Tablée Suivi de Fraternité by Pierre Michon Avant-propos d'Agnès Castiglione

Tablée Suivi de Fraternité

by Pierre Michon Avant-propos d'Agnès Castiglione is a little essay about two paintings created by Manet, in particular Au Café, that later became part of the Oskar Reinhart du Musèe de Winterthour Zurigh and Coin de Café-Concert at the National Gallery of London. 

I am thinking, while I am writing this review at the meaning of cafés, bars, and the "socialitè" of the aggregation of people in these multiform realitirs: the pandemic flu is keeping all of us distant from places where, sharing informations, chatting for a while with someone, being there for writing, reading, or for searching on the web something, should be the normality. In this context, let me tell you that this little book is a balm because we will breath vitality, life, multiform existences.

They are two beautiful paintings these ones by Manet; they both speak of normality, serenity and French history. These paintings were born as an unicuum but later, the painter, maybe seeing this one as a too big project, not satisfied, decided to divide them, giving to each of them the proper corporeity and soul.

In 2005 the museum of Winterthour organized an art exhibit called Manet retrouve Manet;  the two paintings, together, were previously  seen in Marseille only in 1880; Pierre Michon was called to write down something about the paintings.

Agnès Castiglione, in the preface of this edition published by L'Editions de l'Herne writes that Pierre Michon is eucharistic; he provokes and resuscitate.

Et voilà we are in a café-concert. People in a café are both actors and spectators and some of them, for special reasons, also main actors.

They are diversified, there is the rich man close to the miserable one, but what it is important to remark is that they stay close, together, mixed in a common destiny where absynth smiles at beer and donate to the fruitors the possibility of a chemical escapism while alcohol stimulate conversation.

And during the "heur de point", when everyone really enjoy to spending time at the café, we see a dfferent promiscuity; touching or avoiding to touch the other one; people are socially opened or closed. But, in that case people can't choose, because they are too many, so the intimacy with perfect unknown ones is dictated by space and... time.

But who is the main character of these paintings? The table. What is a table if not a spatial operator? A sort of social mediator? Thanks to him bodies, and people are seen as pacific antagonists in the same place.

In this sense one of the most beautiful paitings is, adds Michon, L'Ultima Cena, the Last Supper, where there is a symmetric foundation, when we look at the painting; not only: in that case promiscuity means positivity, orality is an immersion in the sublime and in the divine.

In a table everyone stay happy and peaceful; someone of left can share the table with someone of right without discussing, without starting a litigation. Michon calls the table the divine mediator.

In this table are sat many interesting characters: the proletarian with his big hands, the pipe put on the table and some beer close to him, the priest, rich men, interesting ladies, and also the servants are there with an important message: the one of the distributive and retributive justice, but,

adds Michon don't retribute nothing; what justice does is putting each of the character close to some beer, in the same glass, adding: le jeux son faits. 

Highly recommended!

I thank Editions de L'Herné for the physical copy of this book.

Anna Maria Polidori