November 07, 2006
Provence The Right Way 2
Provence A-Z. By Peter Mayle.Yesterday, I bored you with my fond remembrance of Peter Mayle's "A Year in Provence"
. Today, I'll continue discussing his new book, "Provence A-Z", but by letting Peter do most of the talking, this time about two of Provence's more celebrated residents: Cezanne, and the (then retired from photography) Henri Cartier-Bresson.First, the photographer:
Montjustin is a small village off the N100 road that leads up from Apt to Haute Provence. As in most villages, the inhabitants normally tolerate he whims of their neighbors in the intersts of a quiet life. Occasionally, however, someone will commit an act of such unspeakable wickedness that the entire village is obliged to rise up and respond. This was the situation in Montjustin.As for the famous painter, Mayle recounts an occasion with a critic that many authors would probably like to emulate:
One of the residents (if I remember correctly, an Englishman) had constructed a low stone wall to mark the boundary of his property. It was a well-built, even attractive wall; a wall that, so one would have thought, couldn't possibly offend a single soul. But one would have been wrong. It was quickly noticed that part of the new wall cut across a pathway that had been used by villagers since time began, blocking their comings and goings. Clearly, it was a serious matter, demanding prompt action.
The press was alerted, and a reporter — or, morelikely, an investigative journalist, from the local paper, La Provence, was sent to the scene. But to do his report full justice, it was considered vital to have a photograph of the offending wall. By chance, there was an illustrious ex-photographer in the village. How he was persuaded to pick up his camera again I don't know, but in the copy of La Provence that features the story there is a photograph — a simple photograph, such as you or I might have taken — of a house with a low stone wall in front of it. And alongside the photograph is the photographer's credit, which reads: Henri Cartier-Bresson.
All too often, critics have the advantage of being insulated from their victims, but not this time. Cezanne happened one day to be standing behind a gentleman who was making loud and offensive comments about one of his paintings. Tapping his critic on the shoulder, the artist was heard to say: "Monsieur, I shit on you." It must have been a most satisfactory moment in the great man's day.TOMORROW: Those horrible, profitable tourists
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