Fernand Ochsé (January 11, 1879 in Paris – August 1944 in r on his way toAuschwitz) was a French Jewish designer, dandy, author, composer, painter and art collector.
Life
Fernand Ochsé came from a family of Jewish merchants. His older brother, Julien Ochsé (1876–1936) was a
Lyricist
A lyricist is a writer who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment.
Royalties
A lyricist's income derives ...
. They lived in a large villa in
Neuilly-sur-Seine
Neuilly-sur-Seine (; 'Neuilly-on-Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is an urban Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department just west of Paris in France. Immediately adjacent to the city, north of the ...
, where they held musical evenings often attended by Parisian celebrities. Julien Ochsé married the Belgian sculptor Louise Mayer in 1906. After the death of his brother Julien, Fernand Ochsé married his widow.
Fernand Ochsé studied at the
Paris Conservatory
The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...
, where he met
Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss-French composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. Honegger was a member of Les Six. For Halbreich, '' Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher'' is "more even ...
(who became his protégé), Maurice Ravel and Reynaldo Hahn, with whom he remained friends. In 1918, Honegger dedicated the ballet ''Le Dit des Jeux du Monde'' to him and in 1930 the operetta ''Les Aventures du Roi Pausole''. He composed operettas and numerous songs.
Ochsé worked with his brother and organized readings and conferences at his request. In their villa, they held literary salons dedicated to the artistic trends of their time. He (co) created sets and staging. In 1923, he was responsible for the creation of the operetta Ciboulette by Reynaldo Hahn. In 1928, he created the costumes for ''La Chute de la Maison Usher'' by Jean Epstein
In 1934, he designed the cover of the edition of songs by composer Pierre Octave Ferroud Trois Chansons by
Jules Supervielle
Jules Supervielle (16 January 1884 – 17 May 1960) was a Franco-Uruguayan poet and writer born in Montevideo. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times.
He opposed the surrealism movement in poetry and rejected automatic wr ...
.
He was also one of the illustrators of
La Revue Musicale
''La Revue musicale'' was a music magazine founded by Henry Prunières in 1920. ''La Revue musicale'' of Prunières was undoubtedly the first music publishing magazine giving as much attention to the quality of editing, iconography, and illustrat ...
.
His friend
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( ; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist who wrote the novel (in French – translated in English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'' and more r ...
wrote that "Ochsé reigns," Reynaldo Hahn, Honegger, and many others wrote laudatory things about him. At the age of 103, in 2017, Gisèle Casadesus showed affection from her Montmartre house.
Murdered by Nazis
When the Nazis attacked France in 1940, Louise and Fernand Ochsé fled, They were arrested in
Cannes
Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...
in July 1944 and imprisoned in
Nice
Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionDrancy camp. They were deported on July 31, 1944 by Convoy 77 to the Auschwitz extermination camp, where they were murdered.
Looted art: MNR 226
One of the paintings from Ochsé's collection'', Le souper au bal (d'après Menzel)'' by
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings.
Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...
, turned up in the collection of the
Musée d'art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg
The Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg (MAMCS, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art) is an art museum in Strasbourg, France, which was founded in 1973 and opened in its own building in November 1998.
One of the largest of its k ...
. Its reference number MNR 226, which identified it as Nazi loot returned to France's "Musées Nationale de Recupération (MNR)" inspired an article in the French weekly
Le Monde
(; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...
, entitle Edgar Degas, MNR 226 : l'histoire d'un tableau which details the itinerary of the Degas. From Ochsé's collection and the Coutot collection it was "sold" by the Nazis through the French art dealer Hector Brame to the
Kunsthalle Karlsruhe
The Staatliche Kunsthalle (State Art Gallery) is an fine art museum in Karlsruhe, Germany. Its collection consists of works by mainly German, French, Flemish and Dutch masters from the past eight centuries. The museum was conceived in the early ...
for an exchange with the Nazionalgalerie Berlin, before being recovered by the Allies and returned to the French authorities who deposited it at the museum in Strasbourg. Asked about the transaction, the art dealer's family, which still owns the galerie Brame et Lorenceau, expressed surprise.
Artworks
* ''La poésie dans l'opérette'', in ''Conferencia. Revue mensuelle des Lettres'', 15. Juli 1938
* ''C'était hier'' (valse chantée). Texte Gustave Nadaud. Orchestre Marcel Cariven. Schallplattenaufnahme 1940;
Songs et Piano
* ''Odelettes''. Composition. Texte
Henri de Régnier
Henri-François-Joseph de Régnier (; 28 December 1864 – 23 May 1936) was a French symbolist poet, considered one of the most important of France during the early 20th century.
Life and works
He was born in Honfleur ( Calvados) on 28 December ...
. Paris : Heugel, non daté.
* ''Le Parc. Poèmes des "Fêtes galantes" de
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine ( ; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolism (movement), Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' ...
''. Composition. Berlin : Adolph Fürstner, 1913
* ''Ce que je préfère''. Texte und Composition. Paris : Choudens, 1933.
* ''Ménage moderne''. Composition. Paris : Coda, 1934
* ''Réponse à Balzac''. Composition. Texte Paul Dublin. Paris : éditions Coda, 1934.
* ''Me v'là !'' Composition. Texte Paul Dublin. Paris : éditions Coda, 1934.
* ''Sur les toits''. Composition. Texte P.-G. Dublin. Paris : S. Fox, 1935.
* ''Réponse à Balzac''. Composition. Texte Paul Dublin. Paris : éditions Coda, 1934.
* ''Vite et doucement''. Composition. Texte Paul Dublin. Paris : éditions Coda, 1934.
* ''L'Arithmétique''. Composition. Texte P. G. Dublin. Paris : S. Fox, 1935.
Bibliography
* Patrick Besnier, ''Henri de Régnier : de Mallarmé à l’Art déco''. Paris : Fayard, 2015
* Benoit Duteurtre ''La Mort de Fernand Ochsé'', Fayard, Paris, 2017. Commentaire biblio: Roman inspiré de la vie de Fernand Ochsé
* Commentaire biblio: Contient une correspondance de Maurice Ravel à Fernand Ochsé n°2208 (1928)