BEYOND THE RIVIERA (1960)
A Travelog exploring the coastline of the French Riviera and the villages in the mountains that lie directly behind it. It explores the coastal towns of Cannes, Nice, Antibes and Monte Carlo, and the mountain villages of Grasse, Valbonne, Valberg and St Paul, looking at the physical features of the area and attractions for holiday makers.
Featured are the Cannes Centenary Celebration yacht race, traditional dancing, exotic gardens, traditional crafts, and the work and influence of several artists.
We briefly visit Marc Chagall and Jean Cocteau in their homes; see tennis stars Alex Olmedo, Ashley Cooper and Pancho Segura practising; and Lena Horne playing petanque.
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Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall – (24 June 1887 – 28 March 1985) was a Jewish artist. An early modernist, he was associated with the École de Paris as well as several major artistic styles and created works in a wide range of artistic formats, including painting, drawings, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramics, tapestries and fine art prints. Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century".
After WW2, he returned to Europe from the United States in 1948. He travelled throughout Europe but chose to live in the Côte d'Azur which by that time had become somewhat of an "artistic centre".
Matisse lived near Saint-Paul-de-Vence, about seven miles west of Nice, while Picasso lived in Vallauris. Although they lived nearby and sometimes worked together, there was artistic rivalry between them as their work was so distinctly different, and they never became long-term friends. According to Picasso's mistress, Françoise Gilot, Picasso had a great deal of respect for Chagall.
Jean-Gabriel Domergue
Jean-Gabriel Domergue (4 March 1889 – 16 November 1962) was a French painter specialising in portraits of Parisian women.
An extremely talented and precocious painter, Domergue exhibited works at the Salon Des Artistes Français (the French Artists Exhibition) in 1906 at the young age of seventeen. In 1913, he was awarded the Second Prize of Rome and went on to win the gold medal award in the 1920 show. He then began showing outside the exhibition.
Having first been recognized for his landscapes which he painted with great ease, his career took a decisive turn during the 1920's. At this time he became the painter of the "Parisian lady".
Domergue invented a new type of woman : thin, airy, elegant, with a swanlike neck and wide seductive eyes which gaze upon the world with longing.
"I invented the pin-up" he later claimed. He went on to paint approximately 3,000 portraits.
Domergue was also one the main organizers for famous Parisian gala events such as ‘The Venetian Ball’ at the Opera in 1922 and other events using the Second Empire as its theme in Paris and also Cannes, Monte-Carlo, Juan-les-Pins, Biarritz and of course, Deauville.
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost artists of the surrealist, avant-garde, and Dadaist movements and an influential figure in early 20th century art. The National Observer suggested that, "of the artistic generation whose daring gave birth to Twentieth Century Art, Cocteau came closest to being a Renaissance man."
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (30 June 1917 – 9 May 2010) was an American singer, actress, dancer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. She played nightclubs in Paris, and is featured enjoying a game of petanque with friends (presumably on vacation.)
Village of Saint-Paul de Vence
In 1920 after returning from fighting in WWI, Paul Roux, a local Provençal Farmer opened a small three-bedroom inn, a little place hidden between Nice and the Alpes Martimes in the south of France.
Coincidently, many modernist artists and writers fled Paris during the war and many found refuge in M. Roux’s inn - in the small town of Saint-Paul de Vence.
Roux often befriended struggling artists and had a keen eye for talent and a deep appreciation for modern art. So, struggling artists like Leger, Braque, Calder, Buffet, Matisse, Chagall and Picasso often exchanged their art for a free room and board.
La Colombe d’Or, as it was named, is still owned by the Roux family and remains basically the same today. The guest list reads as the who’s who of 20th century painters and artists and the collection of their art still adorns the walls of this quaint hotel and restaurant.
Vallauris
Picasso was familiar with the shores of the Mediterranean and lived in a succession of towns on the Côte d’Azur. After his stay in Antibes, and before he moved to Cannes and then Mougins, Picasso’s home was in Vallauris from 1948 to 1955.
Digital transfer and restoration undertaken by Silver Salt Restoration.
