The contrast is striking. On one side, the great hall of the Palais de la Bourse in Marseille, the seat of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), is hosting a major digital exhibition on the Mona Lisa these days. On the other hand, this same CCI plans to auction 187 works from its collection, including paintings by Raphaël Ponson, a prominent figure in the Marseille school, to cite just one example.
One ” notice of public call for competition », in other words, a call for tenders has indeed been launched to find an auctioneer, with the dual mission of evaluating the various objects in the CCI collection, and subsequently organizing a sale. The information, revealed by our colleague from The Marseillaisecaused an uproar in a city that seems decidedly angry with its heritage, after the episodes of the Corderie or the Villa Valmer.
Meeting at the end of March in the prefecture
“We say stop! “says Bruno Terrin. Coming from a large family of Marseille shipowners, he is leading the project for a museum dedicated to the city’s maritime heritage. Why not, he hopes to convince, in the old ferry terminal of the Major. “We are aware of the problems of the consular chambers, and the robbery of the State which pumps the treasury of the CCIs with its reductions in endowment, but that does not authorize the sale of the family jewels, he continues. Solutions must be found to preserve this memory, all these old models and archives. He launched a petition online, which has already collected 400 signatures.
For his part, Jean-Marc Coppola, deputy mayor in charge of culture, denounces “a sale that is not acceptable”: “Beyond the works, their value, it is the memory of trade and workers. It’s a pity that this fund is not classified as a museum of France, that would make it inalienable. “To block the sale, the elected seized the DRAC (Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs).
A meeting in the prefecture is scheduled for March 31 with all the players in the file. Negotiations are already underway. However, “the city of Marseille is not interested in all the funds, the solution is not to open a 15th museum, the city’s budget is constrained”, specifies Jean-Marc Coppola.
Storage in containers
Regional President Renaud Muselier also affirmed his desire not to disperse “a rare and precious set”. Because the 187 works in question are part of a collection of around 50,000 objects, the most remarkable pieces of which have long been exhibited at the CCI Navy Museum. It closed its doors in 2018, like the Musée des Tissus in Lyon (since sold to the region). To put it simply, with the territorial reforms, the consular chambers no longer had the means to preserve their collections. That of Marseille is now largely stored in containers.
“In Lyon, the communities took part in the subject, argues Jean-Luc Chauvin, the president of the CCI. If they support a modern museum place, it can change a lot. The outcry left him with a bitter taste, as did the discussions with the Mucem after the inventory work carried out in 2017: “There was talk of depositing works, but they asked us for an annual budget of €366,000! For its part, the Mucem calls for carrying out “a real project of the collections”.
A start of backpedaling?
According to Jean-Luc Chauvin, the auction “is a possibility, registered in the public market, but not an obligation”. And in any case, it will only concern “works acquired by the CCI, not those resulting from donations, there was never any question of that. “Since 2017, we have been working to find a solution so that the remarkable part of the collections can join a museum to be visible,” he says. According to him, the public market allows above all “to make an inventory”. He intends next week to reveal the names of the experts commissioned to arbitrate the best way to operate.
He also announces the forthcoming creation of a fund or foundation for the economic and cultural heritage of the CCI. “We are calling on Marseille companies, economic forces and local authorities, on all those who wish to actively contribute to the restoration of the collections, to the highlighting and exhibition in a space worthy of the name. “, enumerates Jean-Luc Chauvin. Coaster or not, the communication on this issue changes in any case. What if this controversy finally manages to get things moving?