Bénédicte Pesle (15 May 1927 – 17 January 2018) was a French
arts patron. She was known for having introduced American avant-garde artists of stage, music, dance, and the visual arts to France, and was instrumental in the European careers
Merce Cunningham
Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...
,
Robert Wilson,
Philip Glass, and
Trisha Brown
Trisha Brown (November 25, 1936 – March 18, 2017) was an American choreographer and dancer, and one of the founders of the Judson Dance Theater and the postmodern dance movement. Brown’s dance/movement method, with which she and her dancer ...
, amongst others.
[Laspière, Victor Tribot (23 January 2018)]
"Disparition de Bénédicte Pesle, une passionnée au service de l’avant-garde américaine"
France Musique
France Musique is a French national public radio channel owned and operated by Radio France. It is devoted to the broadcasting of music, both live and recorded, with particular emphasis on classical music and jazz.
History
The channel was launch ...
. Retrieved 31 January 2018 .
In the announcement of her
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres award, she was listed as an "''agent artistique''" (artistic agent), but in the course of her career, carried out largely behind the scenes, she was also sometimes described as a "producer" or "presenter". A 1985 article about her in the ''
Christian Science Monitor
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρισ ...
'', described her less formally as "a combination of friend, agent, impresario, producer, fund-raiser, and creative adviser." She herself preferred the term "''secrétaire d’artistes''" (secretary to artists) to describe her work.
[Neil Genzlingerjan (30 January 2018)]
"Bénédicte Pesle Dies at 90; Introduced American Stage Artists to France"
''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. Retrieved 31 January 2018.[Wood, Daniel B. (19 July 1985]
"Meet 'ambassador' of US arts to France"
''Christian Science Monitor
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρισ ...
''. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
Life and career
Pesle was born in
Le Havre
Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...
, one of the eleven children of Robert Pesle and Marguerite ''née '' de Menil. Her father was a businessman active in the import of wood from France's African colonies. Her mother was the sister of the philanthropist and art patron
John de Menil
John de Ménil (January 4, 1904 – June 1, 1973) was a Franco-American businessman, philanthropist, and art patron.Helfenstein, Josef, and Laureen Schipsi. ''Art and Activism: Projects of John and Dominique de Menil''. Houston: The Menil Coll ...
. After completing her studies at the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
in 1950, she worked at a municipal library in Paris and at the bookstore-gallery , a gathering place for Parisian intellectuals. She received a study grant in 1952 which allowed her to spend two years in the United States where she worked in a Boston bookstore.
It was during this initial visit to the United States that Pesle saw the New York debut of the
Merce Cunningham Company in 1953. At the time Cunningham was working with the composer John Cage and several avant-garde artists such as
Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker whose work is associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and pop art. He is well known for his depictions of the American flag and other US-related top ...
and
Robert Rauschenberg, all of whom Pesle came to know. She was quoted in 1985 as saying "When I came back to France I wanted everyone to know them." On her return to France, she continued her work at La Hune until 1960 and began promoting Cunningham's work, at first working only with a close circle of friends and art patrons. She then became a director of the Paris branch of the
Alexander Iolas
Alexander Iolas (March 26, 1908 – June 8, 1987) was an Egyptian-born Greek-American art gallerist and an significant collector of modern art works, who advanced the careers of René Magritte and many other artists. He established the modern mod ...
galleries. She worked there for the next eleven years, especially with the artists
Max Ernst
Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealis ...
,
René Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature and bound ...
and
Niki de Saint-Phalle
Niki de Saint Phalle (; born Catherine Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle; 29 October 193021 May 2002) was a French-American sculptor, painter, filmmaker, and author of colorful hand-illustrated books. Widely noted as one of the few female monum ...
, and often made selections of paintings, sculptures, and drawings for important collections, including that of John and Dominique De Menil.
From her office in the Iolas gallery Pesle also worked to promote performances by Cunningham and artists associated with his company. She was instrumental in organizing the first European tour of his dance company and its Paris debut at the in 1964. The performance was a controversial one, with some members of the audience throwing tomatoes at the troupe. Undeterred, Pesle said from the wings, "''On continue'', let's prepare the next one". In 1966, towards the end of the company's tour, Pesle arranged for them all to stay at John de Menil's chateau in
Pontpoint. It was there that
Gordon Mumma
Gordon Mumma (born March 30, 1935, in Framingham, Massachusetts) is an American composer. He is known most for his work with electronics, many devices of which he builds himself, and for his performances on horn.
Biography
Mumma entered the Univer ...
who was working with the company at the time, began composing his piece ''Pontpoint'' which he dedicated to Pesle. In the early years of Cunningham's appearances in France, filling the theatres was often a problem. With Niki de Saint-Phalle,
Jacqueline Matisse Monnier, and three other friends, Pesle established the French Friends of Merce Cunningham. Each of them undertook to bring at least 10 people to his performances and to convince each of those to bring ten people as well, Self-described as Cunningham's "
pilot fish
The pilot fish (''Naucrates ductor'') is a carnivorous fish of the trevally, or jackfish family, Carangidae. It is widely distributed and lives in warm or tropical open seas.
Description
The pilot fish congregates around sharks, rays, and se ...
", Pesle remained the dancer's European agent until his death in 2009.
In 1971 Pesle formed the New York-based Performing ArtService (which later became ArtService International) and Modus Vivendi, a foundation to support American artists coming to France. In 1972, she opened her own office in Paris from which she ran ArtService International as a nonprofit organization. During that time she began her long association with , a prominent figure in French cultural life and the
Minister of Culture
A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizatio ...
from 1974 to 1976. In 1972 she helped him found the , an annual multidisciplinary showcase for the contemporary arts. Both Robert Wilson and Merce Cunningham appeared in the first festival and continued to appear there throughout their careers, often in the world premieres of their works, including Cunningham's ''Loose Strife'' and Robert Wilson's ''Overture''. During Guy's tenure as Minister of Culture, Pesle also convinced him to commission
Philip Glass and Robert Wilson's opera ''
Einstein on the Beach
''Einstein on the Beach'' is an opera in four acts composed by Philip Glass and directed by theatrical producer Robert Wilson, who also collaborated with Glass on the work's libretto. The opera eschews traditional narrative in favor of a formali ...
'' which had its world premiere at the
Festival d'Avignon
The ''Festival d'Avignon'', or Avignon Festival, is an annual arts festival held in the French city of Avignon every summer in July in the courtyard of the Palais des Papes as well as in other locations of the city. Founded in 1947 by Jean Vila ...
in 1976 and toured to Hamburg, Paris, Belgrade, Venice, Brussels and Rotterdam later that summer.
Pesle worked as Robert Wilson's representative in Europe up until her final days. When her death in Paris on 17 January 2018 was announced, Wilson wrote:
Of all the people that I have worked with, throughout my life, both professionally and otherwise, there is one person who always stood out. Her name is Benedicte Pesle; she was a visionary, she was capable of envisioning large-scale works and thinking over long periods of time. She had the best critical eye I ever met. She was severe in her dress and taste. She had a great sense of humor. She alone was more responsible than anyone else in bringing American artists to Europe and elsewhere.[ Wilson, Robert (17 January 2018)]
Tribute to Bénédicte Pesle
RobertWilson.com. Retrieved 31 January 2018,
Her funeral was held on 24 January 2018 at the Église Notre-Dame-des-Champs in Paris and her ashes interred in the family tomb at the
Montparnasse Cemetery. Pesle's life companion, the journalist Arlette Marchal, predeceased her as did most of her siblings, including her brother
Etienne Pesle, a social activist and former Catholic priest who disappeared in Chile in 1973 and is presumed to have been killed by the
Pinochet regime
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
.
Pesle was made a Chevalier of the
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
in 2006 and a Commandeur of the
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2013.
[ Legifrance]
Décret du 13 juillet 2006 portant promotion et nomination
Retrieved 31 January 2018 .[Ministère de la Culture]
Nomination dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres janvier 2013
. Retrieved 31 January 2018 . The main archive of her papers is held at the
Institut mémoires de l'édition contemporaine in Caen and includes a detailed documentation of her work with Merce Cunningham from the beginning of their collaboration in the early 1960s until his death in 2009.
[Luccioni, Denise (17 January 2018)]
"Homage to Bénédicte Pesle"
French Embassy to the United States. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pesle, Benedicte
1927 births
2018 deaths
People from Le Havre
French patrons of the arts
Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery
Knights of the Legion of Honour
Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
20th-century French philanthropists