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Thursday, 10 April 2008 |
After his landslide re-election, the emblematic Ken Tatham, France’s only British mayor, talks to Martial Leroux about running his heritage village.
Ken Tatham, France’s only British maire, is seen as a pioneer throughout the Hexagon. Since 1995, he has presided over the bucolic Norman village of Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei in the Orne, population 140, of which 10% are British. He has done everything to maintain its official
status as one of France’s 100 most beautiful villages.
After his list (the only one) won the first round of municipal voting, the results are in and there is little chance Tatham will ask for a recount: the conseil municipal re-elected him by 10 votes out of 11. This will be the 63-year-old’s third term as maire of a commune he first discovered when visiting his French wife Christiane’s family in their summer home:
“I just fell in love with the place and decided to settle down there as soon as we could, which was in 1969.”
He was bitten by the political bug 20 years later, when his wife, the commune’s first female councillor, urged him to run for mayor.
Since then, Tatham has led an unflinching campaign to restore and enhance his village’s natural and historical beauty. He has a great sense of personal involvement in local heritage. Ask him what achievement as mayor he’s most proud of, without hesitation, he will answer:
“Saving our 11th-century Norman church from falling down. We didn’t have the finances to do the repairs, so we got several world TV media involved, got a petition going. The result was that we were able to transfer ownership to the conseil général of the Orne who have ever since paid for all remedial work done to it.”
Monsieur le Maire keeps close tabs on anything relating to the embellishment and preservation of Saint-Céneri. His next project is to restore an old auberge made famous by the artists and painters who stayed there towards the end of the 19th century. “We are known as the Norman Barbizon,” he says, referring to the famous artists’ village in the Forest
of Fontainebleau.
Always ready to lend an ear to his fellow citizens, Tatham describes his role with humour and realism, although one can’t help but detect a hint of bitterness: “A confidant, a confessor, a village father figure, you are responsible for everything that happens in the commune. The inhabitants know where to find you to complain but never to make compliments.”
Having said this, Ken Tatham, a great admiror of Edward the Confessor, who was idolised by his people, is quick to brandish the slogan which could just as easily be his own personal mantra: “Happy to succeed”. It has to be said, a healthy dose of abnegation is de rigueur for any mayor in France. Tatham enjoys sharing the many anecdotes he’s accumulated during his time in office. His favourite is a clear case of mayoral self-sacrifice:
“Woken up at 5am by the Emergency services, I was informed that a motorist driving through the village had warned them that there was a rock on the road and that it was dangerous for traffic. My wife and I got up in haste, as a boulder had once crashed onto the road. We ran up to find a stone barely the size of an apple! It would have been easier for the motorist to pick it up off the road than to make the phone call!”
It matters little to Tatham that he was not voted on to the Orne’s conseil général this year. He is not out for publicity at all costs but he enjoys the media attention that comes his way. After all, it can only help his village, and that is something he intends to do for a long time yet.
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Thursday, 10 April 2008 |
The Quai Branly art gallery’s latest offering, ‘To Mix or not to Mix?’, takes visitors on a round trip of the globe, challenging perceptions of multiculturalism and stripping away the taboos surrounding social interaction along the way.
The exhibition looks at what happens when civilisations collide as a result of immigration and globalisation, and invites us to explore the mechanisms of this interaction between Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe.
Expect the unexpected: ‘To Mix or not to Mix?’ curator and historian of the Americas, Serge Gruzinski brings together ‘fusion’ artworks, which he terms as ‘mestizo’ or the cultural property of two or more continents.
Visitors are invited to came to grips with the subject via ceramics, etchings, sculptures, designer clothes, music and film, ethnic – traditional, or a cocktail of several styles from different civilisations and eras.
Until 19/07, Musée du Quai Branly, 37 quai Branly, Paris 7th. 01 56 61 70 00
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Thursday, 10 April 2008 |
Stephanie Zygmunt and Carly Jane Lock see the works of a “tender, wild at heart barbarian”
The French painter Maurice de Vlaminck was one of the leaders of the Fauvist school of painting at the beginning of the 20th century.
The exhibition ‘Vlaminck. Un instinct fauve’ at the Musée du Luxembourg shows how much of his work during the period 1905 to 1914 exemplifies the aims of this post-Impressionist movement. Called ‘Fauve’ or ‘wild beast’, because of the urgency and primitivism of his style, Vlaminck aimed to capture the vividness of the instant by dissolving conventional form, light and perspective and using bright primary colours as a powerful means of expression.
“I heightened all the tones, I transposed all the feelings I could perceive into my orchestration of pure colours.
I was a tender, wild at heart barbarian” (Dangerous
Corner, 1929).
His early work throws emphasis on the vibrancy of the picture surface in his landscapes of the Ile-de-France and his mask like portraits. The sense of movement and freedom in colour and texture show how much he was influenced by Van Gogh, and how close he came to abstraction in such paintings as ‘Paysage d’Automne’ and ‘Fleurs, symphonie en couleur’.
The post 1907 works show the influence of Cézanne, where he begins to structure space and uses subtler colours.
The exhibition space is well laid out making it easy for visitors to navigate through Vlaminck’s artistic periods and shows how the ideas of colour, such as reds or blues, or a space, like a village, make creative leaps and links from one painting to another.
The self-taught artist who was born in Paris in 1876
to bohemian musician parents, and who claimed to have never set foot in a museum in his life was one of the first painters of his
time to discover African art.
Traditional wooden sculptures and statuettes from the Congo, Gabon and Guinea from Vlaminck's personal art collection, illustrating Western artists’ appreciation of the aesthetics of African art in the early 20th century, are also on show at the museum.
 
SZ & CJL
Vlaminck, un instinct fauve until 20/07/08 Musée du Luxembourg 19 rue de Vaugirard 01 45 44 12 90
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Wednesday, 09 April 2008 |
If you suspect an elderly or handicapped person is being mistreated, whether at home or in an institution, there is a helpline you can ring to give the alert. The helpers will listen, advise and if necessary put together a dossier and present the case to the authorities so that action can be taken. Callers may remain anonymous if they wish.
Call the helpline at 3977 from 9am to 7pm, Monday to Friday. The cost is the same as a local call from a fixed phone.
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Wednesday, 09 April 2008 |
Health Minister asks supermarkets to stop luring children with sweets
Obesity is a growing problem which now affects two million youngsters in France, increasing illnesses such as diabetes and joint problems.
In spite of a circular sent out in 2001, school canteens don’t always provide balanced menus and will therefore come under stricter dietary control, and shops will be encouraged to promote the benefits of fruit and vegetables.
Following a request from Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot, consumers’ associations, businesses and distributors are meeting to work on a campaign to oust TV ads for foods containing sugar and fats aimed at children.
From June 1, Leclerc supermarkets will set an example by no longer displaying children’s sweets and chocolates at their checkouts.
The group Obésité: protégeons nos enfants has conducted a three month study into school canteens and marketing aimed at kids, which shows some alarming results:
• 45% of secondary-school canteens don’t respect nutritional recommendations
• 82% of child-targeted food products in 120 large supermarkets contain too much sugar or fat
• 87% of food products promoted on children’s television programmes contain too much fat
or sugar
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