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AIX LUBERON ENCHERES

154 - Jean GIONO (1895–1970) Signed autograph manuscript, a note o…
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Estimate €300 - €400
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Description
Jean GIONO (1895–1970) Signed autograph manuscript, a note on art and critical language, probably unpublished. No place, no date [1950s–1960s]. 1 page, front side only, in-8 (13.2 × 21 cm), in blue-violet ink, comprising 19 handwritten lines signed at the bottom of the page ‘Jean Giono’, presented framed under glass (18 × 24 cm). In good overall condition, with a trace of a horizontal crease – a fine signature by the writer. Enclosed is a typewritten transcription of the text, in red ink, on a sheet of paper (21 × 27 cm). Transcription: ‘Whenever the subject is Art, I am put off by the specialised jargon that people feel obliged to use when talking about it. These words, which (for my part) I have to look up (I admit) in a dictionary, explain nothing to me. I even think they mislead me. It is far more important to me to know that a particular painter, musician or artist—who creates from their own temperament—loves cabbage soup, hates oysters, lives in the mountains, enjoys sailing the seas, goes for walks, and drives at an average of 100. It is these so-called trivial details that are important. The rest – ‘motor space’ and all that metaphysical nonsense – explains nothing. This time we really do have the keys.” A text remarkable for its critical clarity: Giono takes a stand against the abstract vocabulary of art criticism (“special phraseology”, “motor space”, “metaphysical nonsense”), in favour of an embodied approach to creation. The writer contrasts theoretical categories with the concrete signs of a temperament: dietary preferences, places of residence, and relationships with travel, the sea, the mountains, walking and speed. Here we recognise a profound feature of Giono’s aesthetic: a distrust of explanatory systems in favour of a sensory, biographical and almost physiological understanding of the artist. For him, creativity is not understood primarily through concepts, but through ways of life, habits, tastes and physical preferences. This page, brief yet highly dense, could have been conceived as an introductory note, a response to a questionnaire, a preface or a contribution to an exhibition catalogue. It should be viewed in the context of Jean Giono’s preface to Bernard Buffet, published by Fernand Hazan in 1956, as well as to other columns from the 1950s and 1960s in which the writer takes pleasure in denouncing the jargon of the literary and art critics of the time. Expert: Geoffroi PICARD DU CHAMBON
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Auction time 07/08/2026 at 2:00 PM
Ref. : 206215 - 1
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