A work that should typically return to a museum

Intellectual and popular at the time. He will be able to embody Tower in turn the love beast of Belle, Oedipus, Nero, but also captain broke, the iron mask or Fantomas. He is Jean Marais, sacred monster of the cinema and French Theatre, died in 1998 at the age of eighty-five. On April 27, Fraysse study disperses to the Drouot Hotel what remained of the contents of his house in Vallauris. It took ten years to bring the heirs agreement allows, according to auctioneer, these auction, estimated at 500,000 euros.

Even if the proceeds of the sale should be much greater than this figure, the average value of the lots is fairly low. Several reasons for this. The first: Jean Marsh had a reputation for being generous and it is likely that he had given some of his property in his lifetime. In addition, in Vallauris, where the last years of his life, he practised painting and sculpture, his house was, according to Bertrand Fraysse, "managed Spartan way". Luxury furniture or great masterpieces. Finally, it is striking to note in the catalogue, how the universe was shaped by his companion for a time, Jean Cocteau. However, it produced drawings for review and they now have a relatively low market value.

The sale was however for main interest this episode of his life: Jean Cocteau. The two men met in 1937, at a hearing of students for the mounting of the tragedy "OEdipe roi", Sophocles. One episode narrated by Claude Arnaud in the biography that he was devoted to the poet (1): "big, athletic and smiling, Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais had done previously with representations in the films of Marcel the Herbarium, more sensitive to its impact sexual to his dramatic technique, but Cocteau did not hesitate to choose it to embody Oedipus, to almost unanimous of other students (...) indignation." He was the embodiment of these faunas in the pulpy mouth and erect ears that Cocteau war since the time of Nijinsky. "He would say later:"I did not knew him." I recognized him.

Tender dedications

In fact, the poet has shaped the cultural tastes of her lover. The sale contains 26 books which the author is Cocteau, with Jean Marais very affectionate consignments. Thus when, in 1954, while he saw more with him, he published a collection of poems, "Clair obscure" he him address a copy on paper commerce pure wire Lafuma with following yet passionate dedication: "my Jeannot / what is to me is you.". Everything out of me is outlines its future plans to you. I kiss you. "Jean / 1954. Estimate: 60 euros.

The catalogue also includes a large number of photographs. Portraits of Marsh or signed other Cocteau Lucien Clergue (150 euros) and André Villers (80 euros). 105 extracts prints of the film "Beauty and the beast", Jean Cocteau, turned in 1945, are estimated in a batch to 60 euros. Among the autograph letters, there are 20 previously unpublished poems of Cocteau that evoke love, eternal youth and... Jean Marsh (500 euros). Package to the highest value of the sale (30,000 EUR) is the correspondence of Jean Cocteau to Jean Marais, from 1938 to his death in 1963. In all, 851 letters including the actor had published content in Albin Michel in 1987. Bertrand Fraysse, who hopes to sell to an institution, has decided to not separate them.

A signed portrait Picasso

Cocteau invented a style in the drawing, but it is rare to find his paintings on the market. The sale contains three, estimated between 3,000 and 12,000 euros. A singular but without maestria expression, for example, in "Self-portrait with the yellow jacket" of 1952, where he is with a face by reflections that would be those of a metal head. Fraysse study offers fifty drawings of Cocteau that meublaient the universe of Jean Marais in Vallauris. They are almost all with words of love, as the male profile with "My Jeannot I of your new S.O.S." "Your Jean" or a portrait of Jean Marais with a "my Jeannot / I love you for life / Jean".

According to the expert of the sale, Elisabeth marshals, the most sought-after designs are those of the 1920s and 1930s, work style, which can reach 4,000 euros, or 10 times more than those of the 1950s. "I have not considered the fact that they were dedicated to indicate estimates", she says still. A portrait of a young man coloured pencils blindfolded is estimated 700 euros and "The shepherds of Arcadia", representing several young naked men, 3000 euros, but they should each, achieving a much higher sum.

He did not really artistic interest but it is a testimony to the history of the avant-garde in the early 20th century: a portrait of Cocteau by Picasso. This dedicated lead mine "A my friend Cocteau" represents the poet in a figurative invoice simple, in 1916, when the two artists collaborated in the preparation of the ballet "Parade". A work that should typically return to a museum. It is estimated 25,000 euros.

The universe of Jean Marsh was invaded a multitude of objects from the world of Cocteau. A large number of representations of ancient characters in different forms. Many hands, bronze earthing cooked. Cocteau said in this regard: "Read in the hands to see in the future, bring down the fourth wall and access to the thousands of worlds in which ours is built-in." This sale is a small key to try to penetrate their imagination.