| In a verlainian park where, some say, lived Watteau - the decor was in any case worthy of him, with its perspectives of lawn and large trees lost in a distant blue - a large 18th century mansion, bequeathed to the 'State by Mrs Champion and Mrs Champion Smith made it possible, in 1946, to open the National Retreat House for Artists, painters, sculptors, decorators, in Nogent-sur-Marne, rue Charles-VII.
It is not, frankly, a retirement home. To enter it, the old age and misery coefficients count only for one, while the coefficient five is reserved for the artistic value of the candidate. It is a house which allows to continue living and working, to artists who have, throughout their existence, fought for their art, whatever their aesthetic tendencies.
We went the other day to visit these old artists. Pierre Girieud died last year in this house, but his widow still lives there, as also the widow of the painter Sardin. (.....) |