In France. . .

 

o   The 29^th Annual World Cheese Awards began accepting entries on Wednesday August 17 with organizers, the Guild of Fine Food, expecting more cheesemakers than ever to enter as the competition heads to San Sebastián, Spain this year, during the city’s tenure as European Capital of Culture.   With the World Cheese Awards at its heart, the International Cheese Festival will be held at the Kursaal Congress Centre on San Sebastián’s spectacular beachfront.   Dedicated only to cheese, with no other dairy products able to enter, the World Cheese Awards, supported by Artzai Gazta and the Basque Country Government, will be the showpiece event at the inaugural International Cheese Festival.   Held between 16-18 November this year, the global celebration of cheese will be open to consumers and tourists, as well as food professionals, buyers, and retailers.

Cheeses from over 30 different countries are expected to line up in front of 250 judges from every corner of the globe, including international buyers, retailers, writers and cheesemakers, providing a golden opportunity for small artisan producers to spotlight their cheese on a world stage. With all tasting, nosing and conferring taking place within a single day, thousands of entries will be judged in order to identify any cheeses worthy of a Bronze, Silver or Gold award, before the World Champion Cheese is crowned later in the afternoon.

In the US . . .

       Othon Friesz – Une Fauve singulier 

The Musée de l'Annonciade celebrates another, but much less known Fauvist from the 18 of June - Othon Friesz.  The Var is incredibly fortunate to boast this very special Museum, at its hear, time and again putting together some very beautifully curated shows, its main focus being on the Fauvists who so loved the region for its exotic colors, panache, and flamboyance.  (Note:  fauve is French for 'wild beasts'.]

Despite some success in his lifetime, Othon Friesz (1879-1949) is now a little-known artist.  And this is the first exhibition to date to be devoted to his Fauve period.  It's a bold gamble considering that this period did not last more than two years (1906-1907).  However, the rigorous analysis of the work of tawny Friesz demonstrates that, far from being a minor or marginal player, the latter, once engaged, fully participated in Fauvism bringing a unique contribution to the movement that now deserves to be recognized.

The first works presented are those of his initial training during which, refusing academic teaching, he was influenced by Impressionism, particularly through Guillaumin and Pissarro.  This was followed by the first wild tests during his stay in Antwerp in the summer of 1906, then in Honfleur where he began his Fauve period.  Confronted by nature, that of the country of the Côte de Grace, Friesz found the inspiration to make the leap to the authentic Fauvism, full of expression.  In La Ciotat in the summer of 1907, by then so familiar to Fauvists, it came to its climax.

In three months, Friesz changed from a sober and moderate style to painting a very personal mixture of exalted lyricism and abstraction.  It is the apotheosis of Fauvism, no other wild animal artist went so far.  He was later one of the first artists to perform the famous 'return to order' before the First World War.

Hôtel du Caumont, Aix en Provence  -  until September 18

       Turner et la Couleur

The present art exhibition is devoted to Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1857), a major English painter of the nineteenth century.  It has been organized in collaboration with the Turner Contemporary of Margate and the Tate Gallery of London who loaned thirty of his major works ~ watercolors, gouaches and oils ~ a rich showing of his art.

Other works have been loaned by the London Royal Academy, the Oxford Ashmolean Museum, and the Musée d'Art of Dallas.  This exhibition, from the credits alone, promises to be a blockbuster, certainly for Turner fans, and a chance to see so many of his works in one place.

Works on exhibit include Lowther Castle, Lincoln Cathedral, Going to the Ball, Landscape with Water, Chichester Canal, Frosty Morning, the Scarlet Sunset plus others.  Perhaps, as well,  many works that might have figured in the recent film starring Timothy Spall.

Hôtel Caumont - Café Rendezvous

In addition to paintings, other forms of art flourish.  One can view a film devoted to Cézanne and the town of Aix.  There are concerts, artistic performances, forums and lectures.  The rooms have been magnificently restored, and there is now a shop/boutique/library, together with a lovely café/restaurant overlooking a wonderful terrace, gardens, a courtyard and a French box parterre ~ a formal  garden.

The lower garden is stunning with a typically Provençal fountain against the far wall, lines of tailored trees, and huge pots of flowers. 

     Hôtel du Caumont Centre d' Art, 3 rue Joseph Cabasse, 13100 Aix-en-Provence.  Telephone:  04.42.20.70.01
     http://www.caumont-centredart.com
     Open May to September 10AM to 9PM.  October to May 10AM to 6PM  - Group visits of 15 or more by advance reservation.
     [Look for Anita's special feature on the Hotel du Caumont in our Autumn issue!]

Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provence - Until October 2

    Camoin dans sa Lumière

There is a stunning new show devoted to Camoin and his artist friends, Manguin, Cézanne, Marquet and Matisse.  The Granet collaborated two years ago with a museum in Marseille on the outstanding two-part exhibition Grand Atelier du Midi devoted to impressionist artists of the region as part of the huge Marseille Culture Capital events of 2013.  And, if that show was anything to go by, this one will be as equally presented and wonderfully curated.  Definitely not to be missed.

Charles Camoin was born in 1879 in industrial-era Marseille, a city at that time mainly turned towards the French colonial empire.  Camoin belongs to a generation of artists living at the turn of the century in a time of sweeping technical, philosophical and artistic changes.  He was very close to Matisse, Manguin and Marquet, whom he met at the Beaux-Arts in Paris.  Camoin is associated with the Fauves and is the only Fauvist painter who had close links with Cézanne.  It is said that Camoin was the most Cézanne-like of the Fauvist painters.  We still have a large collection of letters exchanged by the two men.  As Matisse said later, "I learned a lot of things (about Cézanne) through Camoin . . ."

Contrary to Cézanne, Charles Camoin was an artist whose work became rapidly known in Europe, especially in Germany where it came to the attention of avant-garde painters such as Macke and Kirchner.  From 1907, his paintings were shown and discussed in modern art exhibitions in Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne and Munich, and the letters he received from Cézanne were translated for the German-speaking press.

Charles Camoin:   Port de Cassis 1905, Lola sur la Balcon 1920, and Voilier Blanc dans la Baie des Canoubiers 1939

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