Émile Demaizière, Mâcon, Saône-et-Loire (71)

Émile Demaizière (1867-1929) was born in Beaune and died in Mâcon. He was a regional historian who lived in the house where this plaque is affixed. He was president of the Société des arts, sciences & belles lettres de Mâcon, a member of La Société d'histoire du Canada, and is noted for his book La Mort d'Emile Le Bon (1927).

Georges Lacomte, Mâcon, Saône-et-Loire (71)

Georges Lecomte (!867-1958) was born in Mâcon and was an art critic, an author of literary, historical and artistic studies, a novelist and a dramatist. He was also a firm Dreyfusard. He was the father of the novelist and journalist Claude Morgan. He at first wrote a few plays, then many novels,  and many works of non-fiction.

La Sculpture de la Femme de la Liberation, Mâcon, Saône-et-Loire (71)

L'Arbre de la Liberation has, in a sense, two lives. The first plaque tells of the planting of the maple tree in September 1945 as a celebration of the first anniversary of the liberation of Mâcon in Le Square de la Paix. Seventy-seven years later came the second generation of the tree, which had had to be felled.

In early August this year the wood sculptor Jacques Pissenem began the work of transformation of the original tree into a female shape, clenched fist protected by a wing. A hole with rotten wood on a level of the lower head of the woman was found, although this was not intrusive. Far from it, in fact, as this represents the suffering of women.

L'Art et le vélo au temps du Covid, Mâcon, Saône-et-Loire (71)

In the time of the first Covid confinement, what is there to do? One thing is turn to art, so Régis Noly painted an abandoned bicycle. And a fine specimen it is. À l'année prochaine, Régis !

Statue of grape pickers in La Place de la Barre in Mâcon (71), Saône-et-Loire (71)

This sculpture, Les Porteurs de Bennes, in the Place de la Barre since 1923, was done by Pierre-Alexandre Morlon (1878-1951), sculptor, engraver and humanist from Mâcon. It doesn't seem known who the 'P.H.' who wrote the poem was.

Monument à la Résistance et à la Déportation in Mâcon (71), Saône-et-Loire (71)

This sculpture dates from 1975 and was executed in Lanhélin granite by the autodidact Maxime Descombin. It represents the anonymity of the crowd and each of the forty-five granite blocks are identical.

'ESPACE LUCIE AUBRAC

HÉROINE de la RÉSISTANCE

29 juin 1912 - 14 Mars 2007'

Bas-relief Stone Mason in Mâcon (71), Saône-et-Loire (71)

I don't think anyone knows the history of this bas-relief, which obviously represents a stone mason, and is at the corner of La Grande Rue de Veyle and Rue Saint Antoine in Mâcon. The whole block is derelict, so obviously there are plans for it: surely not demolition, as these are obviously very old buildings. I hope that at least this anonymous modest sculpture will be saved as it's an important part of the history of the town.

Joseph Dufour, Mâcon (Saône-et-Loire (71))

And here's the Rue Joseph Dufour. Dufour set up his innovative wallpaper business in 1797 in Mâcon, although after the success of his panoramic Les Sauvages de la mer Pacifique (designed by Jean-Gabriel Charvet) at the Produits de l'Industrie française in Paris in 1806, he moved to Paris.

Boîte à Lire, Mâcon (Saône-et-Loire (71))

And yet another Boîte à Lire, which I'd not noticed when we were last here two years ago. I collected Régis Jauffret's Bravo and Rebecca Lighieri's Les Garçons de l'été. I'm sure they're worth reading, but maybe not so much that I'd want to keep them, so they'll go back to some other Boîte à Lire in September I'm sure: that's what the cultural community is all about. Read, then pass on unless you really love a book.

La Maison du bois, Mâcon (Saône-et-Loire (71))

La Maison du bois is probably the oldest house in Mâcon, but certainly the most famous, and dates from between 1490 and 1510. Its facade is entirely in wood and decorated with figures that certainly aren't always as innocent as they initially appear: it wasn't until I processed the shot of the monkey, for instance, that I realised what was happening. I'll have to go back when fewer people are dining so I can have a look at the other side of the house.

Jean Cocteau in Mâcon, Saône-et-Loire (71)

On the walls of the Cinémarivaux in Mâcon, Orson Welles holds a camera at the side of a Jean Cocteau quotation: 'Le cinema, c'est l'écriture moderne dont l'encre est la lumière': 'The cinema is modern writing whose ink is light.'

Alphonse de Lamartine in Mâcon, Saône-et-Loire (71)

It's not easy to capture a decent shot of Lamartine's statue in the centre of Mâcon, although this post replaces the one I formerly made, where the images were even worse than these. I translate from the description near Lamartine's monument in Mâcon:

'Alphonse de Lamartine was born in Mâcon on 21 October 1790 and died in Paris on 28 February 1869. A poet and a politician, he was one of the greatest figures in French romantic poetry.

'Alphonse de Lamartine was born into a family of minor nobility, monarchist, and Catholic in religion. He spent his childhood and adolescence in south Burgundy, where he received a literary education and devoured history books and philosophical essays. As a young man he led a lazy, womanising life and lost a great deal of money on gambling. In 1820 he married Mary Elisa Birch, a young English woman.

'Alphonse de Lamartine, the poet. In 1820 he published Méditations, his first collection of poems, which was a great success. He then published other poems such as Nouvelles méditations poétiques and La Mort de Socrate in 1823, and in June 1830 Harmonies poétiques et religieuses after being elected to the Académie française the year before.

'Alphonse de Lamartine, the politician. In 1820 he worked as a diplomat in Naples, Rome and Florence before giving it up to pursue a political career. He supported the July monarchy but failed to be elected député. He then travelled to the east, visited Greece, Lebanon and the holy Christian places. In 1833 he was elected député and remained one until 1851. His royalism changed to republicanism and he made noted speeches. He left politics after a heavy defeat in the presidential election which brought Louis Napoléon Bonaparte to power in December 1848.
'Crippled by debts, he wrote historical compilations in order to live: Cours familier de littérature (1856–69), Le Tailleur de pierre de Saint-Point (1851) and Graziella (1852). His last important poem, La Vigne et la maison, was written in 1857.

'Alphonse de Lamartine died in 1869 and lies in the family vault at Saint-Point castle.' 

Obviously very proud of its heritage, Mâcon has a number of markers indicating that this is Lamartine's town.