A new exhibition of works of Jean Cocteau exploring the theme of gardens.
A presentation by the city of Menton of artworks by Jean Cocteau and friends from around the time of his film La Belle et la Bête (1946).
The exhibition starts with his ideas and fantasies around fauns and their play. It goes on to nymphs and other mythic animals. All shown playing in joyous gardens that are one of the pleasures of the mild Mediterranean climate of Menton.
The artefacts exhibited of Jean Cocteau range from letters to intimates decorated with images and working sketches; there are a lot of these, now looking pale but showing the artist’s strong sure line and clear draughtsmanship. Some finished oil paintings and more unusually, some examples of Jean Cocteau’s stained glass and ceramics. The ceramics are mostly transpositions of designs worked out on paper whereas the stained glass shows Jean Cocteau’s understanding of light and Chiaroscuro, which is one of the trademarks of his cinematography at this stage in his artistic development. His subjects are abstractions, some quite clever in graphic terms, of his ideas stimulated from classical subjects.
A painting by his friend Ferdinand Bac “L’Odyssé” Ulysee et Hermès (1922) is more explicit, both in that it shows nudity and clear sexual themes, and is set in a location that could easily be the Pointe Garavan, along the coast from Menton, where the mountains meet the sea.
Jean Cocteau’s ability to synthesise the artistic techniques of his period (cubism etc) but applied to the products of his imagination are showcased in this small exhibition, which makes it a useful extract from the Séverin Wunderman collection now administered by the town of Menton in the permanent gallery near the town market.
The exhibition Les jardins enchantés de Jean Cocteau continues until end January 2027