Gen Paul and Montmartre
This is how the priceless story of this lady, author of the book "Gen Paul à Montmartre, 1950-1964", published by Editions de Paris, begins.
Having learned to play the guitar with Alexandre Lagoya who was performing at the Lapin Agile, she was of interest to Gen Paul who was passionate about music and had played the cornet à piston at the Cirque Médrano. At first, he nicknamed her "la môme Guitare", then he called her "Araignée" for the affection that she had gradually woven together. This is how Chantal entered the intimacy of the painter who, under an angry temper, aggravated by alcohol abuse, hid an infinite amount of tenderness. Soon she became a regular at the Junot Avenue studio, taking part in the craziest meals and parties. There she rubbed shoulders with a typical Montmartre fauna of painters, writers, actors, composers, and met many celebrities, such as Daragnès, Marie Bell, Fernand Ledoux, Charles Aznavour, Francis Lai, Marcel Jouhandeau, Marcel Aymé, ... without forgetting the merry musicians, the frank drinkers and other picturesque characters broken with argomuche; a whole good-natured bohemian that Chantal restores with verve. She retraces the itinerary of Gen Paul, a child of Montmartre, who remembered Toulouse-Lautrec, the Goulue and the Désossé, as well as the clown musician who began his career in the circus, the soldier who left for the war where, in 1915, he was amputated of a leg, the revelation of painting and the first works. And how can we not talk about Celine, whom Gen Paul met in the 1930s, and their long friendship? A tumultuous friendship that will not survive the war and the writer's delirious accusations. Finally, how can we not evoke Utrillo, the other painter from Montmartre who, with Gen Paul, embodied the poetry of the Butte in the 20th century?
Source : Editions de Paris
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