Fine arts in Valencia
Located in the historic centre of Valence, next to the Saint-Apollinaire cathedral, on the edge of the first terrace of the city, the Valence Museum of Art and Archaeology occupies the former episcopal palace, which was recently renovated in a remarkable manner. A modern architecture now offers a bright building with a panoramic view of the Valence landscape, from the Vercors to the Ardèche mountains. Created in 1850 and housed in this palace since 1911, it preserves the memory of this vast mansion between the main courtyard and the private garden: fortified 12th century episcopal tower, ogival gallery, painted ceilings from the 15th and 17th centuries... Its collections, with more than 20,000 works, offer a broad panorama of the history of Man and the arts, from regional prehistory to contemporary art. Its Art section brings together paintings, drawings, sculptures and decorative arts, and is distinguished by its wealth of works on the theme of landscape, from its "invention" in the 16th century as an autonomous genre to its re-reading by contemporary artists. Large temporary exhibitions of contemporary art and numerous events complete the appeal of this Valence monument dedicated to art.
Bernard Cathelin, inspiration Drôme
Among the painters who left their mark on the region, the most famous is Parisian Bernard Cathelin (1919-2004), who came from a family originally from the Drôme. Throughout his life, Cathelin remained deeply attached to the department. A French painter, lithographer and illustrator, Bernard Cathelin made a name for himself with numerous exhibitions in France, Switzerland, the United States, Canada, Germany and China. His paintings are particularly appreciated in Japan. He is buried in Montéléger, near Valence, where his family home is located. His studio in Drôme, on the second floor of the Rebattières house, is sometimes opened to the public by his descendants, as on Heritage Days in 2015 or to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth in 2019. An abstract painter known for his luminous flat tints, Bernard Cathelin started all his paintings in the Drôme, where he spent summers in this family home. If his works were unfinished, he would take them to his Paris studio in the Tour d'Argent restaurant building. From the roof of this building, he enjoyed a view of the Île Saint-Louis and Notre-Dame Cathedral, which he designed to adorn a series of screens. But it was above all his large, luminous paintings that made him famous. Critics see in them the light of the South...
Naive art, art brut, singular art
The Drôme region is home to the masterpiece of naive art created in Hauterives by Ferdinand Cheval, known as le facteur Cheval. Le Palais idéal du facteur Cheval is a unique and fascinating site that is a delight to visit for young and old alike. Listed as a historic monument, it was built by Ferdinand Cheval, by hand, from 1879 to 1912, using shells, pebbles and stones. This temple of naive art, loaded with symbols, exudes a real magic.
The Musée d'Art Moderne in Saint-Just-d'Ardèche, with its outdoor frescoes and sculptures, is open to all. Jean Mathon, the initiator and host of this site, is also a colorful character, as well as an anti-nuclear Ardèche artist and winegrower. Then there's Bann'art, a singular art festival scheduled for its 36th edition in 2021, which welcomes some forty artists to the stables of the former Château de Banne over the Whitsun weekend. Current paintings and sculptures reveal creative worlds, in a festive and convivial atmosphere.
In another register, Gaston Dintrat (1889-1964) was a painter from the Valence region, a landscape artist and decorator, but best known as a sculptor. He was responsible for several regional war memorials, including the famous "pacifist" war memorial in Joyeuse, Ardèche, inaugurated in 1925, which in 2007 became the symbol of the "Association laïque des amis des monuments pacifistes et antimilitaristes de l'Ardèche", founded in 2007 to perpetuate the message of peace symbolized by the Joyeuse war memorial. It organizes a pacifist rally in front of the monument every November 11. A master craftsman and stonemason, nicknamed "La Vertu de Valence" by his companions, he worked for several years in Parisian workshops before returning to his native Drôme in 1948. He ended his life in La Roche-de-Glun, in a former bargemen's inn.
At the origin of the fine arts, the decorated caves
Since 1995 and the much-publicized discovery of the Chauvet-Pont d'Arc cave, the general public has been aware that cave art in France is not confined to the south-west, and that it predates previous knowledge by several thousand years. The Ardèche region boasts a total of 18 caves decorated by our Palaeolithic ancestors, bearing witness to over 20,000 years of human prehistory and art. The Chauvet-Pont d'Arc cave reveals over 1,000 figures executed on the walls 37,000 years ago. When the entrance porch collapsed 21,000 years ago, it was exceptionally well preserved, right down to the footprints of the last occupants, which were still visible at the time of discovery! With the disaster of over-visiting the Lascaux cave having served as a lesson, the jewel of the Ardèche cave is now closed to the public. And its monumental reconstruction is an artistic and scientific feat that allows the general public to visualize this spectacular work of art.
The decorated caves of the Ardèche are the subject of numerous scientific, conservation and safety studies. Since 2015, the 18 caves have been listed as historic monuments. A fascinating book is dedicated to them. Entitled Les Grottes ornées d'Ardèche, written and distributed free of charge by the Direction régionale des affaires culturelles Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, it is available in printed form from the regional conservation office (04 72 00 43 48) or in digital form at www.culture.gouv.fr.
