Summary | Culture | Museums in the town | Peynet Museum

Daumier, Plantu, Dubout, Blachon, Moisan, Faizant, Ricord, Mordillo, Piem and many others have exhibited here. The high quality of the exhibitions is part of a local acquisition policy to present great works of art , enriching museum collections at one and the same time.

To celebrate his great attachment to Antibes, Raymond Peynet designed a “Diploma of Love”, which is solemnly presented at weddings at the town hall. Many Japanese couples, fervent admirers of the artist, come to confirm their union in Antibes Juan-les-Pins and receive the famous diploma.

Because Peynet had been one of the first great pre-war illustrators for publications with a growing demand for cartoons of all kinds, in 1955 he accepted the suggestion by the council, who wanted to make this unique gallery more dynamic, that the walls of “his museum” should be open to his contemporaries, that wonderful family of cartoonists who at that time had no “official” exhibition space that recognised their art. It was cartoonist Plantu who inaugurated the new cultural direction of the museum in 1955 with a special exhibition.
In 1999, the passing away of the celebrated illustrator, three years after that of his wife, did not halt the expansion of the museum. The exhibition of the irresistible old ladies of Jacques Faizant gave the venue the new name of Peynet and Cartoon Museum.
Antibes council gave the museum a grant to acquire original works and documents form the 19th century to today, while at the same time being actively involved in cultural mediation and staging events for children and adults alike. The initial cultural heritage grant has increased, resulting in a collection of some 600 cartoons, drawings and documents which for the large part retrace historical moments seen from a very special viewpoint, that of illustrators and press cartoonists.

PORCELAIN AND JEWELLERY
In the 1950s, the celebrated Bavarian manufacturer Philip Rosenthal used to engage talented artists to design series of porcelain pieces which were then put on sale. In 1960, Raymond Peynet decided to venture into this new area of artistic expression. His flowing lines were a perfect complement for the solid purity of porcelain. Coloured classic scenes were produced as well as a collection of very quirky designs which were unusual both in their subject matter and the alternating black and gold lines. Rosenthal also requested a series of crystal glasses engraved with the drawings of Raymond Peynet.
In 1950, the jeweller Mutar started production of costume jewellery featuring the Lovers in 18 carat gold, gold plate and silver. The jewellery was presented in a heart-shaped box. Some medals were produced in Italy in Arezzo. These products enjoyed enormous success and were nearly as successful as the dolls, their popularity lasting over forty years. Nowadays a jeweller is producing new models of the jewellery in Valence (26).

THE PEYNET DOLLS
At the start of the 1950s, Galeries Lafayettes in Paris launched a new concept that is still popular today: animated window displays during the Christmas season.
In 1956 they contacted Raymond Peynet and he accepted the work of producing some ten moving figures to represent a “heavenly concert”.
When the Technigon company in Montrouge saw these life-size models it gave them the idea of producing a little doll 21 cms tall made from rubber latex and wearing fashionable outfits. There then followed over 250 different dolls that also had the novelty of moving limbs that were suitable for children – unheard of previously – replacing the traditional cloth or porcelain dolls seen in showcases. Sold in special boxes, their success was legendary with over six million sales.
Production method
The latex dolls were made from molds which explains the join along their body. The clothes were designed by Peynet then made by hand by home workers who were paid by the item.
Today, the latex made in the 1950s has disintegrated on contact with air and become blackened and cracked.

PEYNET AND THE PRESS
In 2000 the Peynet and Cartoon Museum staged an exhibition entitled “Peynet in the dailies”. Some one hundred original cartoons and drawings were on display accompanied by the newspapers of the day, “The Boulevardier”, “Ici Paris”, “France Soir” and the inevitable and historic “Ric and Rac”.
From 1930 to 1970, Peynet was a press cartoonist of the highest order in a period prolific with the art (Aldebert, Sennep, Dubout, Gus, Carrizey and more). His drawings, always sentimental but never entirely innocent, had a rare feel for treating serious news events. The eclectic talent of the artist was evident in his political cartoons (“Countryside”, 1946), his illustration (Gallant cases in the newspaper “Scandal”, 1933) and his humour and caricature (Card Game in “France Soir”, 1954).

ILLUSTRATIONS
Designing theatre scenery, in particular for the Huchette Theatre, and his illustrations for well-known authors such as Labiche, Musset, Anouilh, Courteline and Daudet enabled Peynet to diversify in his work and give full rein to his talent in new areas. His gouache work was for the “Straw boater of Italy (1851) by Eugene Labuche and “On ne badine pas avec l’amour” (1834) by Alfred de Musset and “Ah! Youth (1894) by Georges Courteline.

LITHOGRAPHS
Two series of lithographs produced by Raymond Peynet enjoyed enormous success, despite their luxury prices. They were sold in limited series on commission. “Signs of the Zodiac”, etchings with watercolour, produced in the 1980s, were used with important articles written by great authors such as Paul Guth, Louis Pauwels, Guy Breton and Louis Amade.
His “Letters from my mill” lithographs were also printed in the 1980s to illustrate the words of Alphonse Daudet. The drawings by Peynet featured on the first and last page of a story.

THE POSTERS OF PEYNET
What separates Peynet from his contemporaries is his capacity for producing a great diversity of work from the very start of his career. Each of his fellow artists, with the possible exception of Dubout, had a speciality, whereas Raymond Peynet started in advertising but because of his imaginative drawing skills became a sort of “Jack of all trades” in the art world and was in enormous demand.
He designed a great variety of advertisements and posters throughout his career to the very end of his life that were rich in their inspiration and great eclectism. His inimitable style and line work were to be found on advertisements and posters for current events, films, food packages for large companies, blood donation campaigns and the national lottery.

RAYMOND PEYNET AS DESIGNER OF THEMES
Following many other press cartoonists, Raymond Peynet produced series of drawings based on certain themes. Curious about everything and wanting to combine humour and a lively spirit of observation, many drawings done in the seventies in Indian ink revealed the heart of this artist and world traveller. In his drawings on the traditional theme of Christmas, there is the same gentle sense of humour that is never ill-placed.

BIOGRAPHY

1908
Birth of Raymond Peynet in Paris on 16 November.

1923
Peynet enters School of Applied Arts.

1930
Employed by Tolmer, a celebrated publicist.
First illustrations for Le Rire, The Boulevardier, A nos amours, Fairchild International.
Peynet marries Denise Damour.

1937
Peynet opens his own advertising agency with the help of a colleague.

1938
Birth of his daughter, Annie.

1939
Closure of his advertising agency. Peynet draws for the newspaper Ric et Rac.

1940
Peynet, a soldier, is taken prisoner. He escapes and returns to his family in Auvergne.

1942
First illustrations for Musset, Anouilh, Labiche.

1943
Birth of the Peynet Lovers.

1945
Return to Paris and continues work for newspapers.

1947
The Peynets buy a small Sarrazine tower in Biot after discovering the area on holiday.
First theatre scenery design, notably for “La Huchette” in Paris.

1949
Publication of Peynet’s work in Europe. First publications in Germany, England and Japan.

1950
Peynet’s popularity attains new heights. He works on many projects which lead him a great deal to the advertising world. The artist works on numerous publications such as Elle, Paris Match, Ici Paris, France-Dimanche.

1955-1965
Commercialisation of image of the Lovers: porcelain pieces, crystal glasses by Rosenthal and Couleuvre, silk by Baccara, costume jewellery by Murat, dolls by Technigom.

1958
Peynet produces a stand on Belgian town planning with his final designs for the International Fair of Brussels.
Decoration of Ferdinand de Lesseps cruise liner and a bar on an Air France aircraft.

1960
Marcel Amont, Charles Aznavour and Georges Brassens pay homage in their lyrics to the celebrated artist.

1961
Peynet produces lithographs and etchings with notably his magnificent coffrets with Zodiac Signs and Letters from my Windmill.

1975
Release of Italian film “The Lovers World Tour”.

1976
The Peynets move permanently to Ilette in Antibes.

1985
Printing of first stamp.

1988
Raymond Peynet donates 268 of his lithographs, pen and ink drawings and etchings to Antibes.

1989
Opening of Peynet Museum in Antibes.

1995
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, the Japanese produce a bronze statue of the Lovers which is symbolically placed at the Hiroshima memorial.
Two museums dedicated to the artist open in Japan in Karuizawa and Sakuto-Cho.

1996
Opening of Peynet Museum in Brassac-les-Mines.
Denise passes away.

1999
Second stamp produced in homage to artist.
Death of Raymond Peynet on 14 January.