GROBET Marie (EN)

Biographical Article

Marie Grobet came from a family of merchants; she was the daughter of Alexandre Labadié (1814-1892), a politician involved in the republican movement, and Anna Eugénie Malbernat (1821-1889), without profession. Her biography is incomplete.

Heiress of a Wealthy Merchant Family

As pointed out by Bruno Coutancier and Marie-Josée Linou, curators of the musée Grobet-Labadié: “[We] know very little about her childhood and his studies,” except for her inclination for the piano and her initiation to this instrument through private lessons. The same is true for the development of her taste for collecting, which Jean-Amédée Gibert (1869-1945) supposed came from her father (2018, p. 14-15, n. 11). Alexandre Labadié was at the origin of the hotel particulier located at the corner of boulevard Longchamp and place Henri-Dunan, facing the Palais Longchamp, which was newly built in 1869. At that time, the nascent district, in full expansion, was welcoming the rising bourgeoisie of Marseilles. The “cité phocéenne” was experiencing a period of prosperity and was marked during the years 1850-1880 by economic dynamism and urban development, associated with population growth.

Alexandre Labadié specialised in the linen trade both for domestic consumption and for export.As such, he had many contacts with the Middle East (Coutancier B., Linou M.-J., 2018, p. 13). He ran the trading house that had been founded by his father in the 1830s, located at 24, rue Longue des Capucins, in the Noailles district. While a practicing Catholic, he was known for his liberal ideas. He also maintained a certain political presence. First prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône, he was elected president of the general council, and then became deputy in 1870, after the defeat of Sedan (Coutancier B., Linou M.-J., 2018, p. 14). In this regard, the curator Danielle Maternati-Baldouy underlines an exemplary behaviour with his fellow citizens, noting his "moral integrity" and "high political and commercial probity" (Maternati-Baldouy D., 1983 ? p. 9).

On the death of his father-in-law Georges-François Malbernat in 1872, he used his inheritance to erect the house, for which he entrusted the drawing up of the plans to the architect Gabriel Clauzel (Coutancier B., Linou M.-J ., 2018, p. 14). This house would be the future setting for the collection of his daughter Marie.

The Collecting Business

On July 6, 1872, Marie married Bruno Vayson (1840-1896), notable Comtadin, mayor of Murs and general councillor of Vaucluse, the brother of Paul Vayson (1842-1911) who was the painter of animals. Marie was the leader in their passion for collecting. Their comfortable income allowed them to indulge in their common passion. Her husband began writing the Cahiers in 1873. From 1882 to 1885, they lived for a time at 140, boulevard Longchamp, as Bruno Coutancier and Marie-Josée Linou point out (Coutancier B., Linou M.-J., 2018, p. 17). Alexandre Labadié died in 1892 and bequeathed all of his property to his only daughter, who became the de facto owner of the mansion in 1893. Marie Vayson then oversaw its development. The collection took a decorative turn, with the prioritisation of sculpture in the acquisitions made in 1890 (Coutancier B., Linou M.-J., 2018, p. 38).

On April 11, 1896, Marie Vayson mourned the death of her husband at the age of fifty-five. On August 24, 1897, she married a second time to Louis Grobet (1851-1917), of more modest means. After training at the conservatory of Marseilles, Louis Grobet continued his studies at the Conservatoire national in Paris. The events of 1870 forced him to return to Marseilles, where he persevered in his activities as a concert performer and music teacher. It was certainly in this context that he met Marie (Coutancier B., Linou M.-J., 2018, p. 18). In 1894, he was admitted as a member of the Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers (la Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique, or Sacem). His sensitivity as an artist - he was also an amateur painter - led him to support his wife in her acquisition projects. The couple thus continued the collection together.

From Collection to Museum

Both continued to keep notebooks, a kind of "chronicle of the collection" (Coutancier B., Linou M.-J., 2018). Nine in total, these notebooks, grouped under the title Catalogue des œuvres d’art, end on February 16, 1917 with the death of Louis Grobet, who died of consequences of the Spanish flu. The collecting also came to an end. The house was sold during Marie Grobet's lifetime to the city of Marseilles, with the aim of turning it into a museum. The donation was made on October 19, 1919 and was approved by the city council on January 24, 1920. Jean-Amédée Gibert was appointed curator. Marie Grobet contributed to financing the arrangement of the premises. But, following administrative delays, the museum was only inaugurated on November 3, 1925 by the senator-mayor Siméon Flaissières (1851-1931; mayor of Marseilles from 1892 to 1902 and from 1919 to 1931). Marie Grobet then moved to 483, rue Paradis, establishing a base in Paris.

The Collection

The collecting enterprise concluded with the death of her second husband, Louis Grobet. In this sense, the collection can be considered as a completed whole, which corresponds to the building housing it. It should be understood as a cycle, corresponding to moments of life. The objects themselves do not constitute a homogeneous whole, as they are susceptible to arrangement by series or precise themes. In this regard, Bruno Coutancier and Marie-Josée Linou invoke "a global gesture" (2018, p. 9).

From the Collection to the Musée Grobet-Labadié

The donation project encompassed all the collections at 140, boulevard Longchamp. However, Marie Grobet attached a certain number of conditions to this donation (AM Marseille, 59 R 1). First of all, it would have to be an accessible museum, identifiable under the title of “musée Labadié-Grobet" - the inversion will finally be favoured - which a marble plaque would recall on the façade. The collector also ensured the integrity of her collection. "No object foreign to the collection can be added to it", she specifies. Likewise, "[no] object may be removed from the Museum". She took care to point out the need to place "fragile trinkets" in display cases provided for this purpose. Attention was paid to the identification of exhibits and the need to present a catalogue of numbered objects in each room. The museum would charge admission and be placed under the supervision of a commission, under the responsibility of a curator. Marie Grobet oversaw the gradual transformation of the house into a museum and gave her opinion on the projects submitted to it.

During a trip to the south of France to the museums that had refused to participate in the musée Carnavalet exhibition on the masterpieces of provincial museums scheduled for January 1933, the fourth Education and Fine Arts Commission (Commission de l’enseignement et des beaux-arts) spoke of “a charming little museum where one does not encounter a masterpiece, but where pretty things abound.” The musée Grobet-Labadié displayed "[a] very fine private collection", which made it more similar to the musée Cognacq-Jay in Paris. The delegation also noted the collection’s great diversity (1933, p. 7).

Asian Art in Collections: A Scattered Presence

Asian art occupies a unique place in this eclectic collection, containing more than 5,000 objects.

Earthenware from the local manufactures of Moustiers and Marseille, as well as from Strasbourg and Delft, mark the mansion’s entrance and cloakroom, also haloed with religious objects from the Middle Ages. The 18th century grandfather clock in walnut (GL 634) that rests on the staircase leading to the first floor and is surmounted by a small bronze Chinese figure, sets the tone for the latent exoticism of the collection. Taking the staircase to the rooms of the lower level, it is worth noting the presence of architectural elements of the 18th century style. Louis XVI furniture adorns the Salon, whose walls are adorned with light paintings by Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) and François Boucher (1703-1770). The boudoir is hung with Aubusson tapestries and punctuated with earthenware sconces and potiches. The furniture in the dining room brings together different styles, from Louis XIV to Louis XVIII, enhanced by a prayer rug, from the Caucasus, that dates from the beginning of the 19th century (inv. GL 1812).

Earthenware decorates smaller spaces. On the landing of the second floor, two display cases contain various curiosities: swords, scabbards, axes, boxes, cuffs, lighters. The sculpture of the 16th century, Henri II and Louis XIII furniture, associated with a Gothic door, compose the smoking room on the first floor. The antechamber is furnished with Italian furniture, among others. Feminine portraits and light scenes decorate the bathroom. Finally, the music room gathers objects from China, Japan, Persia along with paintings by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867), Gustave Ricard (1823-1873), Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (1796-1875), Rembrandt (1606-1669), Honoré Daumier (1808-1879), Pierre Puget (1620-1694), Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805), Narcisse Virgilio Díaz (1807-1876), François Marius Granet (1775 -1849), Louis Grobet, Jean-François Millet (1814-1875), Charles-François Daubigny (1817-1878), Félix Ziem (1821-1911), etc. A pair of cloisonné enamel vases adorns the fireplace. The ‘room of the primitives’ (la salle des primitifs) stands out for the omnipresence of the Persian Empire, with a basin from the 16th century from Iran, in copper inlaid with chased silver (inv. GL 1375), a vase with flared neck and spherical from the Qājār period (1794-1925), from the 19th century (inv. GL 1377), two chiseled copper pyxis (inv. GL 1378 and GL 1394), a hemispherical cup of the same material (inv. GL 1379), and a pear-shaped powder magazine (inv. GL 1380). Jean-Amedée Gibert notes the presence of a Persian faience star with metallic reflections from the 13th century in the Fragonard room (Gibert J.-A., Gonzalès P., 1930, p. 13), alongside Chinese and Japanese porcelain. The earthenware cabinet on the first floor is furnished with Imari porcelain from Japan, dating from the end of the 18th century (inv. GL 1247, GL 3332, GL 3335, GL 1246).

This touch of exoticism appears in the music room and sporadically in the decor of certain earthenware from Delft or Rouen, evocative of Chinese or Japanese tendencies, which mainly condition the first productions. Asian art thus punctuates the decoration with discreet touches in a diffuse way.

The Measured Influence of Japonisme

On June 21, 1891, the couple acquired an album of Japanese prints at the Drouot auction house in Paris, entitled Les Dix-Huit Restaurants de Tokyo, identified as lot no. 347 of an amateur's sale catalogue. The sale is conducted under the hammer of auctioneer Maitre Maurice Delestre (Coutancier B., Linou M.-J., 2018, p. 77). The collection of Japanese prints also includes ten sheets from the series of "Fifty-three Stations of the Tôkaidô" by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), fourteen from the "Thirty-Six Selected Flowers" by Hiroshige II [Utagawa Ryusho ] (1829-1869), and some by his adoptive father, Andô Hiroshige (1797-1858). These few engravings bear witness to the influence of Japonisme on the collection. It is also worth noting two kozuka (inv. GL 6520, GL 6521), or dagger handles, which evoke the small engraved objects of which Westerners were so fond.

A set of Chinese bronzes, evoking the eight Taoist immortals and other Buddhist symbols, which adorned a window in the music room, or studio, in the time of Jean-Amédée Gibert (1930, p. 22), currently remain confined to the pooled reserves of the city of Marseille.

Thus, some objects can be described as collected in series, even if the greater whole remained unachieved.

The Question of Provenances: Purchases, Exchanges, Storage, and Auctions

The notebooks kept by Marie Grobet (Archives du musée Grobet-Labadié) provide us with valuable information regarding the origins of her various acquisitions. But many objects go unmentioned, and other descriptions are so factual that it is difficult to determine which items they refer to. The notebooks are nonetheless interesting for understanding the genesis of the collection and provide information on the trade in Asian objects in Marseilles, the "gateway to the Orient".

For example, we can read that on June 1, 1889, Marie Grobet went to the Dépôt chinois at 49, rue de la Victoire, and bought a Japanese belt in brocaded silk of light blue and light brown, a lacquer tray with figures of musicians, and a small porcelain bowl. At Foa, an antiques dealer located on rue de Paradis, she became the owner of a pair of Chinese vases, with a white background and floral decoration in July 1896. Marie Grobet also rubbed shoulders with the great Parisian antique dealers specialising in Asian arts (Coutancier B., Linou M.-J., 2018), such as Philippe Burty (1830-1890) and Siegfried Bing (1838-1905).

The collector also regularly attended auctions. At the L. Demarre sale, organised on November 10, 1889, at the Château de Goult in the Luberon, she acquired a small famille rose milk jug in Chinese porcelain, two small cups in Chinese porcelain, and a saucer in Japanese porcelain, in addition to a plate from Delft with Imari decoration.

As for direct transactions, from one individual to another, we can read that Marie Grobet acquired a batch of plates from China and a pot from Japan from Mrs. René X, who lived at 37, boulevard Chave.

The couple’s travels also led them to enhance their collection, depending on their destination. But it never wound up being Asia.

A reading of the notebooks, formatted and analysed by Bruno Coutancier and Marie-José Linou, shows an evolution of the collections in line with buying and selling opportunities (2018, p. 28). If Jean-Amédée Gibert observes "a chastened taste", allied to "a profound erudition" (1930, p. 6), the collection reveals itself to be heterogeneous in its components and “essentially obeys a logic of arrangement of residence” (Coutancier B., Linou M.-J., 2018, p. 31). The works of Asian art show a diffuse and discreet touch, charming adornments to purposely furnished interiors and testimony to the curiosity of a collector for the latent exoticism that was characteristic of the collections of the 19th century.