The CAMC would like to thank Gottfried Honegger for his kind permission to publish his texts on this site.
A Tribute to Marcelle Cahn
You were born in 1895 in Strasbourg.
You left us in 1981.
And so your work is a witness to the art of our century.
You lived and participated in these changes.
You are actor and witness.
You assumed the commitment required by art.
You never hesitated ; you never betrayed .
You were never tempted by easy success.
You never locked yourself in a doctrine.
Your sense of humour and your loving nature protected you from a cruel world.
The traces of your work
your cubist and constructivist paintings
show that you had an innovative spirit.
That you wanted to understand and
answer our questions.
I don’t have a very good memory, but I have recollections.
It was 1963 and I knocked at the door of your studio for the first time. We both lived on Rue Daguerre. This allowed me to see you and talk to you quite often. Your studio was a sort of assemblage, a place which seemed like a three dimensional collage. You could laugh. I can still see you fragile and transparent – dressed in your painter’s smock. You were always fighting against techniques, against the stiffness of materials. You were searching for the whitest of whites. You wanted to discover the mother and father – the circle and the square. And in everything else there was nothing that escaped your scrutiny. Everything around you was condemned to become a work of art. An envelope, a box of medicine or a metro ticket was enough to become part of your dreams, to open our eyes, for the poetry of our world. At the end of your life the Dada spirit manifested itself so purely in you that I can say that art is the highest spiritual quality of humans. You refused anything which was not useful. You didn’t weigh down your work with false luxury and vain activity.
Marcelle Cahn...
Your behaviour had a profound influence on my way of life.
You showed me how to feel secure . In moments of hardship you give me the courage to go on.
You taught me that art is life. I imitate your way of laughing.
Yes, Mrs Marcelle Cahn, there are times when I would like to phone you,when I would like to ask you my questions. Well, anyway, I have your work to help me make peace with myself. You deserve this tribute especially since you helped to unveil the " fleurs du mal ".
This text was written in 1993 ; it was published in :
HONEGGER Gottfried. Homo Scriptor. Les Presses du Réel, 2004.
6 october
Marcelle Cahn has passed away. She was the most charming human being that I have ever met.She was an artist with every fibre of her being. I wish I had her poetry, her courage, her joy, her view on art.
Marcelle Cahn invented the ‘conte-tableau’ ; she didn’t produce art, she gave birth to it. As if by magic she transformed what we consider to be trash ; she gave it a new meaning. Does becoming famous really require us to have a biography which captures the attention of the media. Celebrity presupposes the existence of a legend.
Marcelle Cahn did not have an easy life. She studied under Lovis Corinth (expressionist). She was born and lived in Strasbourg. That is to say, she was French, then became German and finally French again after the war. Up until the end of her life, she was poor, very poor. What counted for Marcelle Cahn was not her personal destiny but rather art. She never pitied herself at all. She had a very soft voice but she created very powerful works.
Extract from Honegger’s diary in 1981, published in :
HONEGGER Gottfried. Homo Scriptor. Les Presses du Réel, 2004
