SAINT-GENYS Étienne de (EN)

Diplomat Count Étienne Saint-Genys, Collector of Far Eastern Art, and the Taste for Japan

Originally from Brittany, the Saint-Genys family settled in Anjou at the beginning of the 19th century upon the marriage of Albert de Saint-Genys with Eulalie Turpin de Crissé, niece of the famous painter Lancelot Turpin de Crissé. Étienne Marie de Saint-Genys, from a family in Haut-Anjou, and great-nephew of Turpin de Crissé, embarked on a diplomatic career, first as an attaché to the diplomatic archives in 1877, then as a supernumerary attaché in Saint Petersburg in 1880, then in Tokyo, Lima (1883-1885), London (1886), and Vienna (1898). After various missions, including that of embassy attaché in London in 1886, he became minister plenipotentiary in 1900. An Angevin as well as a diplomat and globetrotter, he is remembered by posterity as a great collector and an admired patron. Reflecting his era’s taste for Japanese culture and his frequent travels, and above all his attraction to a certain exoticism, he confirmed his inclinations through his extraordinary search of prints and art from the Far East. He collected, for example, prints of La Route du Tokaido of Hiroshige (inv. 0-9 : MTC 5197 (1) ; MTC 5334 (2) ; MTC 5305 (3) ; MTC 5328 (4) ; MTC 5201 et MTC 5202 (5) ; MTC 5327 (6) ; MTC 5325 (7) ; MTC 5199 (8). 10-19 : MTC 5335 (11) ; MTC 5342 (12) ; MTC 5462(13) ; MTC 5306 (15) ; MTC 519 (18) ; MTC 5194 (19). 20-29 : MTC 5319 (20) ; MTC 5318 (24) ; MTC 5304 (28) ; MTC 5312 (29). 30-39 : MTC 5320(30) ; MTC 5196 (32) ; MTC 5321 (34) ; MTC 5176 (39). 40-49 : MTC 5340 (40) ; MTC 5192 et MTC 5192 bis (42) ; MTC 5195 (43) ; MTC 5333(45) ; MTC 5186 (48) ; MTC 5303 et MTC 5303 bis (49). 50-53 : MTC 5322 (50) ; MTC 5317 (51) ; MTC 5200 (52) ; MTC 5329 (53).), several Views of Mont Fuji by Hokusai (inv. MTC 5130 à 5135 et MTC 5138 ; 5138 bis ; MTC 5139), as well as prints by Utamaro (inv. MTC 5158 à MTC 5172), Toyokuni (inv. MTC 5106 à 5125 ; MTC 5357 à 5360 ; MTC 5444 à 5445 ; MTC 5456 à 5461 ; MTC 5516 ; 7698 ; 7699), and Gakutei (n^os inv. MTC 5377 à 5383 ; MTC 5415 ; 5418 ; 5422 ; 5427 ; 5487 ; 5488). The work contains varied themes such as theatre, women's costumes, transparency, and nature.

Despite his regular departures, Étienne de Saint-Genys remained attached to the Château de La Gemmeraie, where he stayed regularly and where, on August 9, 1915, he wrote a long-considered and carefully detailed will, which bequeathed all his art to the city of Angers (Angers, AM, 21243, box 26). The provisions of his last will and testament were soon to be revealed, as he passed away at La Gemmeraie on September 18, 1915. His scholarly library and all of his collections were handed over to the city of Angers, on the condition that they join those bequeathed by his uncle, Turpin de Crissé, to the musée Pincé (former Hôtel Turpin). Thus, the museum's collections gained more than 250 Japanese prints, as well as old and modern drawings, pre-Columbian objects and various works of art, among others. In total, 740 works were bequeathed to the city. For the arrangement of the Hôtel Pincé that housed his collections, the Comte de Saint-Genys added to his legacy the sum of 25,0000 francs.

According to his wishes, Étienne de Saint-Genys was modestly buried in the cemetery of Chapelle-sur-Oudon.

The collection

China and Japan are well represented in the collection: masks, weapons, lacquers, ceramics, fabrics, bronzes, and in particular an exceptional series of Japanese prints, in particular Fifty-Three Stations on the Tokaido Road by Hiroshige. This series, published in 1833-1834, made Hiroshige one of the most fashionable artists of his time and achieved immense success. Reprints were also numerous (David, 1991). The Tōkaidō — "the way from the ocean to the East" — connects Edo, the shogunal capital, to Kyoto, the imperial capital, seat ofthe government. This very old route, 500 km long and open to the Pacific Ocean, was dotted with roadside stops, located in picturesque landscapes or historic sites, but also near Buddhist or Shinto shrines. All sorts of travellers made the journey: pilgrims, monks, tourists, messengers, adventurers, rōnin (masterless samurai), daimyō (Japanese nobleman), feudal lords and their retinue, on foot, on horseback or in palanquin according to their rank. Each stop presented an opportunity to meet or to seek diversion. Hiroshige was the first to have represented each of the 53 stops. He made a first trip to accompany the horses that the shogun offered to the emperor, during which he made many sketches, impressed by the landscapes traversed. His artistry, imbued with a keen sense of nature, the variations of his compositions, as well as the poetic and sometimes humorous sense of his works earned him lasting fame. Like many of his contemporaries, artists, writers and collectors, the Comte de Saint-Genys was a great connoisseur of Japanese art and bought many Japanese prints. He had 33 views of the Tokaido road, all of which he bequeathed to the museum. Not all of them come from the same edition: some bear the stamp of Hoeido, others of Takeuchi, whereas others are not yet identified. They testify to the important attraction that this art of ukiyo-e, the "images of the floating world", exerted at the end of the 19th century on the West and particularly on France. In this respect we must also mention another artist, Hokusai. The personality of Hokusai, the “painting madman”, and his work swiftly fascinated Western critics. His prints are of an impressive diversity: theatre, greeting prints, landscapes, mythological subjects, poems... His series of Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji, published in 1830-1832, very quickly aroused admiration and was complemented in 1834 by the Hundred Views of Mount Fuji. This volcanic mountain, the highest in Japan, is revered as the symbol of the "sacred mountain" by Shintoists and Buddhists alike. Hokusai multiplied the points of view and the landscapes, as well as the atmospheres, Fuji sometimes being the distant pretext for a very detailed front stage, as for The Great Wave for example. Saint-Genys had in his collection nine views from the series of thirty-six, including the famous Wave.