FAUVERGE DE FRENCH Hippolyte (EN)

Biographical article

The biography of Hippolyte Fauverge de Frenchis difficult to reconstruct. From the civil status register, preserved in the Departmental Archives of Finistère (3 E 61/16/1), we know that he was the son of a landowner in Douarnenez, René Ange Fauverge de French, and Clara Julienne Hurtel, without profession.

Conscripted at the age of twenty-one, on October 27, 1909, he was called to the 31st Infantry Regiment of Melun by ministerial decision. However, being of a fragile constitution, he was forced several times to interrupt his service. Relegated to auxiliary service due to bilateral goiter, he was reinstated four days later in the army corps by decision of the Vincennes Reform Commission of February 1, 1910. He was again temporarilyretireda few months later, victim of nervous disorders, diagnosed by the Health Service as hysterical in origin.

He returned to service during the Great War (1914-1918) and fought alongside the 11th regiment of Zouaves before being assigned to the automotive service depot. He was declared unfit on January 13, 1917 due to cerebral anaemia. On July 15, 1918, he was suspended from appeal, due to his status as editor of the Petit Journal, rue Cadet in Paris; this reprieve was extended and made final on November 30, 1918.

A Committed Journalist

Fauverge de French’s career in journalismis reasonably well-documented. A reporter for Le Petit Journal and L’Intransigeantbefore the Second World War, he also joined the editorial staff of Le Figaro,where he was assigned to cover to the Ministry of the Interior (Combat, 1955). He also contributed to the newspaper Le Temps (Coulomb G., 2007).

By vote of the General Assembly of February 24, 1924, he was admitted by the national union of journalists, recognised from then on as a participating member. The so-called "Fauverge" thus spoke during the deliberations, reproduced in the pages of the Bulletin du Syndicat desjournalistes, to defend the cause of journalists. In particular, hevoiced concerns for better remuneration and a more favourable distribution of working hours.

"Hippolyte Fauverge" was notably among the subscribers and donors of the Gala du Casino de Paris, given on February 25, 1933. This annual event, a major attraction in Parisian society, was organised for the benefit of the Caisse des Veuves et des Orphelins des associations des journalists et des nouvellistes parisiens and chaired by Louis Barthou (1862-1934) of the French Academie Française and Armand Vilette (18?-19?). It was attended by "all the personalities of the official and diplomatic world, finance, industry and commerce, Parisian society and the press" (Le Petit-Parisien, February 18, 1933, p. 6), in the presence of the President of the Republic, Albert Lebrun (1871-1950; President from 1832 to 1940). The attractive program included performances from music hall stars includingJoséphine Baker (Freda Josephine McDonald, 1906-1975), who delighted the audience with the review La Joie de Paris. But the carelessness of the Roaring Twenties had passed; Europe sank into the Depression and on January 30, 1933 Nazism came to power.

The Spoils of War

Traces of Fauverge de French can be found after the war, mentioned by the Office of Property and Private Interests (l’Office des biens et intérêts privés, or OBIP) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in their list of individuals whose property had been looted. His name appears in particular in the list of victims found by the French Commission of Jewish Archives, pioneers in research carried out in this field.

The Ballon keep in the Sarthe, where Fauverge de French probably transported his works of art, was looted several times, by German units that remained unidentified, starting in 1940, and in particular after his arrest in November 1941. Fauverge de French made a first declaration of theft to the mobile police of Angers in 1940, before addressing the Services of Repairs and Restitutions in the current of the year 1945 (AMAE, 209 SUP 328). His compound name wasavoided, and the official documents related to the procedure note only the name Fauverge. However, there is no doubt about the identity of the applicant, living at 30, rue d'Orsel in Paris.

In 1950, the 37 books deemed by the Nazi regime as compromising or otherwise needing to be in their possession were returned to his residence in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. On the other hand, on November 9, 1948, negative information had to be delivered by Albert Henraux (1881?-1953), president of the Commission for artistic recovery (la Commission de récupération artistique, or CRA), created in November 1944 (AMAE, 209 SUP 9). His Chinese art objects, his Louis XVI furniture and his collection of 1,200 toy soldiers could not be found. Nevertheless, Rose Valland (1898-1980), secretary of the CRA, managed to identify the arms in the collection and mentioned the name of Captain Kob as one of those responsible for the looting. This individual had in fact beenstationed at Le Mans in November 1941 (AMAE, 209 SUP 593). The archives of the CRA leave it at that. However, the collection assembled at the musée des Arts asiatiques in Toulon attests to the recovery of a large part of his collection of Asian art. The events that followed, reported by Jeanne Guillevic (1967), author of a dissertation on the Fauverge de French Asian art collections, and Nicolas Zarifi (1885-1941) at the École du Louvre, show that he was able to enjoy it until the end of his life.

Agreement with the City of Toulon

Fauverge de French let go of his property in Le Ballon in 1951, in favour of a pied-à-terre in the south (Guillevic J., 1967), close to the municipality of Toulon. Single and childless, he informed the widow of the former curator of the Toulon museum, Fontan, of his desire to be provided with accommodation in exchange for the donation of his collections to the city. This project was communicated to the secretary of the mayor, Binet, who took note. The agreement was sealed between the two parties in 1953(Guillevic J., 1967).

Hippolyte Fauverge de French died two years later, at the age of sixty-seven, following a long illness in a Paris clinic. On his death, his colleagues from the Association des journalistes parisiens and the Syndicat des journalistes paid tribute by noting his passing in the obituaries of certain affiliated newspapers (Combat; L'Information financière, économique et politique, 1955).

The collection

Hippolyte Fauverge de French, who remained unmarried, died without an heir. Formulated in 1953, the legacy was finally recorded in 1961, after delays due to a lawsuit with the family. On December 20, 1965, the transfer of the collection to the city of Toulon was accepted by the Artistic Council of the Réunion des musées nationaux (AM Toulon, 158 W 4). On this date, the original collection, consisting of 473 works, was submitted to a first inventory. The 1996 inventory highlights the absence of 87 objects and damage caused by precarious packaging (AM Toulon, 523 W 3).

The Chinese Collection of an Enlightened Amateur

In view of this collection, kept at the Villa Jules Verne (AM Toulon, 286 W 26), Hippolyte Fauverge de French appears to have been a true connoisseur. China is represented by ancient coins, dating back to the 5th century BCE. A set of jades dates from the Warring States (戰國) [475-221 BC]. AD]. The presence can be noted of a bi disk (MAAT, 961.3193) and a tablet (MAAT, 961.3193 [1]) from the Western Han (前漢) [206 BC. AD-9 AD J.-C.], a pendant (MAAT, 961.3.196) from the end of the Zhou (周) [1046-25 av. J.-C.], and a dagger of the ge type (戈) [MAAT, 961.3178] of the Shang (商) [1600-1046 av. AD]. Later jades evoke the infatuation with the ancient of the Ming (明) [1368-1644] and the Qing (清) [1644-1911]. The archaic form affected by these gui (圭) [MAAT, 961.3.174] or cong (琮) tablets(MAAT, 961.3.183) constitutes a faithful imitation of the art of the Shang. These two ensembles thus create a kind of continuum between ancient art and the archaism of the moderns.

From the Antique to the Archaism of Modern Forms

The collection also includes a fine set of early and late archaic-type bronzes. One box contains "eleven Chinese coins of different periods" (MAAT, inv. 961.3.102). There is a coat clasp decorated with a taotie (饕餮) from the Warring States (MAAT, inv. 961.3.104), a decoration of the hubs of a processional chariot from the same period, and a certain number of fibulae, some of which date back to the Shang period. The most recent pieces are statuettes attached to the Buddhist cult of the Ming and Qing.

Interest in Buddhism, in all its Religious Forms

Siddhârta Gautama as a child, Mañjugosha, and Avalokiteshvara represent the most common deities of Buddhism. Other pieces from Southeast Asia, particularly from Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka, complete this vision of Buddhism, with the representation of several statuettes of Buddha. One canvas from Cambodia, dated to the 18th century, depicts the Great Departure of the future Buddha (MAAT, inv. 961.3.305).

From Tibet, Fauverge de French retained a certain number of ritual objects linked to the practice of Lama Buddhism: rkang gling trumpets (MAAT, inv. 961.3.236), teapots, incense burners, and even a prayer wheel (MAAT, catalog 961.3.83(1)). Esoteric Buddhism is also evoked through a thangka from Mongolia representing the deity Vajrapâni (MAAT, inv. 961.3.288). These objects were at the time still of recent manufacture, somewhere between the 18th and 19th centuries.

A Recent Indian Collection

Several statuettes in bronze, cast iron, or stone reflect the Indian Hindu pantheon. A few wooden figures also deserve mention: these objects come mainly from South India, in particular from the region of Tamil Nadu, and are relatively recent, dated between the 19th and 20th centuries. They include several representations of Ganesha (MAAT, inv. 961.3.378), Garuda (MAAT, inv. 961.3.148), and Krishna. Two architectural elements from earlier periods also stand out. A bas-relief in bluish schist, representing the Buddhist couple formed by the genius yakşa Pāñcika and the yakşiņī Hārītī, his female counterpart, constitutes a manifestation of the art of Gandhara from the 1st-2nd century (MAAT, inv. 961.3.380). A capital with chimeras features a yakşa head in pink sandstone from Mathura, in the Kushana style, from the same period. A painting on canvas from Cambodia dating from the 19th century depicts an episode from the Rāmāyaṇaand testifies to artistic exchanges between East and West (MAAT, inv. 961.3.306).

An Evocation of Japanese Folk Art

The Japanese collection is less extensive, in light of the pieces that were lost. Emblematic objects, which made Japan famous in the West, are still visible. Fauverge de French ownednetsuke, from the 16th to the 19th century, and tsuba. This typical set includes bone or ivory knife handles from the Edo period (1603-1868), as well as elements of the Samurai's equipment, with a set of stirrups from the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1573-1603). There is also a set of theatre masksreflecting the folk art of Edo. A set of 19th-century ceramics is also included in this heterogeneous collection.