A TRAGIC DESTINY

My brother had sent me over an article on an artist whom I had never heard of. A Stéphane Mandelbaum. Michael said in his email « Is this worth seeing? Bizarrely, it sounds interesting ». The article was certainly bizarre and for those who want to take the time to read it, it’s worth it. 

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/04/22/the-unknowable-artist-stephane-mandelbaum/

There were more than 100 drawings relating to the real and imaginary life of this painter. He was born of a Jewish father and an Armenian mother and began to question his identity at an early age, around 17. He was able to do this through his work.
In his early work he depicted that shady world of prostitutes, pimps and gangsters that he frequented both in reality and in his dreams. Most of these I could not abide. I’m no prude but they were vulgar and pornographic in my eyes. Would I persevere? 

These I took when I traced my steps at the end of the exhibition...

l'Albertine Bar (Beautiful Deception) 1986

Papa Franco (Mamas zaïroises), 1985

His portraits of artists and writers which he admired or had influenced him were much more interesting but there again, not easy to enter into. They certainly didn’t make these people look very attractive and some of his auto-portraits turned Mandelbaum into a dislikable and even ugly person. 

Francis Badon - 1980

George Dyer, 1982 - Bacon's lover who took his life in 1971

Pier Paolo Pasonlini - 1980

Pasolin again

"Le Maître" (The Master) 1984

Salomon Mandelbaum 1981

Salomon Mandelbaum and auto portrait 1981

Auto portrait 1982

  And the real man?

With his father

With his his wife in 1986. When he visited Congo where his wife was born he started trafficking African art and took part in at least two burglaries...the second was the Modigliani

Probably to understand him better, it’s a good idea to start with the end of his life. No-one was too sure about the reality of his life, but everyone agreed on how he died. Violent is an understatement. Only 25 too but always an outsider. When he was murdered he thought of himself as a hardened criminal when in actual fact he was a controversial artist.
In 1986, he attempted to steal a painting by Modigliani from an old women who lived in a suburb of Brussels. He had been promised money from friends who had connections with the black market and as he was not selling his own work, he needed funds. Now did the old woman know it was a fake? When the friends found out, they murdered him in a way which I will not describe. Children found him too and that must have been quite traumatic.
So from a fantasy world where he lived in-between dreams and reality to a very tragic end.  - I’m glad I went, but I needed a glass of wine with my lunch when I came out!