CALMANN Michel (EN)

Biographical article

Michel Calmann was a French collector, born in 1880 and deceased in 1974, whose generosity considerably enriched French public collections. He was also involved in several exhibitions which made it possible to show ancient Chinese art in France, although it was still little known to the general public in the first half of the 20th century. He played a preeminent role with everything related to pre-16th century Chinese ceramics in French national museums. However, little research has focused on this figure, his practices, his objects, and the various networks he formed in France and abroad.

Michel Calmann, grandson of the publisher Kalmus Lévy (1818-1891), pursued a career in the publishing house of the Calmann-Lévy family. Raised in a wealthy Jewish family, he hunted and was a proven sportsman ("Menus Propos : chasseurs, sachons chasser !", 1912, p. 1 and "L’acquéreur de l’établissement de Manton serait M. Michel Calmann", 1926, p. 1)). Long established in Paris, he travelled often and settled in New York after the Second World War. His collections included several hundred pieces, mainly Chinese ceramics prior to the Ming dynasty (1369-1644). There were also other objects from China (bronzes, jade, sculpture, furniture, etc.), Korea, and Japan.

The Formation of the Calmann Collection

The exact date on which Michel Calmann began to collect ancient Chinese ceramics is not known. Calmann himself sometimes evokes the beginning of the 1910s (Calmann M., 1937, p. 9), sometimes the interwar period (“Merveilles chinoises”, 1970, p. 60). In an article he published in the journal Arts asiatiques in 1937, he underscored the few studies to which he was able to have access when he was beginning his collection (Calmann M., 1937, p. 9). It is perhaps on the other side of the English Channel that we must look for the elements, which allowed Calmann to form his eye and to constitute a collection of Asian objects mainly oriented towards ceramics from the Song dynasty (960-1279) (Calmann M. in Auboyer J., 1969, p. 7). Calmann was in contact with British collectors very early who, in the first decades of the 20th century, were interested in ancient Chinese ceramics (before the Ming dynasty). Many links were forged during this period between museum collections and Parisian and British collectors (Chopard L., 2022). We know in particular that Calmann received Robert L. Hobson (1872-1941), curator at the British Museum in Paris (“Merveilles chinoises”, 1970, p. 60). He also traveled to China with some of the most eminent members of the Oriental Ceramic Society (founded in London in 1921), among them Sir Percival David (1892-1964), in 1935. The same year he exhibited some of his objects at the International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London organised by Sir Percival (Chopard L., 2022).

Michel Calmann probably made his first trip to China in 1911 (“Merveilles chinoises” 1970, p. 60). He then returned there and brought back several objects, notably jades (Paul-David M. in Auboyer J., 1969, p. 26). He also acquired many objects on the European market, mainly in Paris and London. His notebooks, now kept in the archives of the Musée Guimet, list his pieces and their places of purchase. He dealt in particular with the Parisian merchants C. T. Loo (1880-1957), Léon Wannieck (1875-1931) and Marie-Madeleine Wannieck (-1960), or even at the Worch house. In London, he conducted business with Bluett & Sons and Tonying & Co.

Michel Calmann and French museums

Michel Calmann made several donations to French museums during his lifetime. He was also involved in the two major Parisian exhibitions devoted to Chinese art in the 1930s. As a lender at the exhibition "Bronzes chinois des dynasties Tcheou, Ts’in et Han" organized at the Orangerie des Tuileries in 1934 (Salmon A., 1934, n. p.), his role in the subsequent exhibition, "Arts de la Chine ancienne", was decisive. For this exhibition, held at the Orangerie in 1937, he once again lent pieces, but was above all entrusted with the organisation of the ceramics section by Georges Salles (1889-1966), his "good comrade" (Calmann M., in Auboyer J., 1969, p. 9). For this occasion, Calmann obtained loans from British and Dutch collections (Salles G. in Arts de la Chine ancienne, p. 5). This role and the importance of the loans granted to the exhibition were highlighted by the press of the time (David M., 1937, p. 1, "Dix-huit siècles d’art chinois vont nous être révélés à l’Orangerie" 1937, p.7, Lion-Goldschmidt D., 1937, p.1-2, Sarradin E., 1937, p.2, Finot J.-L., 1937, p. 2, Villeboeuf A., 1937, p. 9).

On several occasions, Michel Calmann lent objects from his collection for temporary exhibitions of the Musée Cernuschi, notably that of 1922 devoted to animals in Chinese art ("Au musée Cernuschi : une exposition d’art chinois" 1922, p. 2 and "Au musée Cernuschi : la 7^e exposition des arts de l’Asie", 1922, p. 1) or that of 1929 dedicated to "The flower and the bird in Chinese art" ("Pont des Arts", 1929, p. 2). Michel Calmann also showed generosity towards the musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris, to which he donated a set of precious objects in memory of his mother in 1936. In particular, there were several French and Italian jewels, as well as 18th century snuffboxes and a rock crystal vase. He was also a member of the council of national museums (Paul-David M., 1975, p. 117).

The Calmann Collection at the Musée Guimet

In 1968, Calmann deposited most of his collection at the Musée Guimet where it was presented to the public from July 1969. This was the first time that his collections were shown as a whole. The same year, he donated to the museum a Neolithic Chinese funerary vase (inv. MA 3183), two Tang dynasty funerary vases (inv. MA 3184 and MA 3186) and a Chinese armchair from the 16th century ( inv. MA 3185) (“Activités du Musée Guimet” 1969, p. 221). He had already given several objects to the museum in previous years, offering a bronze vase from the Shang period (inv. MA 2549) in 1962 or 1963 (“Activités du Musée Guimet” 1962, p. 117) and a tea pot Japanese (cha ire) (inv. MA 2774) in 1966 (“Activités du Musée Guimet”, 1966, p. 153).

Michel Calmann explained the reasons behind his decision to deposit his collection at the Musée Guimet, then his bequest in favour of national museums: "When war seemed imminent, Georges Salles suggested that I entrust him with most of my collection […]. Subsequently, my apartment was occupied by the Gestapo and then, at the Liberation, by French administration. The Germans stole almost everything I had left there and then the French the rest. ("Merveilles chinoises" 1970, p. 60) The archives of his collection, kept at the Musée Guimet, keep track of these spoliations. Madeleine Paul-David (1908-1989) also mentioned the transfer of objects "from the windows of Avenue Foch", where Michel Calmann then resided, to the Château de Valençay where they found refuge during the war (Paul-David M., 1975, p. 117). At the Liberation, Calmann moved his collections to his property in Sologne, for which he had "a special pavilion built". For him, this displacement of his collection was an "exile" and the increase in purchase prices prevented him from acquiring new pieces. He then deposited his collection at the Musée Guimet and therefore considered a bequest: "It is normal that my collection, saved thanks to the museum directors, finds its place forever in a museum" ("Merveilles chinoises" 1970, p. 60; he also mentions this problem of space in J. Auboyer, 1969, p. 9). After his death, the pieces already present in the Musée Guimet entered the national collections, as did other works that were still in his apartment (Paul-David M., 1975, p. 117). The set included more than 500 pieces. Calmann also bequeathed to the museum works related to the fields covered by its collections and a sum of money to facilitate the acquisition of several works in the following decades ("Activités du musée Guimet", 1982, p. 58 and "Activités du musée Guimet” 1981, p. 74).

The collection

The Calmann collection significantly enriched national museums, in particular because it was the first substantial collection of Chinese ceramics prior to the Ming dynasty to enter public collections (Auboyer J. in Auboyer J., 1969, p. 6). The collector himself installed his objects in the Musée Guimet in 1969 ("Activités du Musée Guimet" 1969, p. 222): the presentation consisted of 37 display cases, the appearance of which was preserved today thanks to photographs (dated July 1969, kept at the MNAAG). A small work entitled Collection Michel Calmann was published on this occasion and enlightened the visitor as to the contents of the display cases (Auboyer J., 1969). The presentation of the pieces was sober, echoing the collector’s arrangement in his home (Lion-Goldschmidt D. in Auboyer J., 1969, p. 12), which Koechlin describes as follows: "[…] it is in a bare room that he [Calmann] installed his ceramics and that he was careful to choose from among the most austere, among the most worthy of pleasing a mandarin of great tradition […]" (Koechlin R., 1930, p. 78).

Michel Calmann's collection is mainly associated with Song dynasty ceramics. Nevertheless, the pieces he collected between the 1910s and his death include other types of objects, mainly older Chinese ceramics, as well as several Korean celadons from the Koryo period (918-1392), an important group of Chinese bronzes from the Shang period (16th-11th centuries BCE) and the Warring States period (481-221 BCE), and jade. Among the Korean pieces collected by Michel Calmann, Pierre Cambon highlighted the very high quality of one of his pieces from the Koryo period in 2001. It is a small lid (inv. MA 4169) showing an inlaid decoration under a celadon glaze (sanggam technique). One side features peonies and the other birds. For P. Cambon, it was "unquestionably one of the most beautiful ceramics of the Koryo period preserved in Paris" (2001, p. 194).

It has been noted that the series of ceramics from the Tang dynasty (618-907) compiled by Michel Calmann are remarkable, in particular for the variety of shapes and "decorative choices" that they bring together (Paul-David M. and Lion-Goldschmidt D. in Auboyer J., 1969, p. 34). In particular, there are monochrome vases and several sancai-type glazed dishes, as well as a few statuettes. His collection of Chinese ceramics from the Song dynasty offers a selection of pieces from several kilns. In particular, Calmann brought together stoneware from the kilns of Yaozhou, Longquan, Hangzhou, and Cizhou and porcelain from Ding and Jingdezhen. With these choices of old ceramics, Michel Calmann radically broke with the taste for polychrome porcelain that prevailed in France until the first years of the 20th century. He turned to mainly monochrome pieces, which he appreciated for theirimperfection, in contrast to the Chinese porcelain produced later (Calmann M., 1937, p. 11). In this, he followed the new interest aroused by these objects in the first half of the 20th century.

Future research will shed light on aspects of the history of this collection that remain vague, as well as the modalities of these objects’ circulation. It will also deepen the understanding of the practices and choices of Michel Calmann, his relationship to objects, and his role in the presentation of Chinese art in Paris.