de l`Epée of the abbé

Transcription

SPECIAL ISSUE 2012 • www.art-pi.fr
Performing Arts / Broadcast / Art / Publishing / Multimedia
Art and Culture Magazine
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A FORGOTTEN PAST
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TALENTED
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press, theatre…
Tercentenary
1 Art’Pi!
of the abbé de l'Epée
Art and Culture
magazine for deafs
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Script : Sophie Laumondais, Noémie Churlet / Drawings : Alex Sambe
What is
QR Code?
QR Code (or Flashcode) is a 2D barcode that encodes
the information and allows you to access to multimedia
QR code, c’estcontents
quoi ?
from a website very quickly on your mobile
phoneest(videos,
music,
photos,
information)
ord’accéder
simplytrès rapidement
QR Code (ou Flashcode)
un code barre
en deux
dimensions
qui vous permet
à du contenu multimédia
(vidéos
/
musiques
/
photos
/
informations)
sur
un
site
Internet
depuis votre
to store the code for a later access.
mobile, ou d’enregistrer en un flash un contact dans votre téléphone.
Vous pouvez trouver des QR Code un peu partout autour de vous : dans des magazines, sur les arrêts de
bus, sur les monuments historiques, sur les emballages de produits alimentaires, dans des annuaires, dans
vos boutiques de vêtements…
You can find QR Codes any place such as magazines,
bus stops,
landmarks,
products
packaging,
yellow
Le QR code web permet
par exemple
d’accéderfood
à un site
web ou à une
vidéo, d’écouter
une musique…
pages, clothing stores and so on.
For instance, QR Code web allows to access a website
or a video as well as music...
Mini©
How does
it work?
Comment ça marche ?
To read a QR Code, your phone must be equipped with
the mobile application to decode 2D barcodes. You can find
this free application in the main application stores on your
smartphone (App Store, Android Market…) or you also can
download it by SMS to get a link. It is very simple!
Pour lire un Qr Code, votre téléphone doit être équipé d’une application permettant de décoder les codebarres 2D. Vous trouverez cette application gratuite
dans
les principales
d’application
votre
Once
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equipped
with thesur
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that can
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C’est
decode QR Code, you simply need to launchtrès
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Une fois que votre téléphone est équipé de l’application
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TEXTES
TEXTES
EDITORIAL
Editorial
A
huge thank to our sponsor Emmanuelle Laborit
who gave us support since the beginning of this big
adventure!
When we unofficially decided to make a special issue about
the 300th anniversary of the abbé de l'Épée, I was not particularly excited about the man. What I was really into was
an opportunity to push forward deaf artists from his time
till now. But he... he was kind of getting on my nerves
because people think he invented Sign Language! Which
means deafs are idiots, with no communication needs and
that bugged me! I thought it overrated to consider him as
a savior. He has been claimed to be the first to teach the
deaf children and that is also wrong. I had this urge to say:
“Hold on! Let's not give him all the credits!”. But after all the
work on this issue–the reading, the discoveries I made, the
talking–I have totally changed my mind about him.
I can picture now a man asking for nothing in return, giving
everything to people who were put aside. His goal was to
change society's mind, to kill a long-running prejudice. Yes,
deafs can think, learn, achieve, initiate and take part to
Society. He alone managed with great effort to turn deaf
people into Deaf people–by giving back to them social status
and knowledge. The first to embrace their differences and
discover thus their intellectual skills. He showed the world
deafs were human. Thanks to him, artists, writers, poets,
journalists, contractors–all deafs–appeared and that was a
first in History. That is what I had previously been unable to
understand.
Sure there had been other teachers for the deafs, but he
was the only one who found the key to the secret place of
the Silent people and to display these differences to the
world–and needless to say, without broadcast or webcast at
the time. Time, energy, a huge step towards humanism–all
broken by the Congress of Milan in 1880. But he succeeded
somehow: his teaching method and his tenacity spread all
We use “Deaf” when referring to Deaf culture
We use “deaf” when referring on a more general
or medical level
over the rest of the world. Europe would prevent deafs to
get access to education and knowledge for a hundred years,
but we nonetheless experienced an awakening thanks to
Alfredo Corrado who came from the US to France in 1976. As
a deaf, he initiated a coming-back to our roots and helped
us to fight back for a place in French society. The education
this man grew with was a legacy from the abbé de l'Épée
himself and he gave it back to us.
Had de l'Épée not been so stubborn we wouldn't have experienced the expansion of our culture and our identity as we
know it. I now understand better the huge respect deaf
artists of the time (and contemporary too) bore for him and
why each of them had produced at least one work dedicated
to him.
Yes it could have been anyone but it has been CharlesMichel de L'Espée.
To conclude I would like to add: “Thank you, Charles-Michel,
you have truly been the starting point of our cultural, artistic
and intellectual development. I was ungrateful, please forgive me! Thank you and happy anniversary!”
And to you, dear readers, enjoy this special issue and prepare to be surprised!
P.S.: I have only one regret. It's a shame but few deaf ladies
stood up in art at the time. But it sure is different now!
Noémie Churlet
Art'Pi !
Director of publication
Cover :
Elza Montlahuc
www.elzazimut.
blogspot.fr
OURDS
NTERPRETES
Director of publication
Editor-in-chief
Noémie Churlet
Associate Editor
Sophie Laumondais
Editor Secretary
Jeanne Bally
Columnists
Arnaud Balard
Yves Bernard
Véronique Berthonneau
Fabrice Bertin
Yann Cantin
Adrean Clark
Yves Delaporte
Geneviève Pomet
Sandrine Rincheval
Olivier Schetrit
Pauline Stroesser
Agenda Editor
Sylvaine Beaughon
Célia Giglio
Translation French/English
Manager
Sébastien Giozzet
Translation French/English
Irène Bartok
Martin Dayan
Didier Flory
Pierre Schmitt
Yaron Shavit
Iconists
Ivan Verbizh
Richard Zampolini
Art Director
Jessica Boroy
Photographer,
Reproduction, Editing
Richard Zampolini
Layout Designer
Jessica Boroy
Sabine Salha
Illustrators
Jean-Marie Hallegot
Daniel Le Coq
Alice Messac
Elza Montlahuc
Alex Sambe
Communication Director
Sophie Laumondais
Communication Assistants
David De Filippo
Céline Hayat Bufarull
Webmaster
Jax Prod Art
Project holder
Art’Sign
254, rue Saint-Jacques
75005 Paris
www.art-sign.org
N°SIRET : 4900848030025
Webmaster Assistant
Tuan Le Anh
Printing
CPI Aubin imprimeur
Make-up Artist
Emmanuelle Rico-Chastel
Summary
02
28
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advertise...
Claude-André Deseine, a
revolutionary artist.
04
30
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What is QR Code?
05
Editorial
08
The abbé de l'Épée
and the twin
sisters: a deaf myth
Nothing more surprising than
the false beliefs running around
de l'Épée's life!
1
10
Becoming Human
thanks to signs
Beyond prejudice, some works
did participate in showing how
signs make deafs back into
Mankind.
16
Street signs
2
Once upon a time many deafs
produced artworks which
had been gathered in a place
dedicated to the glory of the
past.
34
Deaf influence on
celebrities
Artists have become famous
thanks to their deaf relatives.
36
Galerie
Some artistic portrays of the
abbé de l'Épée.
40
Silent Press
A history of the Deaf press.
44
18
46
Jean le Sourd by
Yann Cantin, Céline
Rames and Dano
22
Painters and
sculptors: a
forgotten glory
A long time ago, deaf and
hearing artists were competting
as equals.
3
The Universal
Museum of the
Deaf-and-mutes
Had the abbé de l'Épée never
existed what would Deaf
culture and art be like today?
A comic book that highlights
Deaf community during the
Enlightenments.
6 Art’Pi!
A committed
sculptor
Comic strip
Deaf character in
theatre
Alternately saved by miracle,
ridiculed or valorised, deaf
character has been on stage for
a long time.
52
Screening deafs
The evolution of the role of the
deafs in the cinema industry–
and the way they had been
screened–is profoundly linked to
the Deaf culture's history.
Who was
the abbé de l'Épée
56
L'abbé de l'Épée by
Michel Rouvière
Focus on the first French film
made by an all-deaf team.
58
Comic strip
59
Agenda
A schedule of the important
events of the season: a
celebration of Deaf culture!
60
Performing arts
Theatre, storytelling, workshops,
readings, festivals...
61
Broadcast
C
harles-Michel de l'Espée was born on
November, 24th 1712 in Versailles.
After he had studied law he turned
to a vocation within the Church. He then
happened to encounter two deaf twin sisters who communicated in Sign Language.
This event led the abbé de l’Épée to believe
that he could offer a religious education to
the deaf, whilst teaching them to read and
write. He then set out to create the first
school offering free education to deaf children from poor family.
He was the first person who built a teaching
method for the deafs on the basis of signs
originating in deaf people themselves. By
organising public sessions he demonstrated
to all that the deafs could be considered as
fully-fledged citizens and that signs could
add up to a true language. Teaching the
deafs became thanks to him a real vocation,
to which he fully dedicated himself.
62
Art/Culture
Architecture, History, plastic
arts... and the tercentenary
banquets.
64
Publishing
Having brought together deaf pupils, he
created an environment in which deafs could
communicate regularly and abundantly.
He thus brought about the development of
French Sign Language (LSF, in French).
Comics, papers, novels...
65
Multimedia
What's new on the web?
The abbé de l’Épée died in Paris on December,
23th 1789. In 1791, the Assemblée Nationale
(NdT: the French Parliament) officially recognized his contribution to the advancement
of Mankind, and the deafs were explicitly
included in order to benefit from the Declaration of Human Rights.
66
Thanks
ON THE LEFT
1 Paul Choppin with his friends
de l'INJS de Paris.
2 Theatre play L’Abbé de l’Épée
playing by deafs. © Amicale des
anciens élèves de l’INJS de Paris
3 Shooting of L'abbé de l’Épée
by Michel Rouvière. Guy
Bouchauveau behind the camera.
© Michel Rouvière
7 Art’Pi!
© Archives from INJS
Completely unaware of the task he put together a range of methodical signs in order to
teach French mixing signs originating in his
pupils' interactions as well as signs of his
own invention. His teaching methods were
not perfect but through his efforts, which
have reached out beyond the borders of
France to other European countries as well
as the USA, he managed to open a new road.
Cinema, video, visual art...
next to the statue of abbé de
l'Épée. © Amicale des anciens élèves
The abbé de l’Épée teaching pupils
Émancipation des
Sourds-Muets. Deaf
illustrator.
Unknown name.
The abbé de l’Épée’s dream was to set up a
state-run school dedicated to the deafs. Two
years after his death, the French state set
up such an institution which remains active
today: the National Institute for the Young
Deafs (INJS), a Paris-based school in rue
Saint Jacques.
The Abbé de l'Épée and the Twin Sisters: a Deaf myth
The abbé de l'Épée
and
Twin Sisters :
aDeaf
the
myth
Every civilisation has rites, tales and myths. For hearing people and inside the Deaf
community, the abbé de l'Épée is often seen as a saviour guided by angels or praised by
many. His legend goes beyond all cultural differences as well as actualities. As an ethnologist
and a writer Yves Delaporte focuses on how this myth has been built.
The riddle behind the myth
A
The pupils gathered below the
statue of the Abbé de l'Épée, by
deaf-and-mute Felix Martin, in the
Institute of Saint Jacques. Litograph
by Auguste Colas, deaf-and-mute,
1879. © Archives from INJS
Right PAGE
Charles-Michel de l’Epée désigné
pour délivrer les sourds-muets.
Litograph by Joseph Cochefer (18491923). © Archives from INJS
Feast of the Central Society of
the deaf-and-mutes for the
anniversary of the Abbé
de l'Épée's death.
November 28th, 1886. Lithograph by
Auguste Colas. © Archives from INJS
great number of surprising misconceptions
surrounds the life story of the abbé de l'Épée.
He is often awarded for the invention of Sign
Language and the finger-spelling alphabet. When witnessed within the Hearing people community, such
misleading ideas are understandable: convinced as
they are that a genuine language can only be vocal,
they assume Sign Language is a mere transcoding
method of the French one. Therefore, only a hearing
man, teaching and caring for the deaf children, might
have created it. No more no less another evidence of
the widespread long-living ignorance about deafs. But
when deafs themselves are reproducing those kinds of
conceit–which happens a lot–this gets a little bit confusing. Here lies a difficult conundrum.
In order to solve the riddle, we have to refer to the
recount of the encounter between de l'Épée and the
famous twin sisters. The story–told over and over for
over two hundred years, mostly during the traditional feasts celebrating “the tremendous teacher of the
deaf-and-mutes”–has been set during a stormy night,
thunderbolts streaking dark sky. Looking for a shelter,
de l'Épée entered a gateway and caught sight of a light
coming from a dwelling. He ran into it and faced two
deaf twin sisters. Here darkness and unleashed Nature
are merely symbols of the confusion deafs were in at
the time whilst the light seen from the house of the
sisters holds the promise of a turning from ignorance
to culture.
A founding tale
The story contains every elements to make a good origin myth which is intended to explain in a way both
convincing and consistent to a group of human beings
who they are and where they come from in order to
unite them with common values. Back to his place de
l'Épée created Sign Language (or just the fingerspelling
alphabet, depending on the version) through the night.
The divinity within the recount also lies in the words
used to describe the fair clergyman. Most of them have
a tight relation with the religious field: “Apostle of the
deaf-and-mutes”, “Messiah of a too longly deprived
people”, “a new Redeemer”, “an angel coming from the
sky”...
This beautiful legend is built on other elements: the
fact that de l'Épée was an outstanding man, his almost
miraculous encounter with the twin sisters, the visit
the Austrian Emperor gave to the pupils of the school
that was in the rue des Moulins, the death of the abbot
after he refused to use his money to heat his room
and instead kept it for his works. Indeed by gathering
a group of deaf children in the same location for the
fisrt time in the history of the world, it is fair to say
that de l'Épée did initiate what in the nineteenth century was called “the deaf-and-mute nation”. Only one
piece was missing to make the myth complete: the
“Spiritual Father of the deaf-and-mutes” had to make
Sign Language up and offer it to them.
YVES DELAPORTE
8 Art’Pi!
9 Art’Pi!
10 Art’Pi!
Becoming Human thanks to signs
Becoming
Human signs
thanks
to
I
n the minds of many–as well as in arts–deafs are
often regarded as monsters, fools or lesser beings.
There is a lot of books about the way to treat them.
In a letter written in 1780 Pierre Desloges who became
deaf at the age of seven recounted that he had faced
“an endless struggle against poverty, insults, prejudice
and the most painful mockings from relatives, friends,
neighbours, colleagues…” who treated him as a “a fool,
an imbecile”.
Surdité, surdi-mutité et mutisme dans le théâtre français written by René Bernard (1941) provides a similar harsh account: “ Deaf-and-mutes were stuck in an
unenviable situation. Simple folk would avoid them
considering such an encounter as a bad omen. They
considered their presence to be lethal to pregnant
women, or accused them of bringing bad luck upon
their relatives”.
According to L'éducation des sourds-muets de naissance (1827) by Joseph-Marie Gérando the abbé de
l’Épée would have claimed “in several countries the
Deaf-and-mutes are executed, at the age of three
at the latest, since they are considered to be freaks”.
Ferdinand Berhier observed in his book L'abbé de l'Épée,
sa vie, son apostolat, ses travaux, sa lutte et ses succès
(1852) : “For centuries, these sad victims of nature were
weighed down by a barbarian prejudice. The indifferent
crowd looked down upon them as a new inferior race,
which lived amongst them. These unfortunate beings
languished as unwitting slaves: they awaited the
Messiah who would break off their chains”.
Sign language became
the key to the outside
world and the knowledge
of it enabling deaf people
to become human beings
amongst other human
beings.
Illustration
11
Art’Pi! : Elza Montllahuc
Not until 1760 was this situation to change. “A man
walked forth, whose powerful gaze said to the deaf and
dumb: You too shall be human!” (from L’abbé de l’Épée,
a play written by Bouilly in 1790). With the advent of de
l’Épée regards towards the deafs began to evolve. His
chance encounter with two deaf twin sisters who communicated in Sign Language made him see the injustice of prejudice against the deafs. From there he never
ceased to try and inform the rest of the world. The discovery of a language that was specific to them shed a
light on a simple truth: the deafs were able of thinking,
communicating amongst themselves and could thus
process knowledge if Sign Language were to be used.
Le Comité National
Français. First line spells
“Égalité” (Equality). Second
line spells “Humanité”
(Humanity).
“Sign Language liberates the deafs, it enables them
to be citizens and actors of the world they live in.”
(Christian Cuxac)
Denis Diderot (17131784), writer and
French philosopher, is
the author of Lettre
sur les sourds et muets
à l’usage de ceux qui
entendent et qui parlent
(1751). To bring the
proof that signs can give
access to the abstract, he
described a checkmate
game including a Deaf
man who warned
that the mate was
unavoidable.
Numerous works were to follow presenting the deafs
in a different more realistic and favourable light. Two
of such works are Éloge historique de Charles-Michel
de l’Épée, fondateur de l’Institution des Sourds-Muets
by French author Auguste Bebian (1819) and Finger's
Orchestra (1991) a manga by Osamu Yamamoto,
based on the true story of the Japanese teacher
Kiyoshi Takahashi. Both of these works show how Sign
Language was crucial in making the deafs fully human:
in their own eyes as well as to others. Bebian and
Takahashi were both hearing teachers, defenders of
Sign Language. Both were to play an important role in
the emancipation of the deafs, though living thousands
of miles and a century apart from each other.
DID YOU KNOW?
Éloge historique de
Charles-Michel de
l’Épée by Auguste
Bébian
The author
Roch-Ambroise Auguste Bébian (1789-1839) was born
in Guadeloupe and although he was a hearing man, he
was a fervent defender of Sign Language. Godson of
the abbé Sicard–director of the Institute for the deafand-mutes in Paris–he grew up amongst deafs who he
befriended and from whom he learned Sign Language.
He became a teacher at the Institute and authored
several essays on the topic of Sign Language. His preference of a genuine Sign Language over de l’Épée’s
methodical signs was controversial, given the evergrowing influence of oralism. He was ousted in 1821
but his pupil's never ceased to request his return–in
vain.
The book
Éloge historique de Charles-Michel de l’Épée has been
written and delivered in 1819, as part of a contest by
the Royal Academic Society of Science in Paris. Bebian
wan with this work who was judged as “well written
and well thought out”. The work paid vibrant homage
to de l’Épée as well as to “natural” Sign Language,
Roch-Ambroise Auguste Bébian painted by Marie Auguste Chassevent
© INJS Collection
12 Art’Pi!
demonstrating Bebian’s point of view regarding the
education of the deafs.
Main protagonist
The abbé de l’Épée (1712-1789)
How can Sign Language
make deafs human?
Auguste Bébian begins his demonstration by showing
in what absurd manner the deafs had been previously
rejected by their families, kept away from all sources of
knowledge and thereby from the History of Mankind.
“Through an absurd and humiliating prejudice, the
deafs were portrayed as some sort of automates
responsive to physical impressions–yet with a spirit
totally bereft of reason, and whose heart had never
been warmed up by emotion. Strangers within their
families, these children, abandoned by Providence
and Human beings, were rejected far from the heart
of society, because of their parents’ self-esteem, to a
place where they only inspired a humiliating feeling of
pity”.
Thanks to the abbé de l’Épée and to Sign Language,
the deafs gained the esteem of their peers as well as a
place in company of human beings. “The success of the
education of the deafs has given proof that they are
only different from common human beings by the prejudice from which they suffer and thus their parents
no longer have to be ashamed to have given birth to
them. The deaf-and-mutes can therefore appear with
no shame”. Thus deafs reached knowledge as well as
the right to live: “… and it appears that their numbers
have grown, since their situation has improved”.
In Bebian's mind, this improvement as well as the
change of perception of the deafs are undeniably due
to Sign Language. “The results obtained by several
teachers, each dedicated to the education of one or
two deaf children, are entirely due to the use, albeit
partial, of Sign Language, the only available means of
communication, in principle, between a teacher and a
deaf-and-mute pupil”.
L’abbé de l’Épée instruisant
ses élèves en présence de
Louis XVI by Gonzague Privat
BACKGROUND
First school for deaf-andmutes, 1876
A view of Éloge historique de Charles-Michel de
l’Épée by Bébian, provided by Geneviève Pomet
and Fabrice Bertin
Having arrived in Paris in 1802, at the age of thirteen,
Bebian–Sicard's godson–quickly established ties with
the Deaf community. Thoroughly impregnated with the
“mimics” of Sign Language his work could be renamed,
nowadays, An appraisal of Sign Language–a critical
study of the work of the abbé de l’Épée. The text, goes
far beyond a simple homage to the “father of the deafs”.
It is, first and foremost, a vibrant defense of the genuine
Sign Language, as opposed to de l’Épée’s methodological
signs. It is a text with many facets, addressing visionary
topics such as the role of deaf teachers, the benefits
of using Sign Language with hearing children, Sign
Language considered as a primary human language or a
universal language, etc.
Addressing all of these different themes, wishing to
make them intelligible and hoping to convince the reader
was no mean feat. To this purpose the figure of de l’Épée
turned useful. The clergyman had demonstrated, once
and for all, that deafs were receptive to education when
this was undertaken using their own language. Whilst
providing praise for this feat and for de l’Épée’s selfless
dedication, Bebian remained critical of his methodical
signs, considering that his pedagogical approach was
erroneous. This opinion was to be confirmed by Berthier
in his writings.
Bebian was utterly sincere in his praise of de l’Épée: “How
can we fail to admire the superiority of his efforts.” But
doing so he only paid homage to his moral qualities.
Indeed, Bebian considered that not only did the abbé de
13 Art’Pi!
l’Épée fail to follow his intuition, all the way out, but that
his pedagogical approach (the methodical signs) was
fundamentally misconceived. Bebian believed that the
methodical signs could even be harmful to pupils, and
reiterated this claim several times. The problem then
was how to express this position without taking away
from the great Man’s achievement and depreciating the
aura which surrounded him. Moreover, Bebian had to pay
attention not to offense those who truly admired the
abbot for fear of scaring away sponsors. Bebian ended
up by addressing two separate aproaches. On the one
hand, he addressed the moral issue where he praised de
l’Épée’s selfless dedication. On the other hand, he developed his arguments regarding the technical aspects of
education of the deafs, pointing out the critical factors to
guarantee its success. Yet, Bebian remained a marginal
figure, constantly struggling to gain supporters for his
cause, whilst fending off his opponents.
Even today this work remains visionary and rich but
deserves a deeper critical analysis. It is safe to assume
that the ideas have contributed to the emancipation of
the deafs–a goal that was to be further advanced by
Berthier. Bebian’s respect for the deafs and their culture,
his moral backbone, remain nowadays a rare commodity
in this field.
FABRICE BERTIN
GENEVIÈVE POMET
Association Bébian,
Un Autre Monde
Finger's orchestra
by Osamu Yamamoto
The author
Osamu Yamamoto
As a Japanese scenarist and
mangaka, he often evokes the
topics of disability and music
in his works. He published in
1988 Harukana Köshien before
Finger's orchestra. It is the true
story of a group of deaf high
school pupils who set up a
baseball team and attempt to
compete in a tournament, in spite of the opposition of
the baseball federation. The book was later adapted as
a feature film as well as a TV show. Yamamoto learned
Japanese Sign Language (JSL) in order to be capable of
correctly drawing these stories about the history of the
deafs in Japan.
The book
Finger's orchestra is a manga written in 1991, recounting the life of Kiyoshi Takahashi. It was inspired by
the autobiographical books ( The finger bones and
Sign Language is our heart ) by Yoriko Kawabuchi,
Takahashi’s adopted daughter, which deal with the
Deaf community in Japan. It is an emotional tour de
force which shows how Takahashi resisted the overwhelming move to an oralist education for the deafs,
which prevailed during his life time.
The main protagonist
Kiyoshi Takahashi (1890-1958)
Takahashi became the principal of the Osaka School for
the Deafs at the turn of the 20th century. Although he
was scorned for this, he persisted in advocating the use
of Sign Language, as well as individual projects for each
pupil, as a means for ensuring his pupils’ happiness.
He participated in the creation of the Japanese hand
alphabet which is still used nowadays, created the first
song in Sign Language and helped install in Japan the
tradition of commemorative banquets in honour of the
abbé de l’Épée.
How can Sign Language
make deafs human?
At the outset of the story, Takahashi meets Issaku
Toda, un young deaf boy from a hearing family. As a
recent arrival at the Osaka school for the Deafs and
Blinds, the child has a violent temper and is aggressive with his peers, shouts and is unable to understand what is being said to him. He steals food and in
return gets beaten, creating a vicious circle of violence
and rejection. The lack of any means of communication pushed Issaku into isolation where violence and
incomprehension prevail. Issaku and Takahashi discover together Sign Language, the only path left to them
as they seek mutual comprehension of the world.
A small girl, Matsue,
shows Issaku that
each object can be represented
by a sign, that all things can
be named, that he himself has
a name.
Finger's orchestra, volume 1 to 4 by Osamu Yamamoto
© 2006 Éditions Milan
14 Art’Pi!
Through Sign Language and the visual dimension
which it introduces, he can at last understand the
world surrounding him and communicate with others.
Sign Language provides Issaku with access to the
world which surrounds him, thereby giving him a name
and making him into a fully-fledged citizen.
Painted portray of Kiyoshi
Takahashi © Photo by
Naomiki Sato
BACKGROUND
Cherry tree's flowers
from Japan
© Hiroyoshi Takeda
Interview with Naomiki Sato, translator of
Finger's orchestra into French
What was your role
in the translation of this work?
I arrived in France seventeen years ago, in
order to carry out my studies in the field of
linguistics. Before leaving for France, I met
with an interpreter from JSL to Japanese.
After spending a year in France, I wished
to study French Sign Language (LSF).
I registered for a course in Paris and in
parallel I followed the course on the subject of LSF given by Christian Cuxac in a university
of Paris. While in Japan I ran into Finger's orchestra at a
local bookstore and was profoundly moved. Years later I
ventured to propose a French adaptation of this work to
several book editors whom I had already worked with.
Eventually it was the Éditions Milan, a Toulouse-based
editor which accepted this project, thereby launching
me on this adventure. Wishing to add an authentic
“Deaf dimension” to the translation. I joined forces with
Fabrice Bertin, met through mutual friends, who was
experienced in the field of education of the deafs. He
offered significant help in translating the manga.
Were you familiar with
the Japanese Deaf community?
Not at all, nor do I know JSL, since my discovery of the
deafs and Sign Language was made in France. I have
only a superficial knowledge of the Japanese Deaf scene
thanks to my Japanese friends, both deaf and hearing. I
have the impression that the French and the Japanese
deafs reacted very differently to the forbidding of signing
in specialised schools for the deafs. In spite of this situation, the French were able to relay their Sign Language
on to future generations, whereas in Japan there are
deaf people who have no knowledge whatsoever of Sign
Language in spite of the fact that they were educated in
specialised schools for the deafs. I attribute this to a spirit of résistance which has prevailed in France.
What difference do you see between
the Deaf scene in France and in Japan?
I have learned that signed Japanese (a signed version
of spoken Japanese, rather than a fully-fledged Sign
Language) has become a standard form of communication for the hearing impaired or for those whose deafness is recent. The existence of signed japanese has
created serious confusion in Japan, and it is often this
version which is taught as the Japanese version of Sign
Language. There is a single private school (primary and
junior high) with a program based on JSL and written
Japanese, but in other specialised schools, JSL has no
official status. I consider it to be a serious step forward
that the use of Sign Language in schools is not forbidden
as it was.
What did working on this manga give you?
Firstly, it significantly increased my knowledge of deafness and Sign Language. I am most pleased to have introduced to the French public the figure of Mr. Takahashi
who was an admiror of the abbé de l’Épée and who organised an annual banquet in his honour at a time when
oral methods had virtually conquered the entire field. I
keep in touch with Ms. Kawabuchi these days, and she is
also very happy that her father is known in France, home
of the abbé de l’Épée.
Human no matter what
The abbé de l’Épée changed the mindset of many,
throughout the world, when he recognised the role of
Sign Language as a stepping stone to knowledge and
to citizenship. Others, like-minded, such as Bebian and
Takahashi, who took his teachings, yet further, followed
him. In spite of their valiant efforts, prejudice and scorn
towards minorities die hard and many works still present the deafs as disabled, invalids, beings in need of
repair. Changing people's view is still a long way. Yet
the life work of the abbé de l’Épée continues to be celebrated throughout the world. No matter what, going
back is no longer an option. What de l’Épée revealed
will remain, forever, inscribed in the annals of history.
SOPHIE LAUMONDAIS
15 Art’Pi!
Signes de rue / COMIC Strip
SIGNES DE RUE
Had the Abbé de l’Épée never existed what
would Deaf culture be like today?
Fabien
Alban
Rachid
Brigitte
Bruno
Nicolas
Thomas
Annette
Others would have taken his
place, for sure! Either deaf or
hearing. IVT for instance was
created by Alfredo Corrado, a deaf
American. It is likely that other
people would have opened specialised school for the deafs.
There would have necessarily
been other people, but probably
later. Maybe 200 or 250 years
later. We can also suppose that
the Milan Congress would never
have happened. How is one to
know?
In any case, the deaf people
would not have remained passive
for much longer. Something had
to happen, one way or the other.
It’s difficult to imagine how things
would have turned out without
him. I suppose that Deaf culture
and art would have developed
anyway, but differently. We would
be using different signs and
France would not have been the
first country to create a school run
in Sign Language.
One shouldn’t get confused
between Deaf culture and the
abbé de l’Épée.
Deaf culture was around long
before him. He acted as a
catalyst, amongst many others.
He demonstrated to influential
hearing people that the deafs
had a language of their own. It
happened to be him, but it could
have been another.
He was a unique personality. He
was the first to encourage deaf
people to read and to write. He
also gave them a sense of a shared effort, by creating boarding
schools for the deaf. What if he
were never to encounter the two
deaf sisters but a lonely deaf
instead? How would he have witnessed Sign Language in action?
Deaf culture may not have
developed as much without him.
It could have been worse, taken a
hundred years or even longer to
emerge. The abbé de l’Épée gave
deaf people the basis for all that
was to come: education. From
there, they handled things and
went in different directions: first
sports and then art and culture.
Who knows how things would
have looked like today?
CATHERINE COINTE http://monde-catherinecointe.blogspot.com
16 Art’Pi!
It is likely that none of what was
to follow would ever have taken
place. Since he was the son of
Louis 14th’s architect he was well
introduced into influential circles,
and was already open to art,
which allowed him to introduce
the deafs to art and culture
through education.
Even without the abbé de l’Épée,
we would never have given up.
Other historical figures are
even more important for the
Deaf community, like Ferdinand
Berthier, for instance.
E AT
17 Art’Pi!
SIGN
LOVE
18 Art’Pi!
Jean le Sourd by Yann Cantin, Céline Rames and Dano
Jean le Sourd
by Yann Cantin, Céline Rames and Dano
At last, a comic book that highlights the Deaf community during the Age of Enlightenment!
Dano
Yann Cantin & Céline Rames
First comic book about the deafs
during the 18th century
The story of deaf people
intertwined with History
ith this book the three authors take their first
step into the Comics world. Although each
of them comes from a different universe,
they are unquestionably complementary. Yann as a
historian keeps on digging with inquisitiveness into
archives to know about the History of the deafs. Celine
as a stage director creates stories full of sensitivity.
And the illustrator Dano adds a brilliant visual touch to
books.
It's a pretty unique and original production which has
been made up by these three authors who chose to
write a historical comic book through the daily life of
deaf people. Our attention is focused on the habits and
everyday stories of the deafs in order to eventually
recount History, the recorded one of the French
revolution. Thus we find out with satisfaction and
surprise the cheerfulness of the deafs and their passion
for Sign Language in spite of all the obstructions and
frustrations they might encounter at the time.
W
Cover of Jean Le Sourd
© Monica Companys
ON THE LEFT
Extract from Jean Le Sourd
© Monica Companys
Sketches of
Pierre Desloges–an actual
deaf personnality–and
Jean le Sourd
19 Art’Pi!
Since 2007, they have put their great abilities together
to create a book foregrounding the interactions
between the abbé de l’Épée and the 18th century Paris
Deaf community. The story is about Jean, a young
deaf orphan working as a cabinet maker. He will be
at the same time a witness–and an actor–of History
with a capital H, the History of the deafs as well as the
master of his own destiny. Page after page he will meet
famous characters such as the abbé de l’Épée or Pierre
Desloges, but also a young and charming deaf teacher.
The goal of Celine, Dano and Yann was to create a lively
and human comics about the Paris Deaf community.
They manage to show that the 18th century did indeed
enlighten France, the World and the deaf people. This
century has been a symbol of social and intellectual
revolutions and permitted the rise of Sign Language
until the crucial day that would be shaking the Deaf
community for a long time. But that is another story.
Maybe Dano, Yann and Céline will be happy to tell it in
another book.
Jean le Sourd by Yann Cantin, Céline Rames and Dano
The authors
The making of this book–
though it took a very
long time–was a nice, a
really nice adventure.
Yann Cantin is a specialist in History of the
deafs. He is currently
preparing at the EHESS
(School of High Studies in
Social Sciences) a thesis
about the deaf-andmutes during the Belle
Époque and is a scholar
at the CNRS (National
Centre for Scientific
Research).
A very interesting
team work, with rich
discussions about
History.
Daniel Le Coq aka Dano
is a draughtsman. He
worked as a freelance
graphic artist and illustrator for Le Dernier des
Sourds (The last of the
Deafs) with Claire Garguier
and Didier Flory, Picto
Mag with Laurent Valo,
La Montagne du Silence
(The Mountain of Silence)
and Les Signes Bleus
(Blue Signs).
DID YOU KNOW?
François Rabelais
(1494-1553), author
of Gargantua and
Pantagruel, had used
deaf figure and Sign
Language several times.
For him deafs were
skilled with double vision
and the capacity to read
into the future.
20 Art’Pi!
I sure hope
there will be
a continuation, but not
too soon ;-)
Céline Rames is coordinator and manager of
cultural projects for Art’Sign association since
2007. Stage director by training, she works on
theatrical creations mixing deaf and hearing
artists.
Jean le Sourd
Colour comic book,
limited edition
Publishing : Monica
companys
Support : Association
Art’Sign
Authors : Dano, Yann
Cantin et Céline Rames
Suitable for all ages,
21 x 28 cm, 84 pages
(including a 10-page
documentary section)
Release date : september
2012
The dates for autograph
tour are available on the
website :
www.art-sign.org
A translation in English is currently
examined.
If you want to keep in touch about
it, please send a mail via the website www.monica-companys.com
ARNAUD BALARD &
SOPHIE LAUMONDAIS
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21 Art’Pi!
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ADVICE & EXPERTISE
Painters and sculptors, a forgotten glory
Painters and aforgotten
sculptors,
glory
Today in France, few deaf people succeed in the visual arts (paintings, sculptures, drawings ...). But has it always
been the case? What about the time of the abbé de l’Épée? Research on the History of the deafs in France are only
twenty-five years old, so that precise information about artists is still very rare. Yann Cantin, historian, shares his
discoveries with us.
Delay in France
I
n France it seems that deaf artists were few during
the Renaissance (a period of cultural and artistic
renewal which originated in Italy in the 15th century
and spread throughout Europe in the 16th century). The
artistic models radiating at the time are Italian. Deaf
artists, such as Cristoforo De Predis, Milan illuminator
(around 1440–around 1486) and Bernardino di Betto,
better known as Pinturicchio (1454-1513) were widely
famous. From Spain Baroque art was exported
including artists such as Juan Fernandez Navarette, a
deaf painter also known as El Mudo (1526-1579).
Self-portrait by Pinturicchio
(Bernadino di Betto)
Deaf pupils in the class
of abbé de l’Épée
French artists' influence grew later on. France getting
out of the Hundred Years’ War in 1453 displayed an art
of old-fashioned Gothic style and would only discover
the Italian Renaissance in the 1470s. It had been able to
flourish and impose its style only for a very short time
between the years 1480 and 1550, before plunging into
the Wars of Religion (1562-1598). French artists being
quite unknown, the deaf artists were even less so.
They had to wait until the 18th century and the
oncoming of de l’Épée to be referenced. At the time
deafs were much more easily seen as part of society
than other minorities (maimed, blind, etc.). Living
standards being harsh, poverty widespread, if a deaf
infant was able work he would do so. The tasks being
mostly manual, physical skills overrode any other
deficiency.
Thus, many deaf men became farmers, butchers or
craftsman but also sculptors, engravers and painters.
The workers were not identified as deaf nor did their
artwork mention the use of Sign Language as it can
be seen now. They only were typical paintings and
sculptures of the era considered the same way than
any other work. The deafs’ main goal was to show that
they were able to do quality works just like anyone
else, or even better. The abbé de l’Épée providing free
education allowed them to climb the social ladder
much faster than the hearing people.
Claude-André Deseine (1740-1823), former student of
the abbé de l’Épée, is the first deaf artist who can be
precisely tracked back. He is known for his sculptures
and his political views in favor of the French Revolution.
LEFT PAGE
Deaf artists during
the exhibition of the
Silent artists in 1912
for the bicentenary of
abbé de l'Épée.
© Archives from Amicale
des anciens élèves
de l'INJS de Paris
Statue of the abbé de
l'Épée by Félix Martin in
the INJS courtyard, Paris.
Drawing by Auguste Colas
22 Art’Pi!
23 Art’Pi!
Gustave-Nic
Léopold Loustau (1815-18
Abbé de l'Épée (1712-1789)
XVIIIth century
XIXth centur
French Revolution
(1789)
Claude-André Deseine (1740-1823)
The Golden Age
During La Belle Époque, from
the 1830s, the number of
deaf artists increased. The
painter Leopold Loustau
(1815-1897), alumni of
Saint-Jacques, and the
sculptor Gustave-Nicolas
Hennequin (1834 -1918),
a former student in Nancy
School for the deaf were the
first ones ever to participate
in the Salon des Artistes
which took place every
year. This show exhibited
the greatest artists from
France and abroad: Manet,
Monet, Renoir, Degas, Rodin,
Claudel, etc. From them until
the 1930’s two generations
of deaf artists would follow.
The Indian bear hunters
by Douglas Tilden.
DID YOU KNOW?
Pierre Pélissier
(1814-1863) is a unique
widely famous poet.
His pieces of poetry
even caught Alphonse
de Lamartine’s (17901869) attention.
24 Art’Pi!
Deafs competed on equal
terms with major artists in
this very selective exhibition.
Whoever entered it was sure
to enjoy a national reputation, be commissioned by the government and even
sell artworks to them.
Paul Choppin (1856-1937) received an order for a sculpture of Dr. Brocca (it disappeared during the Second
World War because it was melted to re-use the bronze).
The painter Armand Berton (1854-1927) was also one
of the most regular artist of the Salon and many of his
works has been appearing in museums. Felix Martin,
cousin in-laws of Gustave Hennequin, has been one of
the most famous sculptors because of his statue of de
l’Épée standing in the courtyard of the INJS in Paris.
These artists standed for the elite of the Deaf community and were often participating in de l’Épée's
anniversary banquets. These feasts were organized
to extend social networks of the deafs by inviting personalities from the Hearing world. Subsequently they
were mainly used by the deafs to get together, use Sign
Language and fight against the rise of oralism.
Between the years
1870 and 1920
the French deaf artists
had had many students.
They seem to have been influent abroad, especially
in the United States. The first American deaf painters
and sculptors who moved to France to get a training
there were Douglas Tilden (1860-1935) and Granville
Redmond (1871-1935) who had been remaining the
most famous. Redmond played in Charlie Chaplin's
movies and taught him ASL (American Sign Language).
Self-portrait by Léopold
Loustau.
© Archives from the Amicale
des anciens élèves de l’INJS
de Paris
Surprise by a deaf artist.
Unknown name.
© Archives from INJS.
Armand Berton (1854-1927)
René Princeteau (1849-1914)
colas Hennequin (1834-1918)
Universal Museum of the Deaf-and-mutes
(1920)
897)
y
Belle Époque (1870-1914)
XXth century
Musée universel des sourds-muets
(1892)
Congrès de Milan
(1880)
Disappearance of the Universal
Museum of the Deaf-and-mutes
(1968)
Paul Choppin (1856-1937)
Douglas Tilden (1860-1935)
Fernand Hamar (1869-1943)
Paul Choppin and his statue of the abbé de l'Épée
© Archives from the Amicale des anciens élèves de l'INJS de Paris.
La Belle Époque has been a flourishing art period,
with a large range ofdeaf artists performing in every
field. As far as France is concerned, some fifty names
are referenced. Fernand Hamar (1869-1943) and Paul
Choppin are the last emblematic deaf sculptors of the
French Belle Époque.
The initiation of a decline
Educational reforms had a great impact in France and
in countries that applied the recommendations of the
1880 Congress of Milan. Giving up intellectual education for the benefit of oral education, specialized institutions did not allow the new generations to flourish
intellectually. Thus, the deaf artists became fewer and
fewer over the years.
The Seniors decided to found the Salon des Artistes
Silencieux in the 1920s in an attempt to interest young
people in the art. But after the 1940s mainstreaming
deaf artists were nowhere to be seen. There have
been since drawing artists, recreational painters, but
no longer on a professional level. Many artworks had
disappeared, were damaged or melted to re-use materials. Only some of them were saved and restored by
the Universal Museum of the Deaf-and-Mutes.
In France after a hiatus of forty or fifty years, since the
beginning of the 1970’s deaf artists are slowly re-emerging. But will they manage to overcome those of la Belle
Époque? It is too early to tell, so wait and see.
YANN CANTIN & SOPHIE LAUMONDAIS
Exhibition of the
Silent artists, 1912
25 Art’Pi!
Cover of the “Salon
International des artistes
Silencieux” catalog.
© Archives from the Amicale
des anciens élèves de l'INJS
de Paris.
Galerie
The artists and the Organization Committee of Deaf artists exhibition
1st line : MM. Vivien (standing) / O. Chéron / A. Colas / F. Martin / V. Collignon / G. Hennequin / B. Thonon / A. Legrand
2nd line : MM. J. Ebstein / L. Lambert / Mlle J. Bomsel / M. J. Gras / Mlle J. Léothand / MM. Graff / R. Hirsh / Mme P. Choppin /
MM. E. Monlin / F. Plessis / M. Colas
3rd line : MM. L. Morice / G. Picaud / Tournaude / Asser / Paul Choppin / F. Hamar / Y. Uffler
© Archives from the Amicale des anciens élèves de l'INJS de Paris
26 Art’Pi!
Félix Plessis
in his workshop
© ARSCA
Paul Choppin
Statue of Dr. Brocca
Léon Morice
in his workshop
© Archives from the
Amicale des anciens
élèves de l'INJS de Paris
27 Art’Pi!
Art’Pi! 27
A committed sculptor
A committed
sculptor
Claude-André Deseine (1740-1823)
B
orn in Paris on Tuesday, April 12th 1740, he was
the eldest of eight children brotherhood and the
only deaf in a family of carpenters and locksmiths. At age 22, when his great-uncle died, he received
a 100 french pound pension for life which was a sufficient amount of money to live comfortably. When his
father died in 1777, the regency of the family estate
was given to his mother because he was unable to read
nor to write (and not because he was deaf). Later he
learned a bit of reading and writing with de l’Épée, and
signed his works by “Deseine, deaf and mute.”
At age 38 he joined the Royal Academy of Painting and
Sculpture (state institute from 1648 to 1793, created to
raise the artists's status and to distinguish it from the
craftsman’s one) with his brother Louis Pierre Deseine
(1749-1822), sculptor as well. He became student of
one of the most famous artists of the time, Augustin
Pajou (1730-1809).
During one of the many art competitions organized
by the Royal Academy, he was awarded with the third
price: a great honour that no French deaf artist had
received before. Gradually, the sculptor's reputation
spread in the aristocratic milieu and he received several orders.
From 1789 to 1794, committed to the French
Revolution’s cause (unlike his brother, sculptor of
Prince de Conde and loyal to the Bourbon dynasty),
his former works on busts and sculptures of aristocrats’ figure gave way to those of revolutionaries like
Mirabeau, Robespierre, Danton's wife, etc.
Portray of Claude-André
Deseine. Sanguine by Louis-
Pierre Deseine (1749-1822),
his brother.
© Archives from INJS.
Committed to the Revolution’s cause,
his works on busts of aristocrats’ figure
gave way to those like Robespierre ...
After Robespierre's fall, Deseine, considered too close
to the Montagnards (Robespierre’s political group sitting on the left side of the assembly), experienced a
decrease of the numbers of orders. When his mother
died in 1795, his brother became curator. The archives
show that the brother didn’t seem to be very open to
the requests of his elder brother. This would explain
the financial aid that had been regularly granted to him
by the government.
Claude-André Deseine died in December, 23th 1823 in
Gentilly Petit, in a small elderly home.
YANN CANTIN & SANDRINE RINCHEVAL
Bust of the Abbé de l’Épée The bust is famous because it is the only one that have been
created during the lifetime of the abbot. The clergyman had always refused that his
features would be reproduced, not willing to enter vanity. The sculptor offered it to the
National Assembly in 1791. © Archives de l’INJS
28 Art’Pi!
Busts of Maximilien
Robespierre, terra-cotta
made in 1791 and 1792,
Museum of the French
Revolution, Vizille and
Conciergerie, Paris
Even today the bust of
Maximilian Robespierre is
mentioned as one of the
few authentic portraits
of the Incorruptible
(nickname given to
Robespierre because of
his uncompromising and
virtuous character). This
bust catches the eye by
its psychological features:
vivacity of the gaze, a
natural authority and the
sense of voluntarism of
Robespierre are perfectly
reproduced by Deseine.
A tour you mustn't miss
Exhibition Claude-André Deseine et la Révolution
Française, at la Conciergerie de Paris.
LSF visits from November 19 to 24 November. SI visits
on request. Contact the CMN (National Monuments
Centre): public.sourd@monuments-nationaux.fr
Mortuary bust Antoinette
Gabrielle Danton, bronze
and plaster, made in 1793,
Museum of Troyes
Bust of Mirabeau, plaster, made in 1791,
Museum of Fine Arts, Rennes
In April 1791, in a competition launched in memory of
Mirabeau, the bust made of plaster by Claude-André
Deseine from the death mask of the deceased, won
the votes. This bust is defined as providing “a perfect
likeness, the expression and the energy” of the famous
orator of the people that was Mirabeau.
29 Art’Pi!
In 1793, Deseine painted
the portrait of Antoinette
Gabrielle Danton, Georges
Danton's wife, who died
after the birth of her
fourth child. It is said that
three weeks after her
death, the revolutionary
man fetched for ClaudeAndré at his shop on the
Faubourg Saint Marceau
and brought him to the
cemetery. In the middle
of the night, the wife's
coffin was exhumed for
the sculptor to make a
death mask and produce
a posthumous bust of
Antoinette Gabrielle. This
scene is visible in the
film Danton, with Gerard
Depardieu.
30 Art’Pi!
The Universal Museum of the Deaf-and-mutes
The universal Museum
of the
deaf-and-mutes
There was a time when many deaf artists would create artworks and won competitions
considered as they were equal to hearing people. Did you know that, in 1892, a Universal
Museum of the deaf-and-mutes was created in Paris to immortalize that prestigious era?
Well, Yves Bernard–a former INJS(*) teacher–discovered some traces of it in 1970.
A
fter he abbé de l'Épée had died, his work was
continued, and the deafs were still taught and
kept blossoming. The best students from the
Paris Deaf-and-Mutes Institute (currently the National
Institute for Young Deafs, located in St Jacques street),
would become engravers, cabinetmakers, photographers, painters, sculptors. They would be welcomed in
the greatest art schools where they would be taught by
the greatest masters. Many deafs won awards during
competitions in France and abroad. But the era was also
rich with discoveries, and developments in other fields,
and medical doctors as well as other scholars showed
quickly a keen interest in deafness. An oralist philosophy spread little by little and eventually prevailed in
1880 during the Milan Congress which from then forbade the use of Sign Language.The deaf teachers were
dismissed. The teaching was then orientated towards
speech access rather than knowledge resulting on the
fall of the pupils' marks. Older deaf generations began
to feel nostalgic towards their glorious past. They who
thanks to the abbé de l'Épée and to signs had shown
the world their skills and knowledge, became according
to oralism different creatures that had to be “fixed”.
A museum to glorify the past
It was made up of two sections: a historical section, with
all the pieces about the art of teaching the deafs, and
an artistic section, gathering pieces from deaf artists.
There were busts, medallions, photographies… from
Choppin, Colas, Deseine, Etienne de Fay… the paintings
Les derniers moments de l'abbé de l'Épée by Peyson,
Une leçon de l'abbé de l'Épée by Ginouvier, Carnot
à Wattignies by Loustau, and many others. Works
awarded during competitions in France or abroad were
displayed in a showcase. In 1896, 2,096 art works were
displayed in a large hall under the present theatre of
the Institute. The elite of the deaf Society, including
former deaf teachers, artists, famous craftsmen, perfectly bilingual deaf journalists would contribute to its
enrichment.
“Museums are spaces
where time freezes and
memory awakens.”
On Sunday, november 29th, 1891, as the 179th anniversary of the abbé de l'Épée was celebrated, the honorary
president of the day, Théophile Denis, a civil servant
at the Ministry of Interior, declared: “...One would be
surprised to meet, as if by chance, a deaf-mute who
wouldn’t be a total ignorant [...] So in order to try and
make appreciate the world of the deaf-and-mutes as
it is worth, I am working at gathering in a dedicated
museum all the elements that can make you better
known.”
From 1875, Denis started to build up a collection inside
the Paris National Institute for the Deaf-and-mutes,
gathering a few pieces about the history of the institute. He wanted to reward the philanthropic greatness of donors, administrators, thinkers, philosophers,
pedagogues and medical doctors who, since Antiquity,
contributed to the recognition of deaf people's educability. The gallery successful as it was, was planned to
be extended to a world level. This is how the Universal
Museum of the deaf-and-mutes has been created.
Universal Museum of deaf-and-mutes in the INJS
31 Art’Pi!
Portray of Théophile Denis
LEFT PAGE
Une leçon de l’abbé de l’Épée,
Oil on canvas inspired by a
painted sketch by Frédéric
Peyson, 1891. By Nachor
Ginouvier, deaf-and-mute
© Collection from INJS
The Universal Museum of the Deaf-and-mutes
Museum curator from father to son
In 1932, my father, René Bernard (1907-1985) entered
the Institute. With the help of the administration, he
published the catalogue of the library since nothing
substantial existed before 1940. He got back to the job
of librarian only after he had retired and until he died,
i.e from 1973 to 1985. His contribution to the Museum
was purely cultural, as he was very interested in Arts.
He was often asked for advice about the history of
some works, their myths and other researches.
After 1968, the Museum disappeared as the number
of services increased, the works were stocked at
many risks: destruction, dust, dryness and heat from
overheated cellars. As for me, I discovered how the
pieces of the Museum had been neglected in the cellars
of the Institute in 1979, as I was looking for a full-length
portrait of Bebian by Chassevent. I then turned to the
headmaster of the time, Mr. Dessaint who immediately
got me in touch with the IFROA (French Institute
for the Restoration of Art Pieces). I was therefore
involved in the salvation of art works, as responsible
of documentation, in addition to my job as a teacher.
Les derniers moments de
l’abbé de l’Épée by Frédéric
Peyson, deaf-and-mute,
1839 © INJS collection
ON THE RIGHT
Cover of the catalog for
the deaf-and-mutes
Museum–a historical and
artistic collection from the
National Institute for Deafand-Mutes in Paris.
Abbé Sicard
According to a writer who had visited it, the Museum
was supposed to “dash the ignorance and prejudices
of some people and set the victims of this ignorance
and those prejudices back to the place they deserve in
society”. But as time went by the Museum turned away
from its true humanist grounds that aimed at giving a
soul to an unknown part of humanity. The discourse
of founders, and more particularly Théophile Denis’s,
was eventually altered, promoting the oral method
in France. Denis would even end up inviting the abbé
Balestra–the most fanatic advocate of oralism–to the
Paris Institute.
In the book Silent Poetry, Nicholas Mirzoeff dares to
describe the Museum as the celebration of a lesser
culture doomed to disappear. In the end of the 19th
century and beginning of the 20th century, a sick
curiosity arose within the public opinion towards the
Museum, associating it to the study of a pathology, a
kind of human zoo, showing the gap between exotic or
different beings and the so-called “normal” civilization.
From 1912, the State refused to employ people seen as
“disabled”. The best pupils from the typography, print,
bookbinding and engraving workshops could no longer
find jobs to fulfill their success. Pupils would go back
to their families after a seven year instruction without
signs. This meant for a large number of them to be cast
aside from any intellectual, relational and social life.
DID YOU KNOW?
In the work of Jérôme-Martin Langlois (1806)
Sicard au milieu d’un groupe d’élèves, the sentence
“Way to articulate sounds through pressure feeling”
is written on the black board. During the painting’s
restoration, a previous inscription voluntarily
hidden so far reappeared. It was a quotation from
Massieu reading “the gratitude is the heart’s
memory”.
32 Art’Pi!
Apart from the Bebian’s painting it was a set of bronze
plates by Felix Martin about the life of the abbé de
l'Épée that impressed me most. I do remember too
carrying a portrait which paint covering looked like
small macaronis. I thought that nothing could be
done to restore that painting cooked by the heat and
the dryness of the old cellars of the INJS. IFROA called
me a few months later asking me to identify restored
paintings. One of them didn’t ring any bell to me as I
had never seen it. I thought they had made a mistake,
and they replied that I had been right to give them a
work that seemed lost forever. It was the painting
burnt by time that they had dunked in a bath so the
re-humidified paint would lay down back on the
canvas. A miracle.
Apart from bringing up pieces from the cellar, a real
removing work, most of my work consisted in hours
of readings and researches in the Paris library–mainly
pre-1947 deaf newspapers and specialized magazines.
After the school was renovated, the art works were
put back in institutional areas: meeting halls, walking
areas were named after famous pedagogues–Hall
Bebian, Hall Berthier–where busts and paintings were
displayed. Pupils, members of the staff and any visitor
can freely access this patrimonial dimension, the roots
of a history which secrets are kept in the library.And
on the occasion of commemorations, these works
come to life again, accorded to their initial goal: the
recognition of a difference more and more respected
as an heritage we all share. Still, many works remain
stocked in various places in the Institute, waiting to be
brought back to light soon.
YVES BERNARD & SOPHIE LAUMONDAIS
(*) Institut National
de Jeunes Sourds in Paris,
formerly, Institut National
des Sourds-Muets (INS-M).
33 Art’Pi!
Universal Museum of deaf-and-mutes
© Archives from the Amicale des anciens élèves de l'INJS de Paris
Bas-reliefs carved in bronze by Charles Marie Félix Martin (1846-1916),
picturing the life of abbé de l’Épée, 1909 © INJS Collection
Deaf influence on celebrities
influence
Deafcelebrities
on
Famous artists have been influenced at some point in their careers by Deaf acquaintances who offered them–one
way or the other–help, support and knowledge. Here are some of them.
Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901)
student of René Princeteau (1849-1914)
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a painter and
lithographer. He was famous both for his disordered
way of life and his paintings about Paris Cabarets,
especially Le Moulin Rouge, depicting so vices and
reality of life. His work influenced important artists
such as Picasso and Matisse.
Charles Chaplin (1889-1977),
friend and colleague with Granville
Redmond (1871-1935)
C
harlie Chaplin as an actor, film-maker, producer
and scenarist is seen as an icon of silent movies.
His most memorable on-screen character was
the Tramp (also known as Charlot in several languages)
a sophisticated vagrant wearing a bowler hat and
holding a cane.
Granville Redmond was a deaf painter and was seen
as a leading exponent of California Impressionism.
Because of World War I, the number of orders for
paintings decreased and he took a stab at cinema.
While in Los Angeles he became friend with Charlie
Chaplin who impressed by his skills gave him a studio
on the movie lot, collected his paintings, and sponsored
him in silent acting roles. In return Redmond taught
him pantomime and Sign Language. We can watch
Chaplin using the signs “Child” and “Baby” in A Dog's
Life.
Chaplin has been admired for the amazing
expressiveness of his features
and body. He was the only
actor performing without any
lip movement or enunciation.
He experienced a tremendous
success and became the most
famous silent actor. Living daily
with a deaf person certainly
helped.
ABOVE
Extract from You'd Be
Surprised (1926)
34 Art’Pi!
Poster of
A Dog's Life
René Princeteau is a famous deaf painter whose
favorite topic was horse scenes. Neighbour and friend
with Henri’s dad, he taught him how to draw. He shortly
noticed the skills of the 7 years old boy and convinced
the family to work on them. At age 17, Henri entered
Princeteau’s workshop. He quickly overcame his master
and even succeeded in reproducing perfectly one of his
pieces. In a letter sent to the family, Princeteau seems
ecstatic: “Young Henri de Toulouse is valiantly workin
in my workshop and make some marvelous progress
with me. He tends to mimic me as a monkey would.”
Lautrec suffering from physical malformations was
impressed by this tall elegant painter who seemed to
overcome his deafness. As they became friends the
two of them kept meeting until the death of the young
prodigy at age 37. Toulouse-Lautrec painted more than
6,000 pieces and had never ceased to regard Princeteau
as his master.
Toulouse-Lautrec photographed by a friend, Paul
Sescau. Around 1800-1890
Painting by Lautrec.
René Pinceteau in his
workshop.
Mona Lisa
by Leonardo Da Vinci
© Louvre Museum
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519)
hosted by Cristoforo De Predis
(around 1440-around 1486)
Leonardo Da Vinci was a multi-talented genius
(drawings, paintings, sculptures, architecture, urbanism…) and a visionary man who broadly marked Art
History. With infinite curiosity this man would explore
new ways of expressing his ideas and would even use
Sign Language in his paintings. In Treaty of Painting,
he considered hearing a lesser skill than seeing and
commended the use of signs which according to him
enabled “to reintegrate life in a period of pictorial art
renewal”. He used finger-spelling in paintings such as
The Last Supper or St John the Baptist (the finger is
pointing upward forming the letter D for “Dio”– “god”)
and so added a speaking dimension to them.
The reasons why
Da Vinci was so
interested by the
deafs and their
signs stands
in his several
encounters with
them. One of his
studying mates
Il Perugino had
a deaf assistant, Bernardino di Betto (Il Pinturicchio),
one of the greatest fresco painters of the Renaissance.
Around 1483, in Milan, Leonardo worked and lived in De
Predis brothers’ workshop where he met Cristoforo De
Predis, a deaf miniaturist and illuminator. The genius
was thrilled by Cristoforo’s deftness but nevertheless
worked with the other brothers, Ambrogio and Evangelista, on Madonna of the Rocks. He was also very close
to Giralmo Cardano who stated–according to Rudolph
Agricola’s De inventione d'Agricola dialectica–that deafs
could learn how to read and write without learning how
to speak first.
All these encounters obviously influenced Da Vinci’s
works. It has been even said that the face of Mona
Lisa–his most famous painting–may have been the
one of a deaf woman. Given what his life seemed to be,
it may actually be so. Unfortunately, we have no proof.
MIDDLE
Morte del Sole, della Luna
e caduta delle stelle by
Cristoforo De Predis
© Torino, Biblioteca Reale
35 Art’Pi!
Portray of Lon Chaney,
1926
Lon Chaney (1883-1930),
child from deaf parents
Leonidas Frank Chaney aka Lon Chaney was a cinema
actor and make-up artist. He was famous for his
transformation abilities and was nicknamed “The man
of a Thousand Faces”. As an expert of pantomime he
would–when performing the role of a disabled person–
inflict tortures on himself in order to look more realistic. His contortions are his brand mark.
As a child of deaf parents, he learnt Sign Language and
was aware of body language. During family reunion,
he would entertain by acting short pieces and miming
what he saw on the streets. He got his first act at age
19 and then climbed rapidly the social ladder to the top.
He knew how to perform realistically using accurate
and profound body moves.
At the end of his life he suffered from a throat cancer
and lost the ability to speak. His only way to communicate was Sign Language. He died on August, 26th 1930,
at age 47. The movie L'homme aux mille visages tells
the story and career of this man who influenced a large
number of contemporary actors by his unique acting.
SOPHIE LAUMONDAIS & PAULINE STROESSER
DID YOU KNOW?
Joachim du Bellay (15221560), member of the
Pleiade, is the author
of a certain Hymne à la
surdité (1558), dedicated
to his friend Ronsard who
was suffering from early
deafness (Ronsard became
deaf when he was sixteen
years old) just as he was.
© BnF
Galerie
L’abbé rayonnant
Arnaud Balard, transdisciplinary artist (France)
2012
Digigraphie (300 ex.)
21 cm × 30 cm
www.facebook.com/Surdism
arnaud-balard@orange.fr
36 Art’Pi!
Hommage
à l’abbé de l’Épée
Stephane Delame, painter (France)
2012
Acrylic on canvas
60 cm x 60 cm
ma-galerie-virtuelle.over-blog.com
Abbé Charles Michel de l’Épée
Nancy Rourke, painter (USA)
2011
Oil painting
12 cm x 17 cm
www.nancyrourke.com
37 Art’Pi!
Art’Pi! 37
L'anatomie de mots
Remus Illisie, transdisciplinary artist (Roumanie)
2012
Black ink
21 cm x 30 cm
artist_1900@hotmail.com
RIGHT PAGE
L'arbre
Guy Bouchauveau, artist (France)
Pencil
Unknown format
La révolte après le congrès de Milan
Françoise Casas, artist (France)
1988
Oil painting, canvas on plate
70 cm x 130 cm
janoise@orange.fr
38 Art’Pi!
39 Art’Pi!
Hors-série 2012 : Tricentenaire de la naissance de l'abbé de l'Épée • Art’Pi!
Art’Pi!
• 39
The Silent Press
TheSilent
press
La Belle Époque–The Golden Age
of the Deaf Press
L
Portray of
Ferdinand Berthier
ON THE RIGHT
Lithography workshop
in the Royal Institute for
the Deaf-and-Mutes,
Le sourd-muet illustré,
September 1897
a Belle Époque (a prosperous era of technical
scientifical and social progress between 1870
and 1914) is the most prestigious period of the
Deaf press. In the meantime, as much as the Deaf
associations', its history remained chaotic.
The first-ever reference to an all-Deaf press dates back
to 1870. The Société Universelle des Sourds-Muets
(Universal Deaf-and-Mutes Society), run by Ferdinand
Berthier would publish every proceedings and argumentations occurring within. Unfortunately, due to
the 1870 French-Prussian war and the 1871 Paris
Commune (a two-month insurrection after France was
defeated) the publishing of the paper stopped after a
few months of existence and impede the rise of a Deaf
press for another decade.
Eventually in 1883, a newspaper entitled La Défense
des sourds-muets, run by Joseph Turcan and committed in fighting The Congress of Milan was released.
But after only two years of publication, the paper died
quickly away due to financial difficulties.
Between 1870 and 1920 we can
count about twenty short-living
papers altogether. To name a
few: L’abbé de l’Épée (1888-1889),
La Sincérité (April-May 1887),
L’Écho de la Société d’appui fraternel (1889-1890), Les Annales
françaises des sourds-muets
(only one issue in February 1898),
Le Philantrope (1903-1904), La
Silencieuse (1898), Lectures et
1
revues (1899), La libre tribune
silencieuse (1906-1907), La France 4
des sourds-muets (1902-1907),
L’entente cordiale des sourdsmuets (1910).
1 Portray of Henri Gaillard
2 La Défense des sourds-muets, 1886
3 Portray of Joseph Chazal
4 Journal des sourds-muets, 1895
40 Art’Pi!
(1)
Controversy after the Congress of Milan
One reason for this outbreak was the need for local
associations to display a tool of information. Another
reason lays in the will of counteraction and response
to two powerful newspapers: Le Journal des SourdsMuets, and La Gazette des Sourds-Muets.
Both are run by Henri Gaillard (1866-1939) who was
strongly committed in the question of education for
deaf children and believed Sign Language should
be allowed in schools again. Nevertheless he was a
highly controversial figure because of his positions and
influence. He ruffled some feathers on his way and particularly Joseph Chazal’s who became his arch-enemy
from 1890 to 1910. Chazal run the newspaper entitled
Le Sourd-Muet Illustré obviously dedicated in criticizing
Gaillard's actions–nicknaming him Grigrine due to his
rebellious and protesting personality and accusing him
of fraud and manipulation.
2
3
41 Art’Pi!
La Défense des
XVIIIth century
XIXth century
Freedom of the Press
(1867)
First Deaf newspaper
(1870)
The argument between the two men was based on the
question of getting back–or not–to “the old method”
or to put it in other words, promoting or not Sign
Language. Unlike Gaillard, Chazal thought that the
will to turn back time was vain and that people should
embrace progress and engage in oralism.
This fight induced a spectacular growth of the number
of publications including fierce texts and could only be
finished by trials in Court.
The fading of Deaf press
Between 1920 and 1950 the number of publications
decreased and the papers became more and more
local and linked to associations. Every single paper
created during La Belle Époque had died off because of
financial struggles or the death of their founders. Deaf
press was getting less passionately concerned and
began a long declining process.
Only La Gazette des Sourds-Muets succeeded on
living on till 1961. Thanks to Eugène Rubens-Alcais
(1884-1963) who bought it from Gaillard in 1931 and
managed it until the Confederation Nationale des
Sourds de France changed its name toLa Voix du Sourd
(1961-1993). The title itself (the Voice of the Deafs) is
42 Art’Pi!
emblematic of the paper's new orientations. Changing
its name once again it became Actua’Sourd, the information tool of FNSF (National Federation of the Deafs
of France) which ceased to exist about ten years ago.
Throughout the 1970's and 1980's apart from some
association's newsletters it remains the only paper,
together with L’Écho –created in 1908 but known
today as Écho magazine. But both had focused on a
medical perception of deafness and supported the
oralist method. As far as press was concerned the
Deaf Awakening(2) occurred twenty years later it had
actually begun.
Nowadays the internet has clearly made it easier to
release publications and it seems that Deaf press
experiences a revival. But it needs strong figures such
as Gaillard in order to become long-lasting media.
The Golden Age surely had happened during La Belle
Époque. Proofs are some briliant texts and stiff arguments, both signs of a Deaf intellectual arousal. But
are we to witness a new one? We sure hope so!
YANN CANTIN
FROM LEFT TO RIGHt
Echo de famille, 1935
Actua'Sourd, 1995
La voix du sourd, 1976
(1) At the time Deafs would
have rather talked about
themselves as “Silencieux”
(Silent) because this term
could also easily refer
to Codas who used Sign
Language as well.
(2) After the 1968 May
Protest a wave of interest
and rediscovery of cultural
and linguistic minorities took
place. Deafs rediscovered
their own culture and have
been since willing to protect
their language.
Le Sourd-Muet Illustré / La Gazette des Sourds-Muets
(1890)
s sourds-muets
(1883)
Deaf Awakening of the Press
(1990)
Eugène Rubens-Alcais (1884-1963)
Henri Gaillard (1866-1939)
y
XXth century
Belle Époque (1870-1914)
Law on
the Freedom
of the Press
(1881)
L'Echo
(1908)
Actua'Sourd
(1993)
La Gazette : La Voix du Sourd
(1961)
Le Journal des Sourds-Muets
(1895)
noétomalalier, French verb
Who is he?
Henri Gaillard is the toughest deaf activist in
France during the 19th century.
He was a pupil in the INJS (Institut of Paris)
and was a member of La Société des Gens de
Lettres (an association run by authors to promote literature). He authored several written
materials to promote Deaf culture, fight for
Sign Language and support Deaf authors and
artists. Moreover he created–and it is rare
enough to to be noticed–the long-forgotten
word “noetomalalier” (express oneself with
gesture, using Sign Language) which seems to
appear again nowadays.
The life of Gaillard is bright unique and passionate. Nevertheless he died alone, cast aside
by Deaf community for loving Sign Language
too much and by his own children for being so
proud of his deafness.
Press and laws
The growth of publications is due
to two major legislative acts: the
liberalisation of the Press in 1867
which allowed cheaper publications
and the Law for Freedom of Speech
in the Press, making censorship less
strict.
Interesting
facts
DID YOU KNOW?
Gaillard created L'Imprimerie des sourdsmuets which had been economically viable
by publishing a large number of mainstream
authors.
The writer Victor Hugo
(1802-1885) was deaf by the end
of his life. His famous character
Quasimodo is a deaf bell-ringer
talking in Sign Language. Victor
Hugo will tell: “No matter the ear’s
deafness, when the mind hears; the
only deafness, the true deafness,
the incurable deafness is the one
of the intelligence”. That sentence
had been long inscribed under La
Gazette des sourds-muets banner.
The financial outcomes enabled to maintain
Le journal du Sourd-Muet although it enjoyed
few readers and also to pay the authors and
employ some deafs.
As far as La Gazette was concerned, its sustainability was linked to Gaillard strong connections with important people: Francisque
Sarcey (French dramatic critics and journalist)
and Paul Deschanel (writer and politics during
the 3rd French Republic) were columnists for
those two newspapers.
43 Art’Pi!
Photograph of printing house's deaf-and-mute
workers. © ARSCA
Art’Pi! 43
COMIC STRIP
In 1972, the painter Francisco Goya (17461828) became totally deaf at the age of 46.
He learnt Sign Language and taught it to
his friends. This experience freed his mind
and he was able to develop a unique style.
The pieces of work related to this period
are considered as uncanny and the most
fascinating ones of his career. He was the first
artist ever to express his feelings through the
art instead of using religious motifs.
Alfred de Musset (1810-1857), poet,
playwright and French novelist, authored
Pierre et Camille (1848). This story is
about two deaf persons meeting and
falling in love during the Abbé de l’Épée’s
time. It had been published four years
after the first wedding between deaf people
was celebrated in Paris.
DID
YOU
KNOW?
Paul-François Choppin (1856-1937),
became deaf when he was two years
old. He had many bronze artworks
exhibited in Paris: La laveuse in
the Montsouris park, Un vainqueur
de la Bastille in the Parmentier Square
and Docteur Broca in the Boulveard SaintGermain. They were destroyed during the
Second World War.
In 1852 Ferdinand Berthier came and watched the theater show L’Abbé de l’Epée. He
criticised the mimics and styles that he
regarded as “old-fashioned” because of the
linguistic evolution of the Sign Language.
In 1870 he was called in order to advise
and update the show.
Adrean Clark
Bruno Braquelhais (1823-1875) was part
of the photography emergence and was
a photo-journalism precursor. He is
well-known for his photographs of
female nude, but is mainly seen
as the Commune photographer:
because he was deaf nobody
stopped him when he ventured
through the barricades.
Frédéric Peyson (deaf painter,1807-1877) was
a student, maybe the best one, of Ingres. The
public and art critic praised his painting
Les derniers moments de l’abbé de l’Épée.
Deafs all over the world signed a petition
in order to encourage the Minister of the
Interior to buy it. The Government got in
touch with Peyson but he decided to give it
to the Institute for the deafs in Paris, because
he thought the offer too cheap.
www.adreanaline.com / www.aslwrite.com
As a deaf artist, I want to show my native
Sign Language in my artwork. It is challenging to take a moving visual language and
freeze it on paper. Writing ASL on paper
works like written English, giving us enough
information to let us “see” the full dialogue
in our minds. Written ASL can be changed to
become written LSF.
If you want to learn more, watch for my
comic strip in the next issue.
Adrean Clark is an author, illustrator, and
comics artist.
44 Art’Pi!
45 Art’Pi!
46 Art’Pi!
Deaf character in Theater
Deaf character
in theater
Theater has been interested in deaf people for a very long time now. The deaf character used to be saved by a miracle, then ridiculed or highlighted following the evolution of
Society. In the same way Deaf theater, whose past has been more difficult to observe, is
slowly emerging to burst from shadows to enlightenment.
From mockery to respect
F
irst references to deaf characters in theater
began in the Middle Ages. At that time, in front of
the churches' squares, hearing actors would perform scenes from the Bible to teach Catholic religion
to the people. In those pieces disabled people would
heal miraculously–deaf people would hear, blind would
see. In parallel the profane theater used deafness as a
comic element. The characters would fake deafness to
get out of embarrassment or to merely annoy others.
The real deaf, dumb fool of the play, would keep on
experiencing misunderstandings or would be ridiculed.
For centuries as far as playwrights had been concerned, the “deaf factor” would create some misunderstandings, comical situations and mockeries. Referring
to role parts, stage directions would say “the deaf” as
one might say “the stammerer”, “the mute”, “the lame”.
It would be long before audience could attend a show
offering a role of a life-like deaf character and it is still
more seldom to see one that is played by a deaf actor
instead of a hearing one.
F
rom the eighteenth century, influenced by the
works of the abbé de l’Épée, the hearing audience
as well as the deaf one, became very fond of shows
about deafness. Eventually, the plays would increasingly
integrate deaf characters into their plots. Unfortunately,
these roles were generally performed by hearing actors.
They would go to the Royal Institute of Deaf-Mutes in
Paris–currently, the National Institute of Deaf Youth of
Paris-to try and get closer to the “Deaf feeling”. Deaf
men such as Massieu, Berthier or Gaillard would offer
their suggestions and go backstage to give their minds
right away. Many plays went on exploiting the burlesque of disability and giving the audience a laugh at
the expanse of the disabled character. However, a new
trend appears with a different perspective on deafness, trying to be more expressive and understanding.
But the abbé de l’Épée having succeeded in rendering
to society human beings previously excluded, many
authors wanted to honor his memory and his works.
Deaf character became an intelligent one, claiming for
justice, able to love and be loved in return.
47 Art’Pi!
O
ne particular play hit drama History by its incredible success and helped giving a positive image
of deaf people. L’Abbé de l’Épée–a five acts play
written in 1799 by the hearing author Jean-Nicolas
Bouilly–would be performed for over a hundred
years.
ON THE LEFT
Unknown deaf actors
© Amicale des anciens élèves
de l’INJS de Paris
Bust of Jean-Nicolas
Bouilly
© Archives from
INJS
L’Abbé de l’Épée,
a play in five acts by
Jean-Nicolas Bouilly
in 1799
The plot is about the Law case–also known
as “L'Affaire Solar” which took place from 1776
to 1792. Bouilly changed names and facts in the
play. The play is about Théodore, a deaf-mute orphan
who had been raised and educated by de l’Épée. The
clergyman found out that Théodore was actually the
sole heir of the Count of Harancour.
He then helped the young man who
never ceased to try and get back his
name and his deeds. Bouilly played
freely with reality and highlighted
the righteousness of the young
deaf fellow. Eventually, in spite of
remaining doubts, the Court would
state against him after several
twists and the incriminated man
would be freed of charges. Actually
after he attended the show, this
man felt offended and tried and
forbade the remaining venues. The
play however was a huge success
and has since been played in major
French and European auditoriums.
The role of the deaf fellow has
generally been played by young
hearing women. Few deaf actors,
such as Ballestrier or Charles
Sinobre, managed to get a part for
the tour. This unfortunately has
remained very rare.
Poster of
L'Abbé de
l'Épée, 1890
© Archives from
INJS
Le Pauvre Pêcheur with unknown deaf actors
© Amicale des anciens élèves de l'INJS de Paris
Braün brothers' shows
Since the first half of the 20th century, behind the doors
of various deaf institutes, pantomime had spread.
André Braün and his brother Albert
wrote and put on plays, pantomime
sketches, comedies, mimes, dramas
in the Baguer Institute (Asnières):
Le Rêve de Bébert, À la Caserne, Les
Conséquences du Train Manqué,
L’Innocent, Le Bossu ou Le Fils
d’Alcoolique… One of the brothers
would later perform solo love stories or comedy sketches–Le Chagrin
d’Amour, Le Chewing-gum…
Drama has always been feeding on actual events–
each new case hitting headlines would thus become
a source of inspiration. It would also shadow the
changes in education method applied to deaf people
through the centuries. With the rise of the oralism
and the influence of Milan Congress in 1880, the portraits depicting deafs would then turn from positive to
visions of mere disabled people.
eaf authors and actors–quite discrete until
then–kept on existing in an even more confidential way. Deaf theater evolved in schools,
committees, International Deaf Congresses or sport
associations who had become more and more numerous. L'Abbé de l’Épée, after its withdrawal from public
theaters, reopened in deaf institutes and associations.
D
Sign Language, put aside
as it was, gave way the
pantomime and dance
performances.
The mime became a way of playing with rules and keeping on expressing freely oneself in public. Artists such
as Ginette Baccon (deaf dancer) and the brothers Albert
and André Braun (deaf authors and actors) emerged
and have since contributed enthusiastically to Deaf
theatre.
Ginette Baccon on the right front stage © Archivres from the
Amicale des anciens élèves de l'INJS de Paris
48 Art’Pi!
The two characters which the two
brothers usually embodied, was an
officer and a soldier. When the officer
(André Braün) would give a “kick in the ass” to the soldier
(Albert Braün), the latter would pick up a shovel of dungs
and throw it to the officer's back who would receive it all
over the face and uniform. Excrements that the audience
would believe fresh and real were actually fake, handmade by the Braün brothers out of gingerbread, oats and
straws!
Pantomime comdey by Albert
Braün À la Caserne in the
Institute for the Deaf-andmutes in Asnières. December
21st 1929
© Archives Olivier Schetrit
A play about the abbé
de l'Épée,1938
© Archives from the
Amicale des anciens
élèves de l'INJS de Paris
Rehearsals for 1x80, IVT
© Archives from Jean Grémion
Deaf Drama's renewal
In 1976, after a century of prohibition against Sign
Language, deaf people in France were ashamed of their
language and hid themselves to use it. Jean Gremion,
hearing stage director, who had gone to the United
States in search of new theatrical forms, met there
American deaf artist Alfredo Corrado, then assistant of
puppeteer Robert Anton (hearing). Together they programed a show that would be performed for a whole
year in the Tour du Village of the Château de Vincennes.
Alfredo Corrado, discovering that “French deaf people
had lost confidence in their own language”, decided
together with Gremion to create a pedagogical research
center for theatrical expression of Deaf culture. Bill
Moody as an American hearing actor and professional
ASL interpreter, and Ralph Robbins as a hearing actor
as well, joined them. With twenty young French deaf
adults already aware of theater thanks to the work
they did with Ginette Baccon, they settle down in the
rooms of the Château de Vincennes. The International
Visual Theatre–IVT–were born. One hundred and sixty
years after the departure of Laurent Clerc (a French
deaf who exported the method of de l’Épée into the
United States and established the first deaf school
there), Alfredo Corrado was bringing passion for their
culture back into french deafs' hearts.
Starting in February 1977, Corrado would make some
theater-based researches on the actuality and originality of Deaf culture. The first IVT show was performed in 1978, in complete silence and was entitled [ ].
“In the minds of the performing deaf actors, this was
the symbol for a community looking inward for its own
identity, culture, and theatrical tools to express it. This
highly visual performance was primarily intended for
deaf audience. The second show, in 1979, was entitled
] [, which meant the opening of the community toward
to others. Although it was a work-in-progress performance still held in total silence, it felt more attractive to
a hearing audience.”
49 Art’Pi!
DID YOU KNOW?
Bill Moody
Alfredo Corrado
In 1993, big USA hit Children of a Lesser God got
adapted and run for the second time in France. French
actress Emmanuelle Laborit would receive an award
for her performance in it.
Children of a Lesser God
of Mark Medoff, 1993
A young deaf woman, Sarah, falls in love with a
hearing professor, Jacques Leeds, and makes him
understand that her world is way different from
what he can imagine. She refuses lip-reading with
hearing people in order to preserve her Deaf identity.
Children of a Lesser God (French: Les Enfants du
Silence) is an American play by Mark Medoff. This
screenplay is adapted by Pierre Brouton, in 1982
and performed at Le Studio des Champs Élysées
starring Chantal Liennel, Monica Companys–both
deaf actresses–and Jean Dalric–hearing actor. The
resumption of the show in 1993 by Jean Dalric
with the assistance of Levent Beskardès won two
Molière Awards (Best Screenplay Adaption and Best
First Appearance in a Leading Role to a deaf actress,
Emmanuelle Laborit).
Poster of the play Les enfants du silence, 1993
Pär Aron Borg from
Sweden decided to take
care of the deafs after
watching a show by
Jean-Nicolas Bouilly,
entitled L’Abbé de l’Épée.
In 1809 he succeeded in
convincing the King of
Sweden to settle a school
for the deafs.
Laurent Clerc (1785-1869)
Jean Massieu (1772-1846)
Ferdinand Berthier (1803-1886)
XIXth centur
XVIIIth century
Solar Case
(1776-1792)
L'Abbé de l'Épée
(1799)
The Molière award had been given to a deaf actress and
this would invigorate and encourage deaf people and
Deaf Art. Deaf people in France, completely unaware
of their theatrical past, found out that they could perform on their own. Along with this a door opened and
allowed hearing people to get back to deaf people and
Sign Language. The deaf character in Hearing performances–as well as in Deaf ones–has since become
bigger and more profound and is nowadays no longer
used for systematic misunderstanding moves.
Deaf Awakening generated one richer and more innovative art creations after another. We can name a few:
Hanna by Levent Beskardès (1993), Metroworld by
Levent Beskardès (1993), Le Divan Violet by MathiasHenri Glénard (2011) or Héritages by Emmanuelle
Laborit and Estelle Savasta (2011).
Hanna by Levent
Beskardès, 1994
The plot is about Hanna, a young deaf girl, who is trying
to escape from sterilization policy which Nazis forced on
“congenital abnormals”. The deaf girl runs away towards
places and people willing as much as she does to access
to a right to live.
The play has been rewarded and acclaimed by deaf
audience in France and the United States: Best Stage
Director at Deaf ceremony Mains d’Or in 1999 and Best
Drama in 2004.
A play was shown recently, in July 2011, during the
Clin d'Œil Festival, as a previously unpublished workin-progress; a workshop based on the artistic meeting between three European theatres operating in
Sign Language: Teater Manu in Norway, Tyst Teater
in Sweden and International Visual Theatre in France.
This research on visual expression and signs should
lead, if all goes well, to an international creation on
visual theatre in 2013.
This gives proof, if any's needed, that French Deaf
theatre is today on the right path to find its place in
the enternaiment world. What it needs is more Hearing
productions with deaf characters performed by actual
deaf actors.
Actors of Hanna © Archives Claire Garguier
50 Art’Pi!
OLIVIER SCHETRIT & SOPHIE LAUMONDAIS
European workshop of
creation around visual
expression and signs, Clin
d'œil Festival, 2011
© Archives from IVT
][ by IVT
(1979)
Henri Gaillard (1866-1939)
ry
Les Enfants du silence
(1982)
[] by IVT
(1978)
Metroworld
(2010)
Hanna
(1993)
XXth century
Congress of Milan
(1880)
Folk danse group
(1967)
Creation of IVT
(1976)
Ginette
Baccon
deaf artist and
dancer, from Gustave
Baguer Institute
Her background
Ginette Baccon, born Schmitz in 1919 in
Saint-Ouen–France, studied in Gustave
Baguer Institute (Asnière-sur-Seine). At
twelve years old, she was dreaming to be an
actress which would become her ultimate
goal. She loved to dance so much–either on
stage or hanging out with friends... As soon
as she turned eighteen she left the Institute
and would quickly be offered by deaf friends–
including the Braün brothers–the opportunity to act in various shows happening during
festivals, which she gladly accepted.
Le Divan Violet,
Héritages,
European
workshop
(2011)
It was the beginning for her of an uninterrupted series of Drama plays and then dance performance. She was aware of her own beauty
and tuned it into an asset in order to put her
projects together, one after the other: performances at foundations, committees (former
name for “associations”) or deaf Federations.
Deaf Ms. Bascoul would sign many drama
productions in which Baccon played together
with Ms. Pruvost who has been a deaf dancer as well–she is now 92 years old. On many
occasions, Baccon enjoyed working with Paul
Durand, a deaf artist who created several
sceneries for her plays.
All of them put together various plays with
a wide repertoire from burlesque mime to
visual shows (visual transcriptions, script
adaption such as Madame Butterfly) including sketches and pantomime…
Milan Congress which lessened Sign
Language had always had an impact on
Ginette Baccon. Expressing Sign Language
in public made her feel uncomfortable so she
preferred to refer to “visual transcription”
and “mime theatre”. As an avid follower, she
thought mime very rich and aesthetic–and
normative which is a relief for her–so she
stood up for it with all her heart.
Around 1967, in order to value deaf community and to prove they were as capable as
hearing people, Ginette Baccon decided to run
a group of folkdance for deaf people: she was
proud to be able to dance for the first time
in the auditorium of the National Institute of
Deaf Young Deafs of Paris.
In 1970, there had been a dozen of deaf
dancers taking part to Ginette Baccon's
folkdance group: Chantal Liennel, Joël Liennel,
Victor Abbou, Jean-François Labes, Germaine
Woringer, Yannick Bienfait, Brigitte et José
Vazquez, Michel Octon…
Some of them became well-known actors at
IVT. The group organised a touring around
France–and across Europe as well.
During rehearsals Ginette Baccon would
51 Art’Pi!
Molière Award
to Emmanuelle
Laborit
(1993)
Ginette Baccon in Oh France, Mon Pays, 1944
© Archives Olivier Schetrit
conceit and direct choregraphies while Nelly,
a hearing dancer, would dance with deaf
students to show them the rhythm. The
group had been existing for more than ten
years.
Ginette Baccon passed away on 26 March
2010 at age of 91.
Her accomplishments
• Madame Butterfly, directed and played by
Ginette Baccon with Aline Bascoul, scenery
by Paul Durand.
• Oh France, Mon Pays, mime-dance solo by
Ginette Baccon in 1944.
• Dancing spectacle, 1935: Ginette Baccon
dressed up as a soldier. Backdrop painted by
Paul Durand.
Screening deafs
Screening
deafs
Deaf actor or hearing actor? Which of them performs deaf characters in the plots? What are the dominant traits of
these characters? The changing status of the deafs in the film industry, and how they are represented, are intimately linked to the history of Deaf culture.
In movies as in society
W
e had to
wait until
1937 to see
for the first time in
the history of French
cinema, a deaf actor
on the screen. In the
film Chéri Bibi by
Leon Mathot, Maurice
Humbert plays a deaf
prisoner–one of the
major role in the plot–
whose Sign Language
will allow to fool the
warden’s' attention
and to elude the
prohibition on communication. However, most often,
the deafs are identified in movies as victims (rape,
orphan) or as the local half-wit–sometimes violent and
murderous. The deaf character is mocked or seen as
the origin of all disasters.
Plots focusing on education
The Miracle Worker (USA–1962) by Arthur Penn
tells the story of Helen Keller, deaf and blind, who
succeeded in graduating from university. In 1970,
in France, a film will screen an educator's work on a
child found alone in nature and believed to be deaf and
dumb. L’enfant sauvage by François Truffaut shows
the painful “oralisation” of Victor by the Dr. Itard, at
the Saint-Jacques Institute, right in the middle of the
19th century. What appears as mental retardation is
presented as the product of the lack of contact with
other human beings.
UP
Extract from L'enfant sauvage
DOWN
Extract from The Miracle Worker
RIGHT PAGE
Extract from L'enfant du secret © France 2 / Laurent Denis
52 Art’Pi!
53 Art’Pi!
XVIIIth century
XIXth centur
Deafs performing deafs
We had to wait until the 80’s for deaf roles to be no
longer performed exclusively by hearing actors–always
thrilled to face the “difficuties” of this kind of performance–but also by deaf actors who got professional.
It is true that in the meantime Sign Language had
been restored in France. The deaf character is no longer shown as an ill person. A genuine work of expression is initiated by the deafs themselves. Deaf actors
and directors are nowadays highlighting the issues of
harm and suffering from the past, their relationship
with the hearing world and the role of Sign Language
in creating acts.
L’abbé de l’Épée, filmed between 1982 and 1989 by
Michel Rouvière is the first ever French film directed
and performed exclusively by deaf people. It recounts
the life and work of the abbé de l’Épée in the 18th century. In 1995, Patrice Leconte's Ridicule won four trophy
during the Césars Awards. Three deafs–Laurent Valo,
Claire Guarguier and Bruno Zanardi–who made their
first steps on the stage of IVT–International Visual
Theater–do not act the major roles of this historical
movie but they are positive figures who here again are
referring to the work the abbé de l’Épée.
The number of movies with deaf comedians playing the
roles of deaf characters has increased. This unfortunately do not prevent ridiculous representations such as
the sour servant in Jean de Florette (1985) by Claude
Berri, played by a deaf actress, Chantal Liennel.
Extract from Ridicule, 1995
We had to wait until the 80’s
for deaf roles to be no longer performed
exclusively by hearing actors
Shooting photo from
Jean de Florette
© Archives from Chantal Liennel
DOWN ON THE LEFT
Extract from Jean de Florette,
1985
Shooting photo from L'abbé
de l'Épée © Archives from
Guy Bouchauveau
54 Art’Pi!
Charles Chaplin (1889-1977)
L'abbé de l'Épée
(1982-1989)
Lon Chaney (1883-1930)
Granville Redmond (1871-1935)
ry
XXth century
Silent films
(until 1927)
The Miracle Worker
(1962)
Chéri Bibi
(1937)
Birth of cinema
(1895)
Jean de
Florette
(1985)
Ridicule
(1995)
L'enfant du secret
(2006)
L'enfant sauvage
(1970)
Shooting photo from L'enfant du secret, 2006
© France 2 / Laurent Denis
Making way for youngsters
Somehow, most of the time, deaf children are not as
much concerned by this fatility and enjoy a good share
of the fame.
L’enfant du secret (2006), is a TV movie directed by
Serge Meynard inspired by the Solar affair. Deaf actor
Joshua Julvez plays the role of Joseph who has been
abandoned by a wealthy family and seeks with the
abbé de l’Épée his true identity. Several deafs play
the roles of students of de l’Épée. Before shooting the
scenes, the actors received a DVD containing the abstract of the film and the dialogues in Sign Language.
On the set, many professionals and interpreters were
present. Michel Aumont, who plays the character of the
abbé de l’Épée, took about thirty lessons from a deaf
Sign Language teacher, Bachir Saïfi.
In recent years, dozens of productions have screened
deaf people, and if the roles have evolved and deepened, too few characters are played by deaf people
themselves. Today, France has yet dozens of professional deaf comedians of all ages. But very few of
them are actually living from their practice on stage
or screen.
VÉRONIQUE BERTHONNEAU
(Based upon L’écran sourd by Guy Jouannet)
DID YOU KNOW?
A documentary about
Ginette Baccon’s work,
filmed by Olivier
Schetrit, has just been
presented at the 8th
Festival of DHI–Deaf
History International–
hosted by the Ontario
Deaf Foundation in
Toronto, Canada and
won the first Prize of
Documentary film.
Guy Jouannet
Journalist and educator who worked at the INJS in Paris. Author of L'ÉCRAN SOURD. - Les représentations du sourd dans la
création cinématographique et audiovisuelle. He has written an updated version of his book but has not found a publisher yet.
55 Art’Pi!
THE MOVIE L'abbé de l'Épée BY Michel Rouvière
The movie
L'abbé de l'Épée
by
Michel Rouvière
L'abbé de l'Épée is the first french movie ever produced by an all deaf filming team and is
still unknown from both hearing and deaf public.
M
ichel Rouvière is a movie fan. He had already
non-professionally produced some short
movies when he discovered in Le Journal de
Tintin (N°545, April 2th 1959) a comics based on the
abbé de l’Épée’s story. He remembers his emotion
when, at age twelve, he entered the INJS and discovered the priest’ statue in the schoolyard.
“Everyone, every culture
has a raw model, a
symbol. The abbé de
l’Épée has been embodied
many times in theatre
shows, but I had an itch
to immortalise him by
making a movie, in order
to carve his name the best
as possible in the book of
History.”
56 Art’Pi!
Board from L. & F. Funcken's L'Abbé
de l'Epée in Tintin, le journal des
jeunes de 7 à 77 ans, N°545, 2 avril
1959. © Le Lombard
Michel Rouvière made up his mind and gathered a
team, invested money and resources. The film shooting started in 1986 and would last almost three years.
Every Saturday and Sunday, around twenty-five people
would meet in the INJS (St Jacques school), at friends
places, in a borrowed house, and even at the occasion,
in a church!Self-management and resourcefulness
were Rouvière’s motto. At the time, there were no cell
phones, no Minitel (NdT: French pre-Web Videotext
online Service). The movie maker run everywhere from
right to left to give appointments, look for theatre
costume rental, to pick up some materials at the last
minute…
The intrepid director thought of Guy Bouchauveau for
playing de l’Épée because his features matched the
clergyman’s so well–roundness calm and good nature
shone on Guy’s face as they did on de l’Épée.
The movie recount a part of de l’Épée’s life, from his
meeting with two deaf twin sisters until his death. It
shows, through key-moments, his fight for opening
and maintaining a public school for deaf children. The
movie has known several versions, but the last one’s
length is thirty-five minutes.
57 Art’Pi!
It was planned to extend the movie shooting. But the
sudden accidental death of camera operator André
Denys put an end to it. Later, the movie would be
screen many times in France, but also in the United
States of America and Germany.
Although the movie seems clumsy and incomplete
in its narrative construction, it remains a significant
part of Deaf History. It stands for the testimony of an
important man’s life as well as the amazing energy and
motivation of a passionate team.
Film making’s anecdote:
During the shooting of de l’Épée’s death, friends
and family were gathered besides the bed. Guy
Bouchauveau had to play as a dead man. He did it so
well that he fell deeply asleep.
PAULINE STROESSER
Shooting photo
© Archives from Guy
Bouchauveau
BD
Drawing : Jean-Marie Hallegot / Coloring : Daniel Le Coq
58 Art’Pi!
Agenda
Performing Arts
Theatre, storytelling, workshops, readings, festivals...
60
Broadcast
Cinema, video, visual art...
61
Art/Culture
Architecture, History, plastic arts... and the tercentenary banquets
Illustration for Froid dans le Dos, IVT
62
Publishing
Comics, papers, novels...
64
Multimedia
What's new on the web?
65
59 Art’Pi!
Performing Arts
THEATRE
Quatre lettres sur
l'éducation des sourds
This theatrical adaptation of
extracts from the book of the abbé
de l’Épée is performed in LSF by the
actor Bashir Saïfi, with voicing by
an interpreter in French, and will be
followed by a debate.
November 9th at 6pm
Salle des fêtes, Versailles (78)
www.injs-paris.fr/documentsdu-site/fichiers-a-telecharger/
Tricentenaire-de-la-naissancede-l.pdf
WORKSHOP
STORYTELLING
THEATRE
Come and have fun playing rhythm
and hand games, and learn how
you can adapt a traditional song in
Sign Language.
Booking is obligatory.
Librarians from the deaf library
services of the city of Paris present
stories in French and French Sign
Language at the BPI.
Using voice and signs Olivier
Schetrit and Olivier Quinzin–directed by Annie Mako–will make you
discover a novel for children written
by Emmanuel Arnaud: a young teenager has discovered Illuminations
written by Rimbaud and the book
changes his life.
Heure du conte
Singing in LSF
October 20th, 3pm
December 1st, 3pm
December 15th, 3pm
Chaptal Library, Paris (75)
http://bibliotheques.activites.
paris.fr/liste/index/aid/34095/
aname/Comment%20chante-ton%20en%20langue%20des%20
signes%20?%20:%20ateliers
Une Saison Rimbaud
November 10th 4pm and 5pm
December, 1st. 4pm and 5pm
BPI-Centre Pompidou, Paris (75)
www.bpi.fr
November, 28th. 5Pm
www.babdp.org/spip.php?article29
STORYTELLING
Heure du conte
David with his hands, Anne
Laurence and Fabio with their
voice tell stories for children and
grown-ups.
Bilingual LSF/French.
READING
Ma parole
This show aiming to raise
consciousness has been written
by Jean-Yves Augros in order to
advocate communication issues
with Deaf world. It questions the
customs, practices and behavior
patterns between people who have
different ways of sharing.
THEATRE
Compagnons de route
A mysterious companion, a rude
inn-keeper, a desperate king, his
daughter as beautiful as she is
bewitched... Karine Feuillebois
embodies all these characters
using LSF with voices of interpreter
Alexandra Bilisko. A mix of skills
and cultures in order to tell this
barely known story of Andersen.
December, 8th, 4pm
www.spectacle-des-fous.com
November 15th, 7pm
November 21st, 7pm
FESTIVAL EUROPÉEN
THÉÂTRE ET HANDICAP
La Llama Doble
Exercices de style
THÉÂTRE / FRANCE
Pantomime Jomi
PANTOMIME / ALLEMAGNE
Les Chaises
THÉÂTRE / FRANCE
Marcel Loeffler
Around Gus Quartet
MUSIQUE / FRANCE
Né… 2 fois
MIME / FRANCE
Snails & Ketchup
SPECTACLE VISUEL / ÉCOSSE
Le Cirque Ouïlle
CIRQUE / CABARET / HUMOUR / THÉÂTRE / BELGIQUE
Bien vu Miro !
Personimages EXPOSITION
Acte 21 THÉÂTRE / FORMATION ET ÉDUCATION ARTISTIQUE
November, 8th. 6Pm
www.bpi.fr
DU 28 SEPTEMBRE
AU 20 OCTOBRE 2012
THÉÂTRE MONTANSIER
13, rue des Réservoirs / Loc 01
39 20 16 16
www.orpheefestival.com
Dossier de presse THEATRE Contact : Personimages
FESTIVAL
Melt down the walls between
acting, singing, puppeting, acrobatic
lifting and plastic arts this show
aims to express complexity of
the world and put reality into
perspectives.
It's been adapted in LSF and
other translated venues are to be
programed.
Orphée festival is celebrating its
10th edition and is offering moving
performances and plenty of humorous sketches coming from France,
Spain, Germany, Belgium and
Scotland. Come and discover not
only the latest creations of companies that have made the success of
one of the finest festival, but also
new artists with original accents.
Orphée
Until October 20th
Versailles (78)
www.orpheefestival.com
CONFÉRENCE
International
Visual Theatre
Emmanuelle Laborit (Director),
Stephane Jude (Deputy Director)
and Jean-Yves Augros (Cultural
activities and deaf public Manager)
offer a conference about the
presentation of IVT: a cultural
exchange for deaf and hearing
people.
November, 8th. 7Pm
www.bpi.fr
Cher Monsieur Berthier
EN PARTENARIAT AVEC :
THEATRE
60 Art’Pi!
Froid dans le dos
THÉÂTRE / HUMOUR / FRANCE
Dépasser son handicap par l’expression artistique
October, 2nd and 9th
Theatre Varia, Brussells
(Belgium)
www.varia.be/fr/
READING
Designed by Bachir Saïfi and
Antoine de la Morinerie for deaf and
hearing audience, from selected
fairy tales where ogres and blue
beards come interweave with
the ghosts of the Grand Guignol.
This show will be presented at IVT
(International Visual Theatre) in
December from 3rd to 23rd.
DANSE CONTEMPORAINE / ESPAGNE
www.yanous.com
Alaska
October 10th 10:30am and 11am
October 13th 11am and 4pm
www.dailymotion.com/video/
xsvlnn_10-et-13-octobre-2012-paris-chaptal-75-heure-du-contebilingue_lifestyle
Didier FLORY 0675861711 flory.didier@gmail.com Based on Fabrice Bertin’s
Ferdinand Berthier, ou le rêve d’une
nation sourde, this play by Didier
Flory is entirely performed in Sign
Language and is interpreted live by
voiceover.
October 20th
ASCSRR, Rouen (76)
November 10th
Régates Rémoises, Reims (51)
November 17th
Nancy (54)
November 30th
Limoges (87)
December 7th
Théâtre du Tiroir, Laval (53)
Broadcast
CINEMA
VIDEO
An evening of screenings and
debates in order to discover the
point of view of three different
filmmakers on the status of deaf
youngsters in our society.
Born deaf, this artist explores
what she has named “sound's
physicality”.
She makes experiences on sounds
and vibes materiality.
Young deafs in Society
Christine Sun Kim
November, 15th. 8Pm
Cinéma l'Entrepôt, Paris (75)
www.huffingtonpost.
com/2012/09/10/christine-sunkim-deaf-pe_n_1870489.html
www.ffsb.be/documents/
Actualite/node4729_babdp.pdf
CINEMA
DVD
VIDEO
Les visiteurs
This videoclip displays the feelings
during the MONUMENTA (Daniel
Buren) exhibition's guided tour,
both in LSF and French, in the Nef
du Grand Palais in Paris: magic and
fraternity around an impressive
event.
www.babdp.org/spip.php?article198
61 Art’Pi!
The HeART of Deaf
Culture : Literary
& Artistic Expressions
of Deafhood
This multimedia interactive twoDVD set explores Deaf visual art,
ASL and English literature, Deaf
theater and Deaf cinema and features more than 300 artworks.
https://www.ntid.rit.edu/ntidweb/
products/?controller=product&path
=23&product_id=33
Festival international
du film lesbien
et féministe de Paris
A lesbian and feminist festival
with 70 screenings with French
subtitles, interpreted conferences,
exhibitions...
For women only!
October, 31st–November, 4th
Théâtre de Ménilmontant,
Paris (75)
www.cineffable.fr/fr/edito.htm
CINEMA
Festival Européen
du Film Court
The European festival of shortmovies programed this year two
screening sessions translated in
LSF. Be warned: short-movies are
coming to Brest and they will make
you laugh!
November, 13th–18th
Brest (29)
www.filmcourt.fr
Art/Culture
International Conference
In collaboration with GERS and
INS-HEA, FNSF offers for three
days in row conferences about
Deaf culture (History and culture,
education, medical approach and
ethics, politics). Many prestigious
speakers from France and abroad
will be present.
November 21-23th
www.fnsf.org/300ans/2012les-temps-forts/
conference-internationale
PARIS
PARIS
Anniversary banquet FNSF offers
an outstanding evening in Théâtre
du Merveilleux's period scenery and
secular fairgames. Unique guests
will be present and will perform
cultural events, Deaf comedy
sketches and other surprises...
À pleines mains !
The Bibliothèque Publique d'Information in Centre Pompidou with
the FNSF and other associations
hosts an installation dedicated to
Deaf Culture and Sign Language:
exhibition, debates, interactions,
library, storytelling, screenings...
Museum of
Fairground Art
BPI
From November 5th until
December 3rd
www.fnsf.org/300ans
www.bpi.fr/fr/la_saison_culturelle/evenements/a_pleines_
mains.html
November 24th at 6pm
www.fnsf.org/300ans/2012les-temps-forts/24-novembre2012-lanniversaire-spectacle-etbanquet
PARIS
Panthéon
PARIS
Chapelle–INJS
November 24th at 3pm
http://fr.sgb-fss.ch/images/stories/pdf/Programme_Paris.pdf
300th anniversary of the abbé de
l'Épée
An exhibition based on the life
of the abbé de l'Épée, and a
timeline replacing History of deaf
community in the History of France.
Association des Sourds de Reims
et de Champagne-Ardenne
avec la participation des associations rémoises
Club Sportif des Sourds de Reims
Association du 3e Age des Sourds
Des Gestes Pour se Comprendre
CinéSourds
GUADELOUPE
Musée Schœlcher
Accessibility
This museum is a hommage to
Victor Schœlcher and his struggle
against slavery and inequalities.
Guided tour in LSF once every
month.
Next dates:
Victor Schœlcher et l’abolition
de l’esclavage
October, 29th
Comment fonctionne un musée ?
November, 26th
Informations
musee.schoelcher@cg971.fr
Institut National
des Jeunes Sourds
Tercentenary commemorative
plaque
On a saturday morning at INJS
under the portico will take place
the unveiling of a commemorative
plaque for the 300 years anniversary of the abbé de l'Épée by the
Alumni Committee.
November 24th
www.injs-paris.fr/documentsdu-site/fichiers-a-telecharger/
Tricentenaire-de-la-naissancede-l.pdf
62 Art’Pi!
Peplum
This exhition make get backstage of
a peplum and discover influences
and technical anecdotes.
Learn about this specific movie
genre which remains one of the
public's favs.
November, 10th, 3PM
February, 9th, 3pm
www.musees-gallo-romains.com
AVIGNON
MDPH
Des mains qui signent
This exhition realised by Christian
Rocher invites you to discover Sign
Language.
Through photo art you'll have to
re construct a lifestory connecting
15 photographs of moving hands.
This will push you towards the
others, talk about differences and
perceptions.
Until October, 5th
Until December 21st
www.injs-paris.fr/3eme-centenaire-de-labbe-de-lepee
PARIS
Gallo Romain Museum
Commented in LSF.
© Aristoi
A guided tour
Deaf guide Alexis Dussaix will show
you the church of Sainte Geneviève,
a typical example of neoclassical
architecture built in 1764. During
French Revolution, the building
changed its function to become a
republican Hall of Fame temple.
Since 1791 this local landmark is
the necropolis of the Great Mind of
French nation.
SAINT-ROMAIN-EN-GAL
LOUHANS
Musée des Sourds
samedi 10 & dimanche 11 novembre 2012
Le programme officiel sera publié avant l’été - contact : asrca@numericable.fr
REIMS
Cercle de
l'abbé de l'Épée
Deaf Artistry Fair
Organized by the Association
Cinesourds in collaboration with
Deaf Association of Reims and
Champagne-Ardennes, this Art
Exhibition is to highlight deaf skilled
artists to show their artwork (paintings, sculptures, jewellery...).
Vernissage
November, 9th at 4pm
Exhibition
November, 10th
www.asrca.fr
PARIS
Cité des sciences
Léonard de Vinci, projets, dessins,
machine
Through this interactive display,
get into the amazing rich universe
of Leonardo Da Vinci and discover
40 models created from his
sketch-books.
From October, 23rd
www.cite-sciences.fr/lsf/ala_cite/
expositions/leonard-de-vinci/presentation-expo-leonard-vinci-lsf.php
Event
The first ever Museum of the Deafs
opened recently on the 12th of
September in Louhans (Saône-etLoire). Located in the former HôtelDieu, it is a part of of the celebration
for the 300th anniversary of the
abbe de l'Épée, first educator of the
deaf youngsters in Sign Language.
www.unapeda.asso.fr/article.
php3?id_article=1823
© Le Journal de Saône et
Loire - photo A.B.
University
© Bpi - photo C. Desauziers
NANTERRE
Art/Culture
PARIS
Panthéon
Le Panthéon des Grands Hommes
Discover this landmark and learn
why deafs want de l’Épée's relic to
be moved in its crypt.
LSF:
November 19th 10.30am,
November 21st 10.30am
November 23rd 10.30am
November 24th 3pm
GRENOBLE
Town of Grenoble
Introduction to Deaf Culture
The Comittee for the Organization
of the tercentennial of abbé de
l’Épée is planning an “accessibility
month” including discovery and initiation to the language and culture
of Deaf community for the hearing
public.
Until October, 15th
grenoble300ans.canalblog.com
COUDEKERQUE-BRANCHE
Foyer Raimu
Scrapbooking all day long
Come and discover scrapbooking
for a whole day. Meet some new
friends and produce your own
Christmas album. CoudekerqueBranche's home plans a lot of
diverse activities throughout the
year.
SI/ASL:
November 20th 10.30 am
November 22nd 10.30 am.
You must book :
public.sourd@monuments-nationaux.fr
ROUEN
ASCSRR
Anniversaries
This year is the 90th anniversary
of the founding of the Deaf Home
and the 300th anniversary of de
l’Épée. Both will be celebrated by
the Association Socio-Culturelle des
Sourds de Rouen et de sa Région:
conferences, exhibitions, shows,
banquet.
October 20th and 21st
Informations and booking:
ascsrr76@free.fr
November, 4th. Starts at 9:30am
Informations and booking
(before October 15th):
vedwige59@gmail.com
PARIS
Église Saint-Roch
On the path of the abbé de l’Épée
Guided tour from the churh where
de l’Épée rests in peace and the
nearby area to where he lived, rue
des Moulins.
November 19th-23rd
LSF: 4pm; SI/ASL: 3pm
You must book : public.sourd@
monuments-nationaux.fr
http://handicap.monumentsnationaux.fr/fr/Visiteurs_malentendants_et_sourds/
63 Art’Pi!
ARRAS
Musée des Beaux-Arts
Roulez Carrosses !
For the first time an exhibition
devoted to the hippomobiles,
sedans, horse-drawn vehicles,
etc… is displayed on a square
mile area including an innovating
chronological scenography of
frames, sculptures, sleds…
Until November, 10th 2013
www.versaillesarras.com/index.php/fr
www.trefle.org
Publishing
NEWSPAPER
BOOK
This special issue of Journal de
Saint-Jacques will celebrate the
300th anniversary of the abbé
de l'Épée and will be released on
November.
Available on the INJS website.
CNFEDS (National training center
for teachers following sensory
deficiency) publishes its first book
on the occasion of the 300th
anniversary of the abbé de l'Épée.
Institut National de
Jeunes Sourds
www.injs-paris.fr
L’Héritage de l’Abbé
de l’Épée
www.cnfeds.univ-savoie.fr
FORUM
Jean le Sourd
Come and meet the authors of the
comic book Jean le Sourd, published
on the occasion of the 300th
anniversary of the abbé de l'Épée.
WORKSHOP
Learn how to
draw manga-like
October, 6th
http://bibliotheques.activites.
paris.fr/liste/index/pmr/5/tri/
age_min,age_max/ordre/DESC
As an illustrator Sinath is
influenced by manga as well as
European Comics. Website:
http://sinath.ultra-book.com
You must book.
LSF/French interpretors.
INNOVATED
AND ADAPTED
SERVICES
A social enterprise, Websourd
develops accessibility services
for deaf and hard of
hearing people.
Websourd promotes the fulfillment
of all within the civil society.
Elision
Allows deaf, hard of hearing and hearing people to
communicate freely, choosing amongst FSL,
Cued Speech and by text
elision-services.com
October, 13th and 27th, 3pm
3DSigner
Allows you to diffuse your messages
through a virtual signer who uses a perfect
sign language
NOVEL
3dsigner.fr
Au péril de ma vie,
restez prudent
ARCHIVES
Écho Magazine
100th anniversary
Écho Magazine, the Deaf newspaper–previously known as Écho
de famille–celebrated its 100th
anniversary in 2009. WebSourd
offers you an exclusive three-part
report about its history and its
edition: evolution of the paper and
the publishing team, richness of the
archives, follow the editing of an
issue step-by-step.
www.websourd.org/spip.
php?article60107
Philippe Autrive is a lawyer and
a fighter for the rights of deaf
people for over twenty years. He is
currently publishing a crime novel
which story takes place in the Deaf
community.
http://philippe-autrive.publibook.
com
Jobsourd
Allows you to diffuse your recruitment
announces in sign language (Free for bilingual
organizations)
jobsourd.fr
DEDICATION
Jean Le Sourd
Dano, Yann Cantin and Céline
Rames–authors of the comic
book Jean le Sourd–will be touring
conferences and will sign the book
all over France.
Starting in September.
More informations and dates:
www.art-sign.org
More information on our actions and solutions?
websourd-entreprise.fr
websourd@websourd.org
64 Art’Pi!


Multimedia
E-BOOK
SITE
An e-book for children to read
with your body! Accompany your
kid into a discovery of the world's
animals through this unique e-book
full of videos, mime, drawings, photographs, texts and Sign Language.
Suitable for children from two years
old and more.
As a German deaf Painter, he began
his carreer by studying Realism but
eventually turned to Abstract arts.
His creations are mindful and
spontaneous, using as he has every
kind of backing such as clean plastic
wastes, steel, brass, photographs,
canvas... and he focuses his works
on movements and signs.
Moving Animals
www.dailymotion.com/video/
xt3a7w_teaser-animaux-en-mouvement_animals
SITE
Leon Lim
As a deaf artist from Malaysia Lim
uses a great range of diverse media:
painting, devices, digital art, light,
photography, printing, fire. His work
is a recollection of his life without
the perception of sounds or music.
He explores such themes as segregation, communication obstacles,
identity and culture.
www.leonlimstudio.com
65 Art’Pi!
Dieter Fricke
www.fricke-art.com
SITE
www.cybernumerik.fr
contact@cybernumerik.fr
+33 6 98 36 16 57
SMS +33 6 98 37 14 75
International Archive
of Deaf Artists
Presentation of deaf artists and
their works for students, other
artists or anyone interested in Deaf
culture. You can discover diversed
artistic approaches–wether they
are Deaf-centered or not.
Remote computer
support
http://idea2.main.ad.rit.edu/paddhd/publicDA/main/iada/index.htm
Computer support
at home
Thanks
A whole page to present and thank all the people and the partners without whom this special issue
would have been impossible to make.
A special thank for Emmanuelle Laborit's support and encouragements.
And thanks to
(in alphabetical order):
Katia Abbou
Victor Abbou
Arnaud Balard
Christelle Balard
Jeanne Bally
Raymond Barberot
Niels Barraud
Irène Bartok
Sylvaine Beaughon
Andréa Benvenuto
Yves Bernard
Véronique Berthonneau
Yves Delaporte
Clémence Devienne
Monsieur Dutheil
Madame Eisemman
Didier Flory
Corinne Gache
Claire Garquier
Célia Giglio
Sébastien Giozzet
Jean Gremion
Christine Guerret
Stéphane Mangaud
Eliza Mac Donald
Florence Médina
Alice Messac
Elza Montlahuc
Bill Moody
Aliza M'Sika
Mercedes Perez Lopez
Geneviève Pomet
Céline Rames
Emmanuelle Rico-Chastel
Evelyne Rigot
Art and Culture Magazine
Fabrice Bertin
Vincent Bexiga
Xavier Boileau
Fabrice Bon
Jessica Boroy
Maryline Bouchut
Jérôme Bourgeois
Yann Cantin
Igor Casas
Hélène Champroux
Noémie Churlet
Sylvain Churlet
Adrean Clark
Pierre Cosar
Isabelle David
Martin Dayan
David De Filippo
SPECIAL ISSUE
Jean-Marie Hallegot
Laïla Hassani
Céline Hayat Bufarull
Cécile Khamla
François Kovacts
Isabelle Lapalu
Ronit Laquerriere-Leven
Patrick Larwin
Alain Laumondais
Sophie Laumondais
Tuan Le Anh
Daniel Le Coq
Elisabeth Le Quillec
Ewen Le Quillec
Sandrine Rincheval
Sabine Salha
Alex Sambe
Naomiki Satô
Olivier Schetrit
Pierre Schmitt
Yaron Shavit
Dominique Soucarre
Pauline Stroesser
Yasuka Takeda
Brigitte Vasquès
José Vasquès
Ivan Verbizh
Richard Zampolini
We also want to hearfully thank all the people who helped us by donating and
those who sent us emails and encouragement messages, compliments, support
and pieces of advice.
66 Art’Pi!
Thanks to our partners:
• Yehoudart
• IVT (International Visual
Theatre)
• FNSF (Fédération Nationale
des Sourds de France)
• INJS (Institut National
de Jeunes Sourds)
• Mairie de Paris
• Région Île de France
• CMN (Centre des Monuments
Nationaux)
• Langue Turquoise
• Mobil Média Sign
• AFILS (Association Française
des Interprètes et traducteurs
en Langue des Signes)
• Interprètes Sourds
• Fondation Orange
• Amicale des anciens élèves
de l'INJS
• ASRCC (Association des
Sourds de Reims et de
Champagne-Ardenne)
• Passerelles & Compétences
• BPI (Bibliothèque Publique
d'Information du Centre
Pompidou)
Thank you all for your
participation to the creation of this outstanding
special issue!
Deafs and
Sign Language's
Art magazine
ions
t
a
n
o
d
Your e Deaf
mak visible
Culture
€
Help us hand on Deaf Culture
Make a donation
67 Art’Pi!
www.art-pi.fr
© www.VincentSablong.fr
68 Art’Pi!

de l`Epée of the abbé

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