the DRAC, of €1,200,000, 10% of the total 

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II. The museum’s collections 

Gift of 1,800 works 

Severin Wunderman’s donation consists of 1,800 works, including 990 works by Cocteau, 

offering a very comprehensive perspective on the artist’s career. All of its periods are 

represented, from the first self-‐portraits of the 1910s up to the “Mediterranean” period towards 

the end of his life, little known to the general public. 

The collection thus consists of drawings, prints, paintings, ceramics, tapestries, jewellery, books 

and manuscripts, but also 172 photographs relating to Cocteau (photographers represented 

include Germaine Krull, Berenice Abbott, Irving Penn, Philippe Halsman, Boris Lipnitzky, Serge 

Lido, Sacha Masour and Lucien Clergue), 278 works by Cocteau’s fellow artists (Picasso, 

Modigliani, Foujita, Di Chirico, among others) as well as an exceptional grouping of 360 works 

related to Sarah Bernhardt, in honour of whom Cocteau coined the expression “monstre sacré” 

(sacred monster). 

Apart from masterpieces representing the multiple facets of Jean Cocteau’s genius, the 

collection also sheds light on the man himself, thanks to a large number of portraits and tributes 

by his fellow artists. 

Together with the pre-‐existing collection of the museum at the Bastion, the new Musée Jean 

Cocteau thus houses more than 2,000 works, including 1,190 by Cocteau himself, and 

constitutes the largest publicly accessible collection in the world of works by the artist. 

A museum itinerary tracing the life of Jean Cocteau 

The museum’s permanent collection display, consisting of 250 works, 

leads visitors along a meandering journey through space and time, 

punctuated by glimpses of the personalities and milestones having had a 

major influence on Cocteau’s life and work. 

The rotating display of the permanent collection is organised in the form 

of seven sequences offering a chronological exploration of Cocteau’s life 

(1889–1963) structured around sets of major works. 

These sets are themselves connected to specific themes, reflecting the 

successive transformations in Cocteau’s career and encouraging visitors 

to dispense with the chronological order of the presentation in line 

with their specific interests: 

1/ Miniature Theatre of the Imagination 

Through a dialogue between documents of the period and works of 

fiction, this first sequence highlights Cocteau’s youth and the 

environment in which he was raised, the background that forged his 

aesthetic outlook. The onset of the “mal rouge et or”, an affliction 

Germaine Krull 

Portrait of Cocteau 

1929 

Inv. No. 2005.1.1008 

Black-‐and-‐white photograph 

musée Jean Cocteau collection Séverin 

Wunderman 

© Germaine Krull, Museum Folkwang, Essen 

brought on by red and gold, thus a passion for the magic of theatre, which would remain with 

Cocteau his entire life, is traced here to two mythic personalities: Sarah Bernhardt and Vaslav 

Nijinsky. 

2/ The Imposter 

The Imposter, a sequence marked by the experience of the First World War, illustrates the 

emergence of fruitful interconnections between autobiography and mythography at this 

moment in Cocteau’s career. A number of major works, including Le Potomak and Thomas 

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l’Imposteur, were conceived during this period. 

3/ Parades 

Parades focuses on a very prolific creative period, one in which Cocteau adopted a new graphic 

style. The presentation includes drawings, photographs and programs relating to the ballet 

Parade, its scenario conceived by Cocteau, with music by Satie and costumes and sets by 

Picasso, and the oft-‐cited revolt at its premiere, as well as works tied to his encounter with the 

prodigious Raymond Radiguet. 

4/ Jean l’Oiseleur 

The period examined in this fourth sequence put an end to frivolity and indifference. Deeply 

moved by the death of his dear friend Raymond Radiguet, Cocteau created a tortuous poetic and 

formal universe, intimately linked to the realm of souls no longer among the living, as illustrated 

by the series of self-‐portraits entitled Le Mystère de Jean L’Oiseleur. The descent into opium gave 

rise to an increasingly expressionist graphic style, evidenced by the albums Maison de Santé and 

Opium. 

5/ Blood of the Poet 

With Le Sang d’un Poète, Cocteau created his first medium-‐length film. His distinctive style 

underwent a transformation at this time, while his characters, often inspired by the heroes of 

antiquity, took on a tragic dimension through the black ink of the artist. 

This period is connected with Cocteau’s most renowned literary works, such as Les Enfants 

Terribles and La Machine Infernale (The Infernal Machine). 

6/ Mysteries 

This sequence presents works produced in the aftermath of the Second World War in which the 

real and the imaginary merge. Marking the apex of his career and bringing together all the other 

conduits of his poetry, Cocteau’s filmed works embody this quest for an “unreal realism”, 

notably with La Belle et la Bête and Orphée. 

7/ Testaments 

This final sequence addresses Cocteau’s last major critical successes, through which he 

ceaselessly questioned the place of the poet in society. The photographs taken by Lucien 

Clergue on the set of Le Testament d’Orphée bear witness to this pursuit. This sequence presents 

works of the artist’s “Mediterranean” period, characterised by the abrupt and dramatic 

interruption of colour and a substantial stylistic departure. The techniques and subjects 

explored by the artist at this time evince strong links with Picasso’s universe. 

Exploring Menton 

Museum visitors may extend their itinerary by having a look at the Bastion, redesigned by 

Cocteau between 1958 and 1963 to exhibit his own artworks. Presented here are the celebrated 

studies for the Innamorati, part of the decoration of the town hall’s wedding room, as well as the 

original ceramic objects created by the artist himself at the Atélier Madeline-‐Jolly. 

The town hall’s wedding room, its decoration the quintessential expression of Cocteau’s unique 

personality, is open to the public Monday to Friday, from 8.30 a.m to 12.30 p.m. and from 2 p.m. 

to 5 p.m. 

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Lucien Clergue Donation 

Lucien Clergue, born on 14th August 1934 in Arles, is a French photographer, a member of the 

Académie de Beaux-‐Arts, part of the Institut de France. Through his connection with his close 

friend Pablo Picasso, Clergue met Jean Cocteau in 1956, with whom he maintained a friendship 

and professional rapport until 1963 and the death of the poet. Clergue's photographs of gypsies 

inspired some of Cocteau's designs for the Chapel of Saint-‐Pierre in Villefranche and the 

Wedding Room in the Town Hall of Menton. In 1959, when Jean Cocteau was preparing to shoot 

his last full-‐length film in the quarries of Baux de Provence, he invited Lucien Clergue to 

photograph the filming, backstage with the crew and actors. These wonderful photographs, 

labelled by Cocteau, will be included in the book entitled Phénixologie. 

Lucien Clergue, Jean Cocteau et Edouard Dermit avec 

le masque de mort, 1959-‐2011 

Tirage argentique noir et blanc 

50 x 60 cm 

N° inv 2011.2.49 

musée Jean Cocteau collection Séverin Wunderman 

© Lucien Clergue 

Lucien Clergue, Jean Cocteau et Edouard Dermit avec 

le masque de mort, 1959-‐2011 

Tirage argentique noir et blanc 

50 x 60 cm 

N° inv 2011.2.49 


© Lucien Clergue 

On the occasion of the opening of the Musée Jean Cocteau, the Séverin Wunderman Collection, 

Lucien Clergue has made a gift to the town of Menton of a collection of 240 original 

photographs, linked to the work of Jean Cocteau. The editions were made thanks to the 

generous assistance oMichael Likierman. 

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Overview of the collection* 

Jean Cocteau 

Dargelos, les Enfants Terribles 

Circa 1935 

Pen and brown ink on fine vellum 

20.9 x 13.1 cm 

Inv. No. 2005.1.192 


© ADAGP, Paris 2011. Courtesy of 

Mr Pierre Bergé, chairman of the Comité Jean Cocteau. 


Jean Cocteau 

Opium, St Cloud 

1929 

Pen and black ink wash on fine vellum 

21.2 x 18.4 cm 

Inv. No. 2005.1.458 





Jean Cocteau 

Faceless self-‐portrait 

Circa 1915 

Graphite pencil, black ink wash and coloured pencils on 

paper 

53.8 x 38 cm 

Inv. No. 2005.1.515 





Jean Cocteau 

Tête d’Orphée 

1926 

Pen and brown ink, brown and black ink wash, and dry 

pastels on laid paper 

35 x 25.9 cm 

Inv. No. 2005.1.176 





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Jean Cocteau 

Orphée et Eurydice 

1926 

Pen and brown ink, brown ink wash, preparatory study in 

graphite pencil 

34.7 x 24.7 cm 

Inv. No. 2005.1.177 





Jean Cocteau 

Sarah Bernhardt 

Circa 1910 

Brush, pen, brown ink, graphite pencil and coloured 

pencil on vellum 

26.2 x 22.7 cm 

Inv. No. 2010.1.1 





Jean Cocteau 

Le complexe d'Œdipe 

1924 

Pen and India ink, India ink wash and graphite pencil on 

vellum 

32.7 x 25.1 cm 

Inv. No. 2005.1.49 

musée Jean Cocteau collection Séverin Wunderman © 

ADAGP, Paris 2011. Courtesy of 



Jean Cocteau 

Portrait of Picasso 

Circa 1917 

Pen and brown ink on tracing paper 

19 x 16.5 cm 

Inv. No. 2005.1.512 





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Jean Cocteau 

Le Jeune Aviateur (Roland Garros) 

Circa 1915 

Pen and violet ink, graphite pencil and coloured pencils on writing 

paper 

19.9 x 25.3 cm 

Inv. No. 2005.1.501 


© ADAGP, Paris 2011. Courtesy of Mr Pierre Bergé, chairman of 

the Comité Jean Cocteau. 


Jean Cocteau 

Madame Favini 

1953 

Oil on canvas 

150 x 150 cm 

Inv. No. 2005.1.1067 





* Some or all of the works shown above are protected by copyright. Images of works whose copyright is owned by the ADAGP, the French 

collective rights management organisation representing visual artists, may be published under the following conditions: 

-‐ For press publications having entered into an agreement with ADAGP: refer to the provisions of the relevant agreement. 

-‐ For other press publications: 

-‐ exemption from royalties for the first two reproductions used as illustrations for an article devoted to a news event, in a format not larger 

than a quarter page; 

-‐ any use beyond this number or larger than the quarter-‐page format will be subject to the payment of royalties for reproduction and/or 

representation; 

-‐ an authorisation request must be submitted to ADAGP’s Press Division for any reproduction to be used as cover art or on the front page of a 

publication; 

-‐ the copyright to be mentioned alongside any reproduction is presented as follows: name of the artist, title and date of the work followed by © 

ADAGP, Paris 2011 and by the phrase “Courtesy of Mr Pierre Bergé, chairman of the Comité Jean Cocteau”, irrespective of the origin of 

the image or the collection in which the work is held. 

These conditions apply to all websites having the status of online press publications, with the understanding that for online press publications, 

images must be no larger than 400 x 400 pixels and their resolution must not exceed 72 dpi. 

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Museum catalogue 

The museum collection catalogue is published by Editions Snoeck, in French and English. 

Illustrated with more than 350 reproductions of works, it offers analysis of the project and the 

collection by Paul Ardenne, Célia Bernasconi, Christian Briend, Pierre Caizergues, Tony Clark, 

Lucien Clergue, Sandrine Faraut, David Gullentops, Emmanuelle Hincelin, Frédéric Ladonne, 

Anne Madeline and François Nemer. 

Overview of the catalogue 

Summary 

Acknowledgements 

Prefaces 

Jean-‐Claude Guibal 

MP and Mayor of Menton 

Pierre Bergé 

President of the Comité Jean Cocteau 

Dominique Païni 

President of the museum’s academic committee 

Foreward 

Célia Bernasconi 

Curator of the musée Jean Cocteau collection Séverin Wunderman 

PART I 

FROM PROJECT TO MUSEUM 

Jean Cocteau in Menton, the legacy of the poet 


The building of a collection 

Tony Clark 

Curator of the Wunderman Family Museum, Irvine 

From opening crates to opening the museum 

Emmanuelle Hincelin 

Restorer of works on paper 

The programme or a eulogy of dialogue 

Frédéric Ladonne 

Architect 

Serving both the art and the Mediterranean 

The musée Jean Cocteau collection Séverin Wunderman by the architect Rudy Ricciotti 

Paul Ardenne 

Professor at the University of Amiens, art and architecture critic 

The building site in pictures 

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PART II 

THE COLLECTION IN 10 VIEWS 

Drawings of the bird-‐cather 


Sarah Bernhardt and Cocteau’s Monstres sacrés 

Sandrine Faraut Ruelle 

Assistante qualifiée de conservation au musée Jean Cocteau collection Séverin Wunderman 

Le Mot and Le Coq, two reviews during and after the Great War 

Christian Briend 

Chief curator at the musée national d’Art moderna (MNAM) 

Cocteau – spectacle 

François Nemer 

Writer, co-‐curator of the exhibition « Jean Cocteau » at the Centre Pompidou 

Portraits of the poet 

François Nemer 

Manuscripts of the collection 

Pierre Caizergues 

Professor at the University of Montpellier, in charge of the Jean Cocteau collection 

Yours animally 

David Gullentops 

Professor at the University of Vrije de Bruxelles, director of the Cahiers Jean Cocteau 

The mediterranean myth 


Jean Cocteau, potter 

Anne Madeline 

Creator of pottery and jewels of Jean Cocteau 

Lucien Clergue and Jean Cocteau 

Lucien Clergue 

Photographer 

PART III 

APPENDIX 

Biography of Jean Cocteau 

Bibliography 

Museum’s academic committee 

Architectural competition jury 

The site companies 

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III. TEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS 

Jean Cocteau should be seen as one of the fathers of contemporary art. 

For his inextinguishable thirst for freedom, his rejection of limits and constant striving for new 

forms of creation, he has often been described as a « genius jack of all trades ». Author of 

poems, draughstman, embosser, creator of monumental paintings, ceramics, tapestries, theatre, 

cinema, of « free films », he can rightly be considered as one of the first multimedia artists of the 

20th century. His taste for experimentation, for the new, for manual work, absorbs the whole of 

his work into a constantly renewed studio practice, whose creative process is the principal 

object. 

« All my poetry is there: I trace 

the invisible (invisible to you). » 

With the aim of perpetuating this experimental spirit and questioning the creation of the work, 

the musée Jean Cocteau invites contemporary artists to take possession, physically and 

poetically, of the temporary exhibition space and to install their studio there. The aim of each 

exhibition is to show the gestation of an idea, the experimentation of a gesture, the birth of a 

form, the illumination of a studio practice. 

The invited artists, if they all different media (painting, sculpture, photography, video, 

installation) have in common an asidous method of drawing which, freeing itself from the 

traditional paper medium, opens itself to the space and constitutes a new experimental artistic 

territory. 

Jean Sabrier 

The inaugural exhibition at the musée Jean Cocteau collection Séverin Wunderman is dedicated 

to Jean Sabrier, a French artist born in 1951 and living in Bordeaux. 

The exhibition includes nearly sixty paintings, drawings, objects and video animations made 

between 1975 and 2010. 

Fascinated by questions of perspective, Jean Sabrier 

uses drawing to unveil the invisible side of works 

borrowed from the history of art. Lifting the fabric of 

the representation, he allows you to see the underlying 

skeleton, in the form of complex geometric structures. 

Thus he provides a new perspective on the paintings, 

which are volumised and energised by means of folds, 

projections or reflections on various objects. This 

practice of drawing revives the art of the idea, the 

disegno of the artists and theorists of the Renaissance. 

Jean Sabrier, Cristal Liquide, 1982 

Collection FRAC-‐Aquitaine 

© Jean Sabrier 

The works in the Jean Sabrier exhibition come from the following public collections : 

Fonds national d’art contemporain, CAPC Bordeaux, Fonds régional d’art 

contemporain Aquitaine, Fonds régional d’art contemporain Limousin, 

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Artothèque de Bordeaux, Musée de la Roche sur Yon and from twelve private 

collections. 

The exhibition catalogue, published by Editions Le Bleu du Ciel, was conceived by the artist 

with texts by Célia Bernasconi, Bernard Noël and Jean-‐Louis Schefer. 

Jean Sabrier, Stained-‐glass window model, 

1982-‐86 

Collection FRAC-‐Aquitaine 


Jean Sabrier, OMBROYEUSE N°3 

Chocolate crusher in the shade of the eye-doctor witnesses,2010 

Collection Marie-‐France & Janick Prémon 


« An arc has been drawn and stretched for many years in the work of Jean Sabrier; or constructed 

even, by folding, collage, découpage: the object of meticulous work, stereoscopic images 

(accompanied by glasses made by the artist to see the image in relief). We can see an image of a 

clockwork child, fastidiously taking out the pendulums of pocket watches to display the innards, 

spring mechanisms, the chiming wheels, the minutes and hours, to reconstruct a kind of inert 

monster in which the obsessive tick-‐tock of time is only recognisable by its weight, lightened by the 

memoiry of the old mechanism, of something that has lost its use: a pure form, not an accident but 

a construction. 

A link and a tension, or even a bridge between the works of architect-‐painters and 

mathematicians, poets of cadence and the humour of Marcel Duchamp. A patient and fascinated 

approach to the recompression of the historical issue of the rules of illustration: taking into 

account what the Kantian esthetic called the transformation of coherent beauty, linked to a 

function or use, to vague or free beauty (« flowers, certain birds like a hummingbird or a parrot, 

and numerous seashells»). 

Jean-‐Louis Schefer, « Idées du corps » in Jean Sabrier, Editions Le Bleu du Ciel, 2011. 

17

IV. A museum open to the town and its inhabitants 

Visitors will have access to different spaces in the museum promoting the exploration of 

modern and contemporary art: 

- a 700 sq.m permanent exhibition space, where Cocteau’s drawings will enter into 

dialogue with photographs, slide shows and film screenings. 

- a 275 sq.m temporary exhibition space, on the ground floor facing the sea. Each 

temporary exhibition will present the work of a contemporary artist. The relationship 

between drawing and painting, sculpture or video will be examined in relation to all 

featured artists, always with the aim of highlighting the diverse and signature aspects of 

their creative processes. 

- a 30-‐seat educational workshop to promote artistic practice, intended for school groups, 

with activities led every weekday by one of the museum’s cultural outreach specialists. 

- a print room permitting visitors, by appointment only, to browse through the collections 

of works on paper not on view in the museum, mounted on mats and stored in special 

cabinets. 

- a documentation centre open to any visitors interested in studying the life and work of 

Cocteau. 

- a café seating 50 inside the museum and 60 outside, overlooking the lobby and the 

bookstore, envisioned as a haven for relaxation, reflection, conversation and 

conviviality. 

- a bookstore and gift shop offering some one hundred different items, including copies of 

Cocteau’s main written works, DVDs of his films, museum catalogues as well as related 

products. 

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V. THE ARCHITECTURAL PROJECT* 

Selected in 2008 as the winning design from an international field of entries in a competition 

launched by the town of Menton in 2007, the architectural project of Rudy Ricciotti, the 2006 

winner of France’s Grand Prix National d’Architecture, covers a total area of 2,700 sq.m able to 

house all of the works donated by Severin Wunderman. 

© Agence Rudy Ricciotti 

Although limited in some aspects, the site has great potential. Its features/drawbacks include a 

pre-‐existing parking garage on the first subterranean level and a purification plant on the 

second subterranean level with their access ramps bisecting the site, a sea-‐level aquifer, backfill 

soil, sea spray exposure, etc. Stresses in the immediate vicinity include a noisy coastal urban 

thoroughfare. 

The site is also not neutral in its impact. It will strengthen the relationship between the town’s 

centre and its seafront, as a substructure ensuring the resilience of the existing urban landscape. 

The building must be in keeping with Menton’s urban fabric and character, helping to return the 

Quai Monléon to pedestrian use. Setting aside the disquieting vision of the archways, depicted in 

old picture postcards, the virtues of Menton as a seaside resort must be retained. 

© Agence Rudy Ricciotti 

19

The site intones its prerogatives – no structure should abut the covered market, a remarkable 

nineteenth-‐century edifice. By keeping this area free of all construction from the vantage point 

of the pedestrian as well as at the street level, by creating a parvis and a garden on this side of 

the site, the Musée Jean Cocteau – Collection Séverin Wunderman works within its context, 

showcases Menton’s turn-‐of-‐the-‐century seafront architecture and holds true to its motto, “My 

Town is a Garden”. 

Located opposite the Maison Trenca, the museum will not compete with, or create any 

impediment to, the seafront vista. Instead, it will offer a unique reference point and 

complementary narrative, hearkening to the original and elegant architecture having made 

Menton’s reputation, a felicitous combination of key stylistic features of the golden age around 

1900. The museum’s roof will paint an allegorical picture, its lines visible by day as well as by 

night. 

© Lisa Ricciotti 

“There is nothing more vulgar than a work which sets out to prove something; acting without 

proof requires a leap of faith.” (Jean Cocteau) 

Must everything be explained? The full romantic idealism of the building must be appreciated; it 

is where it is because it could not possibly be anywhere else. It has found its proper place in the 

same way as the covered market asserts its domain. It is a missing piece of the urban puzzle 

giving part of a district a new lease on life, providing an ideal fit with the landscape in a space 

once just an embankment on the sea that is now subsumed within the town. 

“Watch out for those already drowning who would attempt to bring you down along with them.” 

(Jean Cocteau) 

Deciding to build on this site against all odds, over the underground parking garage and 

opposite the market, required that we opt for the easiest solution to a certain extent, 

demonstrating more than the usual obedience to dictates. 

20


“The truth is too stark to be of any interest to man.” (Jean Cocteau) 

The building must allow itself to be discovered. Shouldn’t it retain a bit of its mystery? The 

mystery of the project’s articulation between conception and production, of its static elements? 

The museum accepts its own image, its transparency rouses the viewer’s curiosity, drawing in 

through what it reveals. 

It thus calls to mind the passage between the worlds of the living and the dead, a theme often 

returned to by the artist. 

It also conveys the notion of a labyrinth, recalling the complexity of Cocteau as well as the 

breadth and variety of his creative vision. We are in his universe. 


For this museum, we needed to create an atmosphere conveying the full force of the diametrical 

oppositions between light and dark, this play of shadows thus provoking “the emotion inspiring 

us to see, believe, think and dream,” in the words of Henri Alekan, cinematographer for La Belle 

et la Bête, who added, “I will record what I see on the roll of film as if I were writing in ink.” 

Alekan honours the poetic vision of Cocteau, who often juxtaposed light and dark in his films, 

with surfaces and depths set against each other, fully conscious of the psychological role of light 

and shadow for feeling and knowledge. 

21


The choice of this architectural construct for this project, and especially its black-‐and-‐white 

aesthetic, was unavoidable. The realm of dreams and mystery, the starkness of contrasts and 

the interweaving of shadows ultimately reflect the contradictions in Cocteau’s life and work. 

Black and white no longer serve as colours here. Rather, they create an interplay of structural 

forces calling to mind both the artist’s works on paper and the poet’s personality, his zones of 

light and darkness, his enigmatic self-‐mythology fuelled by contrasts. 


“You have to do today what everyone else will do tomorrow.” (Jean Cocteau) 

This means throwing off the yoke of a tyrannical modernity and daring to consider narrative, 

the realm of dreams and line as a possible architectural escape. 

22


* All images are available by request. 

23

Key figures 

Total surface area of the building: 2,700 sq.m of usable floor area 

24,000 hours of work 

Architectural team 

Architect: Rudy Ricciotti, assisted by Marco Arioldi 

Lighting design: Lightec 

General construction engineering design : SUDECO / Site driver : Assouline 

Acoustical engineering: Thermibel 

Landscape architect: APS Paysagistes Associés 

Front engineering : Van Santen 

Rudy Ricciotti: brief biography and major works 

Born in Algiers on 22 August 1952, Rudy Ricciotti founded his agency in Bandol, a small fishing 

village near Toulon. 

Trained as both an architect and an engineer, Ricciotti was awarded France’s Grand Prix 

National d’Architecture in 2006 and is one of the foremost representatives of a generation of 

architects combining great creative prowess with a genuine constructive approach. Among his 

many noteworthy projects in France are the Stadium de Vitrolles, which serves as both a 

concert venue and a sports arena, the Pavillon Noir / Centre Chorégraphique National in Aix-‐en-‐ 

Provence, home to the Ballet Preljocaj, the repurposed Grands Moulins de Paris, an abandoned 

industrial mill in Paris, which was successfully converted into dormitories for the Université 

Denis Diderot Paris VII, the Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée in 

Marseille, and a new wing for the Musée du Louvre in Paris to house its Islamic art collection. 

Ricciotti has also designed projects outside France: the Footbridge of Peace over the Han River, 

connecting the city of Seoul to Sunyodo Island, the Potsdam Nikolaisaal, which is the new 

concert and event hall for the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg, the Nuovo 

Palazzo del Cinema in Venice, the Centre International d’Art et de Culture in Liège, and Les Arts 

Gstaad, the new cultural centre in this Swiss alpine village known for its classical music festival 

founded by Yehudi Menuhin. 

Recent accomplishments 

Médiathèque et Centre d’Art Contemporain de Colomiers near Toulouse – 2011 

Médiathèque de Rouen – 2010 

Maison de l’Emploi, Saint-‐Etienne – 2010 

École Internationale ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), Manosque – 

2010 

Pont du Diable, Gignac – 2008 

Centre d’Essais et d’Expertises de la Marine Nationale, Mourillon, near Toulon – 2007 

Centre Chorégraphique National d’Aix-‐en-‐Provence – 2006 

Université Paris VII, conversion of the Grands Moulins de Paris – 2006 

Museographic design 

Museographic design had been entrusted to EDP & Associés. 

24

VI. VISITOR INFORMATION 

MUSEE JEAN COCTEAU – COLLECTION SEVERIN WUNDERMAN 

2, quai Monléon 

F-‐06500 MENTON 

France 

OPENS TO THE PUBLIC SUNDAY, 6 NOVEMBER 2011 

HOURS 

Open daily except Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

Closed 1 January, 1 May, 1 November and 25 December. 

Open until 10 p.m. on Fridays in JULY and AUGUST. 

TICKETS 

Collections (Musée Jean Cocteau collection Séverin Wunderman and the Musée du Bastion): 6 € 

Temporary exhibition: 5 € 

Collections and temporary exhibition: 8 € 

HALF PRICE TICKETS on presentation of a valid card for students, teachers, those over 65, and 

groups of 10 people or more. 

FREE ENTRY on presentation of proof of ID for under 18s and for everyone, on the 1st Sunday 

of each month. 

GUIDED TOURS 

A tour of 1hr 30 mins conducted by a trained guide, around the collections of the Musée Jean 

Cocteau collection Séverin Wunderman and the Musée du Bastion. 

∗ Individual tour: 6 € 

Every day at 2.30pm, no reservation necessary 

Sign up at the museum ticket office 

Free for under 14s 

∗ Group tours 

Groups of up to 20 people: 78 € 

Groups of 21 to 30 people: 104 € 

Groups of 31 to 50 people: 156 € 

Reservation required, contact the museum’s sales team 

Tours can be conducted in English, Italian and German. 

25

Press relations: 

Claudine Colin Communication 

Dorélia Baird-‐Smith 

28, rue de Sévigné 

F-‐75004 Paris 

T: +33 (0)1 42 72 60 01 / +33 (0)6 70 55 01 54 

dorelia@claudinecolin.com 

www.claudinecolin.com 

26

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